I install only critical ones. I suggest doing an sp1 slipstream update next time.

160 ARE the Criticals.

Slipstream? Wotz that?

G

Remember how your mother didn't want you in the kitchen?


Well, she doesn't want you slipstreamin', either.

I could be wrong but I don't think SP1 will include the updates since it was published..

Grazie's number sounds about right based on an install I completed yesterday..

I would recommend to do the updates...

I have not installed a single Windows update to any of my ten computers in the last decade. Everything runs great.

The one exception is that I sometimes install the major service packs if a program that I really want to install (and I seldom install new programs) requires it.

My advice would be to skip individual updates and instead simply download the latest service pack.

Actually, my advice would be to not install anything and instead get on with editing. Your programs will run just fine.

Most of the "security" enhancements patch flaws that are so esoteric that the likelihood of having something bad happen are exceedingly small. As long as you have a firewall, most of the kiddiescript hackers will be held at bay. If you have a browser that has been installed within the past few years, it is probably reasonably secure. And unless you regularly visit sites with a "z" in their name (e.g., warez) you probably don't face too much of a threat.

Of course there are some who are afraid that the sky is falling and if you are one of them, by all means download everything, and make sure to wear gloves while using the computer, just so you don't get infected.

If all you know about computer security is what you read in our increasingly lame newspapers, all I can say is that the people who write for those publications are clueless, and couldn't tell a real threat from a hoax even if you gave them five guesses in four part multiple choice question.

If your installation disc does not include SP1 then much of those updates are related to the SP1 update. That's a big one that requires a ton of reboots and downloads.

You can integrate SP1 into your Windows installation and create what is know as a "slipstream" installation. Greatly decreases all of those updates once you get Windows loaded up. Once you've created the slipstream install disc you have it for future use. There are tons of tutorials available. Here's one.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/145343-slipstream-windows-7-sp1-into-installation-dvd-iso-file.html

I have the same experience as johnmeyer except that I install ALL of the critical updates (nothing else) and never have any problems. Go figure.

I'll throw out my logic, for what it's worth. I tend to overthink.

Last time I reinstalled Win7, I installed all critical updates up to about a month prior to the release of the Vegas build I was using. For better or worse, it's the most finicky software on my editing computer. I figured why get my O/S ahead of what the programmers were working with. Since I'm not exposed to security breaches from web surfing on that computer, I was very choosy about any updates past that point. And keep in mind there were 2 updates, I believe, in 2013 that proved to be universally very BAD. I don't know if MS pulled them or revised them.

Just thoughts. But my system has been stable.

Fully agree with johnmeyer.
My workstations have W7SP1x64 and from then are fully disconnected from internet since are solely used for editing and nothing else .
Everything keeps on running smooth .
( I follow the guidelines of avid on how to maximize performance of avid on a HPZ820 workstation , which works , of course , also for vegas pro . One of those is disconnect internet while editing )

One last idea to throw into the mix. I'll start with a question: why are you re-installing Windows 7?

In the last decade, the number of times I have re-installed Windows (on ten computers) is exactly zero.

How can this be? Do I somehow manage to avoid pressing the wrong key and deleting a key thing, or do I never have hardware failures that cause problems in the software? Actually, I screw up all the time, and sometimes cause Windows to get into a bad state.

However, every week I do a complete image backup of my C: drive. I can do this every week because I partition all my disks so that the C: drive only contains my O/S and programs. Most of my C: partitions (on XP) are less than 15 GB, and the actual space used is usually only about 10 GB (more for Win7). I can do an image backup to an external drive in under five minutes, and if I decide I want to go back to an earlier point in time, it takes less than ten minutes to do the image restore (I use Acronis TrueImage).

The idea of reinstalling Windows is, to me, a frightening proposition, not only because of the incredible amount of time to do the install (and then download and install all the service packs, if you really feel you must), but then to install and customize all my programs. This isn't just hours of time, this is days of time.

And all of this time is completely lost for all time, and is completely unproductive.

Even if you don't want to do the partitioning "trick" (although I highly recommend it), for heaven's sake, do an image backup once a week to a dedicated hard drive and save yourself all of this hassle.

No one should ever have to re-install the operating system, unless it is a new computer loaded with bloatware and this is the only way to get a clean start.

JM: One last idea to throw into the mix. I'll start with a question: why are you re-installing Windows 7?

I couldn't get past my PASSWORD as an Administrator. I'd done something or my sign-on process had failed me.

I asked my PC Builders "why", and was told that this does happen, but rarely and they got me to run from the C: prompt CHKDSK. Also a repair that took 3 hours, to no avail, and finally the re-install.

OK, so, yes, for Win7 Updates for INTERNET PCs (maybe?). Work-editing PCs, not so much. But would I miss out on any "needed" MS .NET or some such required bit of s/w? Quick frankly I wouldn't know how to discern one from the other.

The upshot now, is that my PC runs like silk and it HAD forced me to update many drivers that makes Vegas fly.

As to image creation and so on, I asked my suppliers and I was told that as I couldn't even get to a Admin rights situ, a non-destructive re-install was my only option get me access to the PC and back running, which I now am.

