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How to uninstall old windows updates. Uninstall windows updates. What about the c:\Windows\Installer folder?

Hello, my dear friends, readers and associates in the computer field!

Recently, I installed several updates for the system and noticed that it started to slow down a lot. The speed of work has decreased, videos have begun to slow down, and I’m generally silent about games, the frame rate drawdown is generally terrible. To solve this problem, I had to remove some service packs. And I decided to tell you how updates cleanup works in windows 7, and how it can speed up your computer! Go!

What can it give?

Let's imagine you installed an update, and now the system is loading endlessly. this is a definite bug. Or another situation, after installing the service pack, a conflict occurs when starting the game, which refers to the graphics library. Also not comme il faut, agree? Unfortunately, sometimes updates are installed crookedly, or they are downloaded with broken segments, or initially they were not made with high quality.

All this can greatly damage the system. It will start to slow down, some software will stop opening, the processor load will be maximum, and the temperature inside the case can rise significantly.

In such difficult cases, you should intelligently remove updates one by one until you see a significant increase in speed and stability. This can also be done manually, but it is very difficult, and for users who do not have specialized skills, such an operation is not possible. But there is an easier and more reliable option. That's what we'll look at below.

Through the control panel

The standard method, which will be pulled by everyone who has ever reinstalled Windows. So we open start and go to control Panel.

Go to the section programs.

You can do everything differently. Open the run line and write the command there - wuapp.

In the update center, click on this line here.

An interface will open with all installed service packs and updates.

We select the necessary left button and press the appeared button delete.

Or choose any and press the same button in the top line.

A warning window will appear, in it we click " Yes».

We are waiting for the end of the process.

That's all.

Through the command line

Opening the menu start and go to tab all programs.

Now right-click on the command line tab and select from the list run as administrator.

In the black command line window, enter the following command - wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:*******. Instead of asterisks, you need to specify the serial number of the microsoft update package. For example - KB4025341.

As soon as the package is found, it will be offered to demolish it.

By the way, if you enter the command - wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:4025341 /quiet, the files will be deleted in the background without warning the user.

Removing through Disk Cleanup

What to do if neither the first nor the second option worked out for you? We poke on the button start and open My computer.

On the logical partition with the operating system, right-click. Next we go to properties such.

Choose a tab general and then click on the button disk cleanup.

Now we click on cleaning system files.

The process of counting all the data will go.

Now put a tick in these spirit sections and click OK.

In the window that appears, click on removal.

There will be a cleaning of the hard drive.

There we go to the block administration and after looking for a block services.

Now in the line of the explorer we prescribe this path. Copy carefully - C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\

We do this in both folders.

Conclusion

Well, that's all, now you know what to do if you need to demolish updates that slow down your computer. I tested all these methods myself, they are one hundred percent working and any of them will help you. Here's a great video on the subject.

Well, with that, I will end this article. Share it on social projects with friends and interest groups. Subscribe to the blog, and you will always know about the publication of new articles. All the best and see you on the site!

Updating a Windows 10 system can lead to both performance improvements and bugs. In the second case, you need to remove problematic updates. You can erase stuck, uninstalled, installed, and anniversary updates, as well as clear their cache. After you uninstall, do not forget to disable automatic download of updates.

Is it possible to delete

You can remove updates, as such an opportunity is provided by the developers of Windows. Removal can be done with standard applications, so this should not cause any problems. You can erase both already installed updates that are currently involved, and old or just downloaded, not yet installed, updates.

How to uninstall Windows 10 updates

Updates that have already been installed on your computer can be removed using system tools, without third-party programs, just like all other types of updates. But there are several ways to do this: using the control panel, configuring computer settings, and executing commands. Remember, you will need administrator rights to work with updates, so perform all actions from an account that has these rights.

