"check for redundancies now"

does "check for windows update" in w7 actually MEAN anything? the button only appears when there are updates available, no?

most of the time there is no button; rather the "windows is up to date" message. once the button appears, it seems that 100% of the time there are, in fact, updates available!

am i wrong in this impression? has anyone ever clicked on that button and found that "there are no updates available"? ever?!

in which case one could excuse the button's existence. but i ain't seen it yet!

:confused

 

If you have updates on automatic the button isn't asking you to do anything - it's in the notification area and is simply telling you that updates are currently being downloaded and installed. If you are not using automatic then it's telling you that updates are ready for you to install.

So what's the problem exactly?

 

auto updates is off. and the button reads "check for updates now", not "updates are available" (as i believe it was in XP).

i would think that "check for updates" is a spot-check, with a better-than-average chance of coming up EMPTY. yet, afaict, it never has, not even ONCE.

when they're not available, the button isn't even there. so there is no need for ANY button -- it should just announce "updates are available" if that's indeed what it represents.

 

Mine's on automatic so I've never seen the words "check for updates", but it is just telling you that updates are available, it isn't asking you to check whether there are any.

 

They haven't perfected Windows Update (and likely never will). The "check for updates" button is there to ensure there aren't updates that Windows didn't find for itself already. I've seen plenty of machines that have updates available (Important ones, not just Optional) after using the button, even though it says "Windows is up to date". Most often on machines that have just had other Windows Updates downloaded and installed.

 

Although I have automatic updates enabled, I regularly click on Check for Updates, and it often shows me some optional updates that are not automatically installed.

 

but there IS no button when it declares "windows is up to date"!!

i was about to say your reply makes the most sense (Windows being buggy 'n all), but i can't get past this one line. :confused

in XP i could click "check for updates" ad nauseum, but in w7 the whole shebang disappears until it decides it's time to bring back the button. at first i thought it was a 24-hour turnaround, but after a few weeks of this now, i've decided it's actually linked to the presence of a lurking update. in which case "check for..." is a totally unnecessary step.

 

i stand corrected.

today, for the first time that i've noticed, it offered me "check for updates now" and came back "none available". wherein it changed back to the usual "no updates available screen".

which begs the questions -- WHAT GOVERNS the sudden appearance of the "check now" button? :confused

i'm going back to my "24 hour turnaround" theory, i guess.

 

You're always able to check for updates.
http://lookpic.com/c1/i2/1789/t1e6iyWV.jpeg

 

Which of these options are you using? If the top one then this prompt never appears, but if the bottom one ......

 

mcsmc: yes, i suppose i can!

which makes it all the MORE puzzling -- if that option's always sitting there, then what's the distinction between the 1% of the time when the check for updates BUTTON (over on right) is ALSO available, and the 99% of the time that it displays the "windows is up to date" screen SANS button (as in your picture)?

earthling: i have it on #3, fwiw.

 

I have no idea, and the basement MSFT employee that thought the rigamarole up should be sentenced to updating every Windows computer on Earth.

I personally believe that it's set on a timer, to show the "check for updates" BUTTON every so often. The left side link is always there.

 

yeah, i initially thot that, and that it must be 24 hrs, but then decided it was being prompted by actual updates pushing their way out.

now i'm back to thinking 24 hrs.

will need to watch more carefully.

one thing it doesn't seem to be is timer in the sense of specific time of day. i think. i guess. i dunno. that isn't what u meant, was it?

 

I have no clue. Maybe it checks for updates, and ANY updates for ANY versions of Windows, optional or not, flag it to show the button.

My thought on the timer is that it shows the button periodically based on factors like the last time the Windows Update application was opened, the last time a check for updates was performed, the last time updates were installed, etc.