Windows Update Cache Cleaner

I had my laptop running in circles re-downloading same update over and over again and failing at 95% every single time. Restarting Windows Update only caused download to start at 95% every time and again, failing as well. The solution was easy, cleaning the Windows Update download cache. Update was re-downloaded and installed successfully. But since casual users aren’t in the mood of messing up with files inside Windows folder, I’ve made this simple tool that does that for you, 100% risk free.

The instructions are pretty self explanatory. Just follow them and Windows Update should work again.

Works on Windows XP/Vista/7/8.x/10 and probably future Windows versions since Windows Update cache has the same folder location for years.

DOWNLOAD

Delete Windows.old folder

Just upgraded your Windows to Windows 10 Anniversary Update and you can’t get rid of that pesky Windows.old folder? Not even after using Windows Disk Cleaner like this?

Here is a quick and simple method…

Click Start -> Power -> Hold SHIFT key on keyboard -> Restart

Wait for a bit until Choose an option screen appears.

Troubleshoot -> Advanced options -> Command Prompt

Enter password if you use one for your account (leave empty if not), click Continue and wait for a bit until Command Prompt appears…

Then, follow these steps:

1. Type in C: and hit ENTER key
2. Type in rd /s Windows.old
3. Confirm with Y and hit ENTER key
   
4. Close the Window with X and select Continue button to return to Windows

It should look like this (simulated in Windows)…

There should be no Windows.old folder left on your C: drive anymore after this 🙂 For some reason, doing it in Windows using Command Prompt (Admin) doesn’t work. But this does.

Update to Windows 10 Anniversary Update now without waiting…

If you want to update to Windows 10 Anniversary update now and Windows Update keeps saying you’re already up to date, then do the following…

Visit this webpage:

https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows10

You should see a notification about the update on top of the page. Just confirm it and you’ll download a small tool that will begin the Anniversary Update right away without waiting. For some reason I managed to update my system on 2nd August 2016 via Windows Update, but I have to update both my laptop and tablet via this tool for some reason.

Windows 10 Anniversary Update tomorrow, get your systems ready!

We’ve talked about nonsense in Windows 10 about million times so far, but this one is on a bit more serious note. Yeah, I’ve been running Windows 10 for a while now and apart from privacy garbage, it’s been working fine.

However, massive update is scheduled for tomorrow, 2nd August 2016. To avoid potential problems, make sure you have all your 3rd party applications fully updated and verify that it’s Windows 10 Anniversary Update compatible. This especially applies to resident system applications like SSD caching software and antiviruses. Most vendors have been busy releasing compatibility updates, but since they aren’t pushed to users and most hesitate to update, make sure you’ll be ready. This will help avoiding unnecessary problems, lockups, BSOD’s and so on.

I’m looking forward to the update and I’m already prepared. I suggest you check your system too.

Windows Update MiniTool

Are you sick and tired of retarded Windows Update in Windows 10 ? You know, that shit that only has one button and shoves all the shit down your throat whether you like it or not? Yeah, that one.

Well, someone made Windows Update MiniTool which essentially looks like Windows Update in Windows 8.1 (why the fuck Microsoft didn’t leave this properly functional feature alone, I don’t fucking know). All Microsoft had to do is force security updates so you can’t deselect or postpone them and call it a day. But no, they had to go the length and fuck everything up with forced driver updates and other shit. Aaaaaagh.

Anyway, switching to chill mode because Windows Update MiniTool is awesome and has restored sanity to my Windows world. It’s all Windows Update in Windows 8.1 had plus more. It’s actually really nice thingie for power users like me.

Updates are delivered directly from Microsoft servers so worry not about quality or security of updates. Windows Update MiniTool is just a more advanced front end for the existing Windows Update service.

Official Windows Update MiniTool “homepage”:
LINK

English thread on MDL:
LINK

My download mirror and Slovenian translation language file*:
LINK

*place wumt_lang.ini file next to EXE of WU MiniTool

I’ll keep my download mirror as up-to-date as possible, though I recommend using official download links if you want to be sure you’re using the very latest tool and language files.

 

Windows 10 is a pile of horse shit

TRIGGER WARNING: UNMEASURABLE AMOUNT OF SWEARING AHEAD

Ok, this fucking does it. Windows 10 is the motherfucking worst Windows OS I’ve ever used. No, Vista was a fucking gem compared to this pile of absolute concentrated excrement.

Lets write down why…

I happen to own a slightly older Compaq laptop. Nothing fancy, it’s powered by an AMD E-450 APU and I’ve bought extra 4GB of RAM to make 8GB in total and replaced the crappy HDD with 128GB Crucial M4 SSD. It’s still kinda weak, but for web, music and movies, perfectly capable device. Has served me well with Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. Popup came along to update to Windows 10 and so I did it. And that’s where thing went downhill. 90° slope…

There is this wonderful thing with AMD E-450 APU where latest Catalyst 15.7 drivers, the very same that also get delivered to Windows 10 through Windows Update, these drivers don’t fucking work at all. Youtube at 480p lags and stutters like I’m trying to run 4K on a fucking Commodore C-128. It’s absolutely unusable.

Gone through Display Driver Uninstaller, manually disabled automatic driver updating and installed old Catalyst 14.12 Omega, the ones that worked fine and where I could playback 1080p Youtube smoothly. All was well and then I stopped using laptop for a while because I didn’t need it.

Like an hour ago, I’ve fired it up and checked for updates since it passed quite a lot of days. And guess what Windows Update automatically without asking me a single thing. Yup, you guessed it. It installed motherfucking Catalyst 15.7 WHQL drivers on its own that don’t fucking work with HD6320 GPU found on AMD E-450 APU.