Using system settings

Expand the system settings, for example, using the Windows search bar.
Open the program "Settings"
Go to the "Updates and Security" block
Select the "Update Center" section.
Go to the "Update Center" section
While in the settings of the update center, open the update history.
Expanding the update log
Use the Uninstall Updates button to access general information about installed upgrades.
Click on the "Uninstall Updates" button
Highlight the update that harms your system and use the Uninstall button.
Select the update and click the "Delete" button
Note that most updates will require a system restart to uninstall, so be sure to save any unsaved projects ahead of time so you don't lose them.
Press the "Yes" button

Using the control panel

This method allows you to erase updates using the same list as described in the previous method, but the transition to it will be done differently:

Open the computer control panel, for example, through the Windows search bar.
Open the control panel through the Windows search bar
Change the appearance of the panel by selecting the "Large Icons" category and go to the "Programs and Features" section.
Go to the "Programs and Features" section
Go to view installed updates.
Go to view installed updates
Select the update that interferes with your system and click on the "Uninstall" button.
Click on the "Delete" button
Confirm the action and wait for the system to uninstall the update. Note that most updates will require a restart to uninstall, so be sure to save any unsaved projects ahead of time so you don't lose them.
Confirm that the update needs to be removed

Through the execution of commands

Expand the command prompt by resorting to using administrator rights.
Open command prompt as administrator
Use the wmic qfe list brief /format:table command to view a list of installed updates and their unique numbers that will be needed for removal. Unique numbers start with KB.
We execute the command wmic qfe list brief / format: table
Use the wusa /uninstall /kb:update_unique_digits command to uninstall the required update. Note that the letters KB and numbers are separated by colons, not written consecutively.
We execute the command wusa / uninstall / kb: unique_update_numbers
Confirm the action.
We agree to the removal
Choose whether you want to reboot now or if you want to do it later. The update will not be completely removed until the computer is restarted.
Choose whether to restart the computer now or later

Video: uninstall updates

Through a third party program

This is an additional method that you should resort to only if the previous ones do not help solve the problem in your case, since this is the longest, albeit simple, option.

First you need to create a third-party recovery media with the ERD Commander program, which can be downloaded for free from the developer's official website. But before that, you need to prepare this media: insert the USB flash drive into the port, wait until it is recognized by the system, and, being in Explorer, right-click on it, select "Format".
Select the "Format" function
Format the flash drive to FAT32 or NTFS so that nothing extra is left on it.
Choose a format format
Now write the downloaded image of ERD Commander to it, to do this, click on the image with the right mouse button, select "Mount" and specify on which media you want to mount the image.
Select "Mount"
Turn off the computer without removing the flash drive. Start it up, and as soon as the first signs appear that the computer has started to turn on, press the Delete key several times to enter the BIOS. The key may be different from Delete, which one to use instead depends on your motherboard model. But when the system starts to boot, you will see a prompt that will tell you which key you can use to enter the BIOS.
Enter the BIOS by pressing the Delete key
While in the BIOS settings, go to the Boot or "Download" section in the Russian version.
Go to the Boot section
You must change the boot order so that the computer starts from the media you created, and not from the hard drive, so in the menu that opens, put the name of the flash drive in the first place instead of the hard drive.
We put the flash drive in the first place
Save the changes and exit the BIOS, the system will start to boot again, but not Windows will start, but ERD Commander.
Save changes and exit BIOS
Select your operating system version.
Choose your OS version
We select the option "Run various MSDaRT recovery tools", and then the function "Remove fixes".
Select the option "Run various MSDaRT recovery tools"
Select the update you want to remove.
After uninstalling, you will receive a report on which updates have been removed. Done, you can return to working with the system by re-changing the boot order in the BIOS so that it starts from the hard disk.
Update successfully uninstalled

Removing the anniversary update

The Anniversary Update is a global update that usually has a round version, such as "Update v2.0". You can delete such an update, but on the condition that 10 days have not passed since the installation of the global update:

Go to the computer settings, for example, using the Windows search bar.
Opening computer settings
Go to the "Updates and security" block.
Select the "Update and security" section
Select the "Recovery" block.
Go to the "Recovery" block
Roll back to an earlier build. This process may take some time, during which you should not turn off the computer or interrupt the procedure in any other way.
We start the system rollback to the previous build

How to remove downloaded, uninstalled, frozen

All downloaded updates are in the computer memory in the form of regular files that you can copy to transfer to another computer, or delete. Among these files are hung and uninstalled updates. These files are sometimes referred to as "Update Cache".

