Windows 7 compression bug fills up hard drive in Windows temp space

A couple times, I've seen a Windows 7 computer with no free hard drive space and tons of space used in c:\windows\temp.  The answer is in this article:
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3112358/microsoft-windows/windows-7-log-file-compression-bug-can-fill-up-your-hard-drive.html

It's some sort of bug in Windows.  The fix is:

1) stop the Windows Module Installer service
2) move all the files out of c:\windows\logs\cbs (I typically move them to c:\windows\logs\cbs.old)
3) delete all the files in c:\windows\temp
4) reboot

Windows unable to check for updates - says service not started (even though the service is started)

I've seen a few Windows 7 machines that have Windows Update problems where the machine says the service is not started even the service is started.  When this happens, the computer can no longer check for updates and it'll go indefinitely without checking for updates. The fix is to wipe out the update cache and then check for updates again.

The process as described here:

Stop the Windows Update process
Delete the content from c:\windows\softwaredistribution
Start the Windows Update process

Check for Updates.

I also recommend that you make sure the system is set to install updates for all Microsoft products as well.  To do that, open Internet Explorer and put microsoft.com in the Compatibility View sites.  Then go to http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate in IE.   

Remove HP Client Security for Windows 7 to Windows 10 upgradres

I was doing a Windows 7 to Windows 10 upgrade the other day on an HP EliteBook 840 and after a series of failures (error code 0xc1900208 - the eventual solution was to remove HP Client Security.  It's an incompatible app.

Windows 7 not installing updates

As of March 2017, I rarely ever touch a Windows 7 machine anymore, but I did today, and the machine was checking for updates over and over again.  I googled and found a solution in my case (below).  The machine I was working on had installed updates in October 2016.  In general, I'd say my process for updating Windows 7 machines is this:

Install the convenience update if the most recent updates were older than April 2016

If the convenience update is installed, then I'd recommend these commands from an elevated command prompt:

net stop wuauserv
net stop cryptSvc
net stop bits
net stop msiserver
ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 catroot2.old
net start wuauserv
net start cryptSvc
net start bits
net start msiserver

update rollups for Windows 7 or other OSes (convenience updates)

If (for some reason) Windows update isn't working, which oddly I've seen a couple times in the last week when I needed to update Windows 7 in advance of a Windows 10 update (the checking for updates progress bar just cycles and cycles for hours) . . .

You can install update via a "convenience" update.

As an example, here's a convenience update for convenience update for Windows 7 and Windows 2008:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3125574

Before installing the update, install the April 2015 servicing stack update from here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3020369

Also - you may need to stop the "Windows Update" service so that the convenience update does not try to check for existing updates since the Windows Update service has already shown instability.

Keep Windows 7 from installing drivers updates

I found these steps for keeping Windows 7 from installing driver updates.  This is particularly important for Toshiba Portege laptops that can become unstable with non-Toshiba approved drivers (particularly video, WLAN, and audio).

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2500967

I follow the steps above on all Toshiba laptops.

Invalid partition table on a new Windows 7 install (UEFI vs legacy boot)

I rarely ever edit anything having to do with UEFI, but I found a situation where I was getting "invalid partition table" on a new Windows 7 installation from DVD.

The problem was that I was booting to the DVD from UEFI and then botting Windows from legacy BIOS (or so I think).  When pressing F12 on my Dell Latitude E7240, I got these options:

I was booting to the DVD ROM using "UEFI: HL-DT-ST DVD+/-RW GU60N"

However, presumably when the machine rebooted, it was trying to boot from the legacy hard drive.  If I booted to the UEFI hard drive when botting from the UEFI DVD drive, it would work.  But if booting to the Internal HDD from the legacy boot, I get "invalid partition table."

That's my theory as to why I was getting "invalid partition table"

Based on a sample size of one, this holds true.

fixing hibernation issues on Windows 7

I've got several Dell laptops (Latitude E6410, E6230, E6220) with trouble resuming from hibernation.  What I'm seeing most often is the laptop will begin to resume and then sit at the Welcome screen and never go any farther.  I'm going to make this my standard protocol for troubleshooting hibernation issues:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/when-power-saving-fails-fixing-windows-7-hibernation-issues/

The short version:

• update all hardware drivers
• disable and re-enable hibernation to delete and recreate the hiberfile.sys
  (run powercfg.exe /hibernate off and powercfg.exe /hibernate on)
• in device manager, turn off all devices that are capable of waking the computer (particularly NICs)
• turn off the auto-hide task bar
• in power options -> advanced settings for the active power profile, disable hybrid sleep

generic Windows icons for Office apps (in this case Office 2007 on Windows 7)

I've seen this twice and fixed it the same way both times. On the user's desktop, he/she has generic Windows icons instead of the typical Word or Outlook icons in the taskbar. Here's what that looks like:

I've been able to fix it each time with a batch file I found. Since I can't attach the batch file to this post, I'll put the text of the file here, since it's short:

@echo off

cls

echo The Explorer process must be killed to delete the Icon DB.

echo Please SAVE ALL OPEN WORK FIRST

pause

taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F

echo Attempting to delete Icon DB...

If exist %userprofile%\AppData\Local\IconCache.db goto delID

echo Previous Icon DB not found...trying to build a new one

goto :main

:delID

cd /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local

del IconCache.db /a

pause

echo Icon DB successfully deleted

goto main

:main

echo Windows 7 must be restarted to rebuild the Icon DB.

echo Restart now? (Y/N):

set /p choice=

If %choice% == y goto end

echo Shutdown aborted...please close this window

explorer.exe

:end

shutdown /r /t 0

exit

auto login on Windows 7

For a residential user, I was looking for an autologin for Windows 7. For XP, I used Tweakui, a part of the Windows XP Powertoys. But for Windows 7, I found these instructions:

• Press the Windows key + R on your keyboard to launch the “Run” dialog box.
• Type in control userpasswords2
• Press Enter. The User Accounts window will display.
• Uncheck the option “Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer”
• Click “OK”
• You will then be prompted to enter the current password and confirm it.
• After doing so, you will no longer be prompted to enter your password upon login.

I found those instructions here:

http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/coolstuff/Tip-Auto-Login-Your-Windows-7-User-Account

pdf995 requires Program Compatibility Assistant on Windows 7

I had a Windows 7 computer where I had installed PDF995, but found that it didn't show up in the list of printers. Then I found this - which said that you need to make sure the Program Compatibility Assistant service is started. In this case, the PCA was set to manual - but it was not started. I started it - uninstalled PDF995 and reinstalled it and voila - it worked. Weird.