Windows 7 displays never before seen message - "Wait for group policy client"

System: Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 bit, SP1
ASUS laptop K52F
Accounts on laptop: Admin (Administrator account), Fred (Standard user account)


[Note: Posted this message to 2 other forums 2 weeks ago but never received a satisfactory answer so I am posting it here.]

Two weeks ago I installed the following optional Windows updates:
KB3080079 [adds RDS support for TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 ]
KB915597 [update to Windows Defender definitions]

When I logged in to an Administrator account ["Admin"], the login was very, very slow and I saw the message "Wait for group policy client". So I rebooted and again logged into an Administrator account. The message still appeared and the login was still very slow. I do not remember ever seeing this message prior to the above updates, although I am unsure if the message was related to the updates.

So I tried two experiments:
(Experiment 1) Disconnected from the Internet, rebooted, & logged in to an Administrator account. The message no longer appeared. I tried this 2 times - no message.

(Experiment 2) Reconnected to the Internet, rebooted, & logged in to an Administrator account. The message no longer appeared. I tried this 2 times - no message.

The message no longer appears with logins to either account (Administrator account & Standard user accout)

After this problem occurred, I scanned my laptop with the following, none of which found any problems:
Avira, Malwarebytes, TDSSKiller, SUPERAntiSpyware, RogueKiller
I also ran Chkdsk which found no problems.

(1) Why did the message disappear and never reappear even after a week? Why did it even appear in the first place?
(2) The Group Policy Client is running on the laptop. Is this service vital to Windows 7 and should be left running, or can it be stopped and set to manual or disabled?

Thank you.

 

1. Why are you updating Windows Defender when you have Avira, I assume installed? Defender should have turned itself off if you installed another av program.

2. Since Home Premium does not come with the Group Policy Editor, how was this installed?

 

Ques # 1: Windows Defender is not running all the time. I only use it to periodically scan the laptop. Only Avira AV is running all the time. Defender has turned itself off.

Ques # 2: I was about to say that I do not have gpedit. But lo and behold, I found gpedit.msc in the folder
==> x86_microsoft-windows-g..it-snapin.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_en-us_aab602c931a89371
and gpedit.msc is dated July 2009.
I purchased the laptop March 2011 so clearly gpedit.msc was part of the original software from ASUS. Note that when I tried to execute gpedt, the error was "MMC could not create snap-in". Win 7 does not even find gpedit.msc when I enter "gpedit.msc" into Win Start button search.

Does this answer your questions?

 

Yes. So gpedit.msc someone got on the computer yet is not seen when you search for it.

Since three of our computers running Win 7 are Home Premium, gpedit,msc is not on them. (there is a gpedit.dll present)

Now I did find a way to add it but IMO, it looks too complicated and since I've never had the need to use it, I'm not inclined to try and get it on and screw up a working computer.

Looks like Group Policy Client should be kept on automatic
http://www.blackviper.com/service-c...dows-7-service-pack-1-service-configurations/

I always check what Black Viper has to say about services.

Apparently on a 64 bit computer, it needs to be at two places.

 

WOW - I was not aware of BlackViper. Thank you so much for the info. This is a great resource.