Open the standard Windows Explorer.
Open File Explorer
Go to the Download folder, which is located along the path Main drive:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution.
We go along the path Primary_disk:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download
While in the Downlaod folder, remove unnecessary updates based on their unique number, volume, and download date.
We remove unnecessary updates by deleting folders with them

Disabling the download of a specific update using a third-party program

If you have deleted a certain update, then after a while it will be downloaded and installed again, as the system will understand, after checking the database, that it is not enough on the computer, and will install it. To avoid this, we will use the official program from Microsoft - Show or Hide Updates, which can be downloaded from their official website.

After launching the application, search for uninstalled updates by clicking on the "Next" button.
Click the Next button
Select the Hide updates mode to switch to hiding updates.
We mark updates that should not be installed independently

Disable installation of all updates

By default, updates are downloaded and installed automatically; to avoid this, you need to change the system settings. Please note that you may need the latest updates to work with some programs, so it is not always recommended to disable self-installation.

standard method

Launch the Run window by pressing the Win+R key combination on your keyboard.
Launch the Run program by pressing Win + R
Use the service.msc command to navigate to the list of services.
Run the service.msc command
Find the update center in the general list and double-click on it with the left mouse button.
Select the Windows Update service
The properties of the service will open, in which you need to click the "Stop" button to disable the search for updates until the next restart of the computer, and set the startup type to "Disabled" so that the update center will never start and, accordingly, could not search for and install updates.
Disable the service and change the startup type to "Disabled"

Using a third party program

If for some reason the standard method does not suit you, you can use the third-party Win Updates Disabler program, the portable version of which is distributed free of charge and does not require installation.

What to do if updates are not removed

If you are unable to uninstall updates, then try the following methods:

carry out the removal process through the command line running as administrator, or a third-party program. These two methods are described in detail above in the paragraph "Removing installed updates";
roll back the system to a restore point created when the update was not yet installed, or go through the system restore process. For the first method, you will need a restore point created by you or the system in automatic mode, for the second method - a system image recorded on third-party media. You can also perform a Windows reset, which will return the system to its original settings. Please note that in some cases, all data stored on the computer may be lost, so save them in advance to a third-party reliable medium so as not to lose them;
if the above methods did not help, then reinstall the system and turn off automatic updates in order to control independently which updates to install and which not.

System rollback

You can roll back to a restore point to remove the update by doing the following:

Through the search line of Windows, find the "Recovery" section.
Select restore points and roll back the system

Clearing the log history

Clearing the update history can damage your system, so this operation is recommended only as a last resort. There are frequent cases when, after cleaning, users crashed Windows or had other problems with the system. Create a system restore point in advance and save all important files on third-party media so as not to lose them. If you still decide to clear the history, then open a command prompt with administrator rights and run the following commands one by one:

net stop wuauserver
del %systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\edb.log
net start wuauserver

Done, the log should be clear, you may need to restart your computer.

Installed and uninstalled updates can be removed using standard methods or using a third-party program. After uninstalling the update, do not forget to prohibit installing it again, otherwise the system will restore it every time it notices it is missing.

By default, Microsoft's OS is set to automatically search for and install the latest patches - this helps to quickly "close" system vulnerabilities, but sometimes such a solution disrupts the stable operation of the computer. This article will show you how to uninstall Windows 7 updates, and we will consider the process using two situations as an example:

The update was installed successfully

Let's say we want to understand how to remove the KB971033 update in Windows when it was automatically added without your participation. In this case, go to Control Panel → Programs and Features (Add or Remove Programs) → View updates.

1. This is where the system stores all the updates already installed. We left-click on what interests us, the "Delete" button will appear on top.

2. By clicking it, the OS will immediately ask for confirmation, after which it will ask you to wait a few minutes (depending on the size of the update). When the window asking you to wait disappears, the job is done. Just in case, it's best to restart your computer. The only disadvantage of this method is that one update is deleted at a time. If you want to delete a lot, you will have to be patient.

Error installing update

Before the procedure, be sure to create a system restore point so that you can return to it if something goes wrong.