If this was the scenario with Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, I could simply uncheck the driver in the Windows Update panel where you decide what driver updates to install and what to ignore. Problem would be solved in 5 seconds and I’d have no need to write this rant. But nope in Windows 10. No such thing. Microsoft just forcibly stuffs ALL MOTHERFUCKING DRIVERS down your throat whether they work or they don’t (and most of the time they don’t work, say hello to all the broken wireless drivers from the past). And this is exactly what I’ve been warning about when “new” Windows Update was revealed. Bad shit will happen when Microsoft decides to forcibly install all drivers. And it’s already happening.

I’d blame AMD for not providing functional drivers, but it’s not AMD that is forcing broken drivers onto my system, it’s fucking Microsoft.

How can a multi-billion company like Microsoft fuck it up so badly is beyond any level of comprehension. It’s so terrifyingly bad it’s almost surreal. Fucking hell. And I’ve actually gone and bought a GTX 980 so I’ll have a DirectX 12 capable GPU to properly utilize graphics on a new OS. Which turned out to be this piece of crap (the OS, GTX 980 is fine). And I’ll eventually be forced to use Windows 10 because DirectX 12 will not be available on Windows 8.1 (which works like a charm). I always install all system updates in Windows 8.1 but skip most driver updates per my selection. It’s brilliant, keeps system up to date and under my full control because I know how to handle computers you fucks at Redmond. And then there is Windows 10 with its pathetic forced auto updating of motherfucking everything.

Microsoft, fuck you and fuck your Windows 10. This is by FAR the worst Windows I’ve ever used. It’s so fucking bad it makes Windows 8, Windows Vista and Windows Millennium look like fucking perfection. At least it was under MY control and it fucking worked. Windows 10 is apparently entirely under Microsoft’s control and it’s fucking non functional pile of shit.

Microsoft, STOP breaking shit and forcing it on us. You CAN’T possibly know what drivers we want so stop doing this shit. Fuck. Just fucking stop it! Aaaaaargh!!!!

Disable automatic driver updating in Windows 10

Are you tired of stupid Windows 10 automatically updating drivers with versions that are broken or clearly inferior to the one you want to use (I’ve had such horrible experience few days ago with AMD E-450 APU and latest Catalyst 15.7 WHQL drivers that just don’t work good at all)? Since Microsoft doesn’t want to leave us the fuck alone, we have to yet again tweak this shit on our own. Which is annoying, but necessary if you want to use Windows 10 at the moment without losing all your hair. Or turning it grey…

Right-click on Start button and select System. Click Advanced system settings and select Hardware tab and then Device Installation Settings…

Set it as shown on the image above. This will force Windows 10 to stop automatically updating and installing drivers.

I don’t get it what was wrong with the Windows 8.x driver updating!? It automatically updated any missing device drivers on first bootup after installation, but ANYTHING else detected later on Windows Update was just presented to the user who was then able to simply disable notification for that particular driver and never see it again. But you were also able to accept the offer and update it. I loved that system, because it worked like charm and wasn’t invasive. But now, Microsoft just stuffs it down your throat whether you like it or not. Idiotic to the max.

Repairing broken Windows Update

If you are having problems with Windows Update component like error messages when opening Windows Update, fails to check for updates when you click “Check for updates”, is complaining that Windows Service isn’t running even though it is, Windows Update component not responding or hanging, missing updates even though they should be visible etc, there is a way to fix that.

STEP 1: MICROSOFT REPAIR TOOL
First stop should always be this tool:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058

It’s Microsoft’s own tool to repair Windows Update. In very simple so I don’t expect any problems here.
Go to Windows Update and check if it’s working properly after repair attempt.

STEP 2: RESETTING WINDOWS UPDATE
If Windows Update is still not working after using the above tool, do the following:

Go to Run command and type in “services.msc” (without quotes) or in other words just get to Services control panel. Look for “Windows Update” service and stop it.

Go to folder:
C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\

And delete all its content (just the content of the folder SoftwareDistribution, not the folder itself). Now go back to the services panel and start Windows Update service again.
Restarting the system is highly recommended in which case Windows Update service will auto-restart by itself.
Go to Windows Update and check if it’s working properly after repair attempt.

STEP 3: FIX WU UTILITY
If things still don’t function properly, try using this tool:
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/repair-fix-windows-updates-with-fix-wu-utility

It’s called “Fix WU Utility” and it will re-register all important components of the Windows Update.
After repair attempt, go to Windows Update and check if it’s working properly.

If you ever had a Windows Update problem and you resolved it in some other way, let me know and I’ll add it to the list so others will be able to fix it as well.

 

SAMSUNG LCD monitor driver messes up photo colors

If Windows Update offers you a Samsung driver for your monitor, don’t even try to install it. I also don’t recommend installing any of the SAMSUNG garbage that comes with their LCD monitors. This piece of crap always fucked up my color space. All the images viewed in Windows Photo Gallery looked like someone pasted a yellow filter over them. White was not white anymore but some ugly mix of pink and yellow. Awful. Skin tone also looked like someone run a bad sepia filter over.

How to get normal colors back?
It’s quite simple. Go to folder:
C:\Windows\system32\spool\drivers\color

Look for file named smXXXx.icm. Since I’m using SAMSUNG SyncMaster 931c, the file is named “sm931c.icm” (without quotes). If you have some other monitor model, just fit in your model number instead those XXXx. Once you locate the file, delete it. Here you go. White should again look as white in Windows Photo Gallery. Colors should also be vibrant and natural again.

This crap took me a while to fix, so I hope this guide will help all the users with SAMSUNG LCD monitors that are having the same problem.