Now, IF somebody has an alternative/remedy to having this situ happen and be able to restore and image, from a dead Administration situ, I am ALL ears!

Cheers

Grazie

Now, IF somebody has an alternative/remedy to having this situ happen and be able to restore and image, from a dead Administration situ, I am ALL ears!OK, ears, listen up ...

Trueimage (and many other backup programs) have an option to restore using a boot CD. That boot CD actually uses some variant of Linux. What this means is that Windows is completely and totally irrelevant during the restore operation: you boot to the backup software's own Linux-based program, tell it which disks and/or partitions to restore, start the restore, and if needed, start feeding discs to the DVD drive (not needed if you backed up to a thumb drive, external disk, or internal removable disk, all of which I do).

So, during the restore, this "foreign" operating system and program are writing to your C: drive and restoring precisely what was there at the moment you did your backup. If your computer was running before, and if your user rights were good enough to run programs at that moment, everything will run precisely as it did at the moment of the backup, once the restore operation is finished and you then re-boot to Windows.

That, in a nutshell, is the beauty of an image backup.

Summary: Windows is never used during the restore operation, so you don't need any administrator rights.

John, I read your words, and will re-read them.

G

G
Do I read you correctly in that the W7 install disc failed to load and you didn't have an image of your system. It should allow you to re-load an image made via w7 backup and restore.
As JM correctly states you can hold a series of images on either an internal/external drive.

W7 also allows you to have 2 system discs on your pc selectable at boot.
For example now that you have your machine working and all software activated if you were to take an image, replace your system disc with a new on you could then 'recover' the image.
All programmes that were loaded & activated would work without the need to re activate. Saves a lot of hassle trying to find the correct drivers and programme serial numbers etc.

A great time saver.

Geoff

No. The Install worked. I was told an image wouldn't have worked. I shall most certainly going to that up with my builders - oh yes......

Grazie

I was told an image wouldn't have worked.Well, perhaps I don't completely understand your problem. Perhaps the image was created with Windows, and perhaps Windows requires certain passwords and incantations in order to restore that image. Fortunately, most other backup software has no such requirements (unless you choose to password protect the image).

Second that.......wouldn't be without Acronis True Image, use a 3 license pack in my editing room.

I gave up on True Image when I upgraded to Windows 7. I bought an upgrade specifically for Windows 7, it never worked for me and their support then was terrible. I now use Macrium Reflect and it has proved to be much more reliable. Here's a link to the free version. I make a system backup nearly every day and it only takes around 5 minutes to restore when needed.

When I did install Windows 7 recently on a computer that had been running XP I used WSUS offline update and it worked well getting all but two updates. I used to use autopatcher but don't find it as reliable as it used to be so switched. Hope this helps.

Thank all very much indeed. You have been most patient and understanding of my position and level of IT skills. Not to mention the embarrassment in coming here and laying it before you guys.

OK, when I first got my Win7 PC I DID make a BOOTABLE disk and if I had both remembered and insisted on using it then I most likely would NOT have jumped when the tech support had me re-install W7 - no!

Now, with all that has been said AND the value I AM seeing in having a lean clean machine my next conscious task will be to get my confidence up and around doing a reinstall maybe on a month or 6 month basis or when I find efficiency dropping.

Again, thanks to all!!

Grazie

+ i macrum reflect (free version).

i might add i'm appalled at win 7's image capabilities on NEWER systems. apparently (as i found out the hard way) if you have uefi bios win CANNOT restore an image - only to regular bios*

*can't explain any clearer since i gave up after my techie said it was causing him nightmares too.

I guess the next question is: "What are you doing to prevent this from happening again?"

I have the following drive layout:

C: 256GB SSD with OS and all of my programs
D: 3TB HDD with all of my stock media along with my daily backups
E: 2TB HDD with all of my video projects

So what do I do?

I have Acronis TrueImage set to perform a daily incremental backup of my C: drive to a folder on my D: drive. This runs at 6:am every morning and I hardly know it's happening. It usually happens while I'm making coffee. ;-) I can go back to any day in the last two months and restore my computer within an hour (I only keep 2 months worth of backups but you could keep more).

As John Meyer said, restoring works without Windows. The drive could be empty and it would still work. On several occasions I have found that for one reason or another Windows 7 is not behaving as it should (i.e., programs that worked yesterday don't work today) and so I boot from the Acronis boot CD (which is Linux) and I restore my Windows 7 partition to a previous day, and within an hour, I am up and running as good as I was that previous day.

What is your daily backup plan so that the next time this happens, you only spend an hour restoring instead of days?

~jr

"What is your daily backup plan so that the next time this happens, you only spend an hour restoring instead of days?I'm pleading the 5th! And yes, this is going to be top/next task to execute.

Grazie

To each is own. Acronis lost my trust. I don't like incremental backups and always do full ones. My system drive is around 70 GB and takes around 6 minutes for a full image with Macrium reflect free.free. Using Windows built in back up is a waste of time and disk space.