Here the problem is as follows: uninstalled packages "hang" in the list, preventing themselves from being removed and reinstalled. The only way out is to clear the list.

1. To do this, open the Start menu, type "services.msc" in the search bar and run the found file.
2. In the list of services, find "Windows Update", right-click and select "Stop".

3. Go to " C:WindowsSoftwareDistribution»
4. Pay attention to 2 folders: data store and Download. Deleting files from Download will free up disk space. it stores temporary files. Usually, the system itself erases files 10 days after they are installed, but there are also misfires. If it takes up a lot of space, you can clean it.

But from data store delete all existing files. In this case, the installed updates will not go anywhere, but the files with the history of downloaded updates, including some damaged ones. After that, go back to Services and turn "Update Center" back on. Now, when you run it from the Control Panel, you will see that it never checked for available updates. The last thing left to do is to let the system "first" load a list of files, and then select the ones you need from them.

Conclusion

Now you know how to uninstall old Windows 7 updates (or install those that are having problems). It's easy to "clean up" updates, but once again I remind you of the importance of creating a restore point before making any changes. Compliance with safety precautions will save you from surprises.

All Windows users know about Windows system updates, even those who understand almost nothing about software at all. The system so often signals the need to install them or that they have already been installed that many people have a logical question: what was installed and why is it needed, or maybe it’s worth deleting?
But before you decide the issue radically, you need to understand what you are doing.

Windows updates: what and why?

The developers have made it so that when the system is installed, it automatically updates. In other words, software add-ons that appear on the official Microsoft website are downloaded the first time you connect to the Internet and integrated when you restart the system.

The official version says that this is necessary for:

software continuity;
protecting the system from trojans, viruses, worms and other network “diseases”;
ensuring the stable operation of Windows and its components
easy and discreet installation of device drivers.

If you think about it, it seems that all these are very necessary functions.

Developers from Microsoft reasonably prove that by disabling this feature, the user:

reduces the level of security of working on the Internet and any local networks, since no antivirus can keep up with the violent imagination of virus developers, and system security updates should make it immune to them;
restricts access to both the latest and old programs and equipment that may not start at all or work incorrectly;
reduces system performance, depriving it of new modules, libraries, patches, including critical ones.

Why throw away what you need?

The question arises: why even remove such a useful, according to others, thing? The fact is that many users notice that when updates are automatically installed, the system starts to freeze at boot, “think about it” for a long time, up to half an hour by the time the computer is turned off.

Some complain about incompatibilities appearing “out of nowhere” with software or devices with which “yesterday” there were no problems.
Sooner or later, by the method of reflection or "scientific poke", the user finds the reason - updates! For everything to work again, they need to be removed.

Removing updates

In fact, everything is not difficult. It only takes a few clicks to uninstall windows 7 updates.

Open the Start menu and go to Control Panel.
Select the System and Security section, and in it - Windows Update.
In the window that appears on the left there are links, one of which is View Update History - and opens a list of installed packages. By default, only the latest is displayed, but above the list, you can click the Installed Updates link, then all will be visible.
In this list, either the latest update is selected (unless, of course, the problems appeared just after it), or the one that causes problems, and then the “Delete” command is given from the context menu (it, by the way, is the only one in it - the menu) .

There is another way to uninstall updates.

All in the same Control Panel, the "Programs and Features" section is selected.
In it we find "View installed Windows updates" - and, voila, we get into the same window that displays a list of all available "innovations".
Then everything is as described above.

Uninstallable updates: what to do?

Now it's worth considering a more unpleasant situation: problematic packages are either not removed at all, or they are immediately installed again. Sometimes it becomes like a vicious circle, but the problem can be solved. The practical only case when an update is really impossible to remove is when it is set by group policy, and the user does not have rights to change it.

The first thing to do is to write down the name of the package on any piece of paper, including the KV prefix.
Then we execute the chain Start - Run - cmd. On the command line, enter
wusa.exe /uninstall /update name.
Then Enter, and then the computer will ask you to restart. But you can’t do it in any case, because it’s just a repetition of the same closed chain. No, this is where the trick is!
Therefore, the Control Panel - System and Security - Update Center is launched, the "Settings" link is selected and in the resulting window all options are marked that prohibit the installation of updates without the user's knowledge.
Only now you can allow the computer to restart.

Actually, the command line is needed only when the problematic software does not want to be removed. If the package is simply re-installed, then you can limit yourself to steps 3-4, and then remove it as described in the previous section.

Get rid of future troubles

How to save yourself from installing unnecessary software in the future? All in the same "Windows Update" you need to select "Settings" and either prohibit downloading updates altogether, or choose the option in which the system will ask what to install, leaving the user the opportunity to install only what is really needed, and not everything .

If you need to prohibit the installation of a specific update, then it is enough to right-click on its name in the list proposed for installation and give the command "Hide update"

This is how, if desired or necessary, you can get rid of unnecessary additions to the system, and also prohibit it from installing them in the future.

No matter how large the disk allocated for the system volume is in the computer, the memory on it is often catastrophically lacking.

Relatively recently, in order to free up space in this important directory, it was enough for the user to transfer some of his files to a 1.4 Mb floppy disk, after which it is possible to continue working on the PC for a long time.

Modern computers have tens of gigabytes of disk space, and sometimes terabytes, however, the problem of lack of memory is still relevant.

Below is a guide with techniques for safely deleting unnecessary Windows 7 update files to avoid unpleasant situations with system crashes and errors.

Where are updates stored and what are they for?

The longer the "Seven" is operated, the more upgrades for it are downloaded and the more space it takes in the computer.

Therefore, the question of which system updates can be safely removed is quite obvious to any user.

Updates are stored in the "WinSxS" system directory and may need to be rolled back to a healthy state as a result of failures if necessary.

If the PC owner does not need to do this, then erasing unused updates will not entail negative consequences for the functionality of the OS.

After installing the packages, the old files are saved to the PC, and if the last upgrade led to a failure, for example, in Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8, many users encountered error 87 after upgrading the OS, the elimination of the consequences of which requires a laborious registry adjustment, or a system rollback, which is possible when saving the files of previous updates stored in the "WinSxS" directory.

If the "Seven" has been working stably for a long time and the user has sufficient experience in operating a computer, then he can quickly free up significant space on the hard drive of his home electronic friend.

After all, a folder with "ballast" usually weighs at least 4 Gb.

Removal techniques

Initially, in Windows 7, Microsoft did not provide a tool to get rid of old system update files.

Therefore, PC owners had to use workarounds to free up valuable hard drive space.

Fortunately, the developers have released a special package "KB2852386" which makes this process safe and easy to perform even for novice users.

If this package was not installed automatically, then this wizard can be manually downloaded and installed on the official Microsoft resource. Its exact name is "Windows Cleanup Tool".

Thus, to the question: "Can I delete old saved updates from the system volume?" - Microsoft itself has already answered positively, but there is one very important condition.

This cleaner successfully copes with its tasks, both in 32-bit Seven and in x64, but it should be taken into account that the installation of this Old Files Cleanup Wizard is possible only if Seven is updated to SP1.

The following methods will help you erase previously installed upgrades from your computer's memory and remove updates that have not yet been installed on the system.

Method 1: Using the Cleanup Wizard

You must perform the following sequential steps:

Note: After a while, the updates will start downloading to the PC again, which will again require a disk cleanup. Therefore, it is recommended that this event to remove update files be performed quarterly.

Or you can disable the service for automatic download and installation of upgrades (how to do this is described later in this guide).

Method 2: Using Windows 7 Control Panel Features

The method through the "Control Panel" (CP) is very convenient to perform and allows you to achieve maximum effect. The following steps are required:

To do this, while holding "Win", you must click "R" and then type "wuapp" in the window that appears;

Technique 3: Using Command Line Features in Windows 7

You can not ignore the method using the "omnipotent" OS console, or as it is often called the "Command Line" (CS). The sequence of actions in this case consists of the following steps:

Method 4. How to remove manually?

You can also use the manual mode for removing updates from the WinSxS catalog, but first you need to deactivate the update service.

You need to do the following:

Method 5. How to remove only the installation files?