Watch out for KB2952664, may cause problems

The Topic header essentially says it all, though feel the need to add necessary information to make my case.

 

It's disguised by Microsoft in this description, a 'Compatibility update for keeping Windows up-to-date in Windows 7'. 

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2952664/compatibility-update-for-keeping-windows-up-to-date-in-windows-7

 

While some may have nor see any issues, I did, and thought it had to do with an aftermarket cooler installed yesterday. Web pages would freeze for a minute & then unfreeze, apps would delay in opening, shutdown was slow.

 

And had I not been reading a review on a motherboard on the Newegg site while exploring for a possible Full ATX replacement MB from my current ASRock 970M Pro3, there's a chance that I may had never discovered it was that Optional update that was the culprit. 

 

 

 

 After a very specific Windows update, however, it gets confused on the operating system and will try to UEFI boot to Windows 7 and fail, giving a very unhelpful "Reboot and Select Proper Boot Device" error. This can be fixed in the BIOS (Advanced --> Boot --> Secure Boot --> OS Type to "Other OS"), but it's annoying to deal with. I have no idea why Windows rolled that update out to Windows 7 systems when it was going to flat-out brick a system with an ASUS motherboard.

 

Source link & in the review dated 02/28/2017 (not far back) & titled 'Be careful if you run Windows 7'. 

 

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813131873

 

That got me to thinking, I had installed the same update around that time, maybe it didn't fully take & was reoffered yesterday, just before I installed a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO & then ran Prime95 for a few hours to accelerate curing the Arctic Silver 5 (aka 'AC5') thermal solution. I actually thought had done something wrong, and went back & made sure all was right, changed the data cable to the single SSD that dual boots two OS's. There is a slight fan rattle, an issue that goes hand in hand with low cost coolers, should had went with the Noctua NH-D15S, because now will have to order one of the fans that fits it for silence (I'm a perfectionist & don't like noises).

 

Yet still the issue of the freezing was dogging me. Then I recall seeing those very exact words upon booting a couple of times when reading the review. 

 

 

 

Reboot and Select Proper Boot Device

 

I felt that the answer was found, and after uninstalling the update two times (it was still there after the first reboot, I presume because of the install twice), presto, the issue was totally gone!

 

Had I not been looking at replacement motherboards & reading reviews, as I always do when consider a purchase of this nature, would have not caught the issue until it was very widespread. After researching the update, it's not exactly new, may had been one of those that I had hidden in the past. What it does do, is upload a lot of data via the Telemetry deal. Note that there's a separate update for 8.1 that does the same.

 

http://www.infoworld.com/article/3168397/microsoft-windows/microsoft-re-releases-snooping-patches-kb-2952664-kb-2976978.html

 

Evidently that update does so much uploading/snooping that it has an impact on system resources, and while this isn't the most powerful computer in the World, it was built with my hands, and is no slouch. 

 

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/h6I4AUrOFJls5gmsCCw1bYJ

 

Link is also the last in my sig.

 

My intention on posting this, is to allow members & our followers to be aware of the issue, and if sticking with Windows 7, these type of updates should be researched before installing. Hopefully it won't become an 'Important' or 'Critical' update, since it's now hidden (both), kind of strange when two KB's of the same number are on the hide list, and even stranger, two uninstalls & reboots were required to purge these.

 

So if anyone is having sudden performance issues with Windows 7 as of late, ensure that this update is removed prior to further diagnostics, this may save one a lot of time & troubles.

 

EDIT: Added link to Microsoft source of information in regards to KB2952664. 

 

Cat

Edited by cat1092, 11 March 2017 - 09:47 PM.

@ cat1092

 

Excerpt from ....... https://www.ghacks.net/2017/02/11/blocking-telemetry-in-windows-7-and-8-1/

 

There's probably a whole bunch of KB2952664 versions on a telemetry-infected system.. Somewhat cumbersome to get rid of them all:

elevated command prompt enter: wusa /uninstall /kb:2952664 /norestart

elevated command prompt enter: dism /online /get-packages | findstr KB2952664
This pulls up all KB2952664 packages.

To remove them, again from an elevated command prompt enter:
dism /online /remove-package /PackageName:Package_for_KB2952664~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.1.3

This removes version 6.1.1.3 only.
On machines that also have versions 6.1.0.12, 6.1.3.0, 6.1.7.4, 6.1.8.2, etc. etc.
this command must be repeated with the appropriate version numbers.

Once all versions are processed, run: dism /online /get-packages | findstr KB2952664 again,
and if it doesn’t return any packages, KB2952664 is gone

.

.

M$ have so far issued 20+ different versions of KB2952664 since about April 2015. After uninstall, KB2952664 can get reinstalled and are not easy to be removed permanently.

....... I think the recent ones are Telemetry updates(NSA spyware.?) bc the free Win 10 upgrade offer had already expired on 29 July 2016. Because of the need to use clients' computer resources to phone home to M$, KB2952664 may sometimes be over-taxing or interfering with the computers.

Well, in my case had no clue to what was going on, only that very close to the time after removing the MB to install a new CPU cooler, I was fearing hardware issues/damage, because when I installed those updates in the wee hours of that morning, was so sleepy that I couldn't see straight. And surely wasn't thinking about what the update could or would do, actually was forgotten about, until I was shopping for a possibly upgraded (Full ATX) MB with USB 3.1 & M.2 support and in my usual shopping fashion, sifting through reviews of at least 10 MB's. 

 

There, as posted above, I seen the answer.

 

In fact, as far as removal of these unwanted updates for Windows 10 goes, I have a batch file on several USB sticks to purge many (a few more actions also needed to be performed manually), the file maintainer kept the list up to date until these were no longer relevant. The .bat file is underneath those lists, maybe I need to run this one last time on my remaining two Windows 7 systems, some would agree so, since that file is on the list, as well as the one for Windows 8.1, and fits in line with your response quoted below.

 

 

 

Somewhat cumbersome to get rid of them all:

 

http://techne.alaya.net/?p=12499

 

I'm not perfect with the technical garb, am more familiar with hardware, OS installs & security. Just wanted to warn members if the updates are installed (plus the one for Windows 8 in the listed article), if the OS acts funky, to remove ASAP. The batch file still available will alone accomplish this, if ran as Administrator. Then the person must realize to hide these updates from being shown again. 

 

Yet one thing I don't understand, since Microsoft isn't shipping out W10 w/out our consent anymore, what's the point in reissuing updates to wreak havoc on Windows 7? Much the same way in the last three years prior to EOL of XP, the updates/patches were more or less duct tape & spit to hold things together. When it comes to updates, less is more, when a reinstall is needed, it's best to slipstream the 'SP2 rollup' into any install media, there's sites that shows how to do this step by step, and may eliminate many updates that's weighing down an already heavy Windows 7 (especially pre-SP1 systems that hasn't been reinstalled).

 

Cat

Edited by cat1092, 11 March 2017 - 09:57 PM.

Yeah cat I remember this KB from past months when MS was trying to shove GWX down Win7 users' throat. I have received KB2952664 as an optional update twice in the past month. When I clicked on 'more information' it told me exactly what you had iterated in your initial post ( "compatibility update for keeping Windows up-to-date in Windows 7") and for those who participate in CEIP.

 

I have hidden this update as I have done with most updates unless they pertain to security issues and will continue to do so in the future.

sikntired, will remember this from here on out, if it's not a security update for W7 (or 8.1) & especially has to do with CEIP or Telemetry, will hide the update & be done with it.

 

I don't need nor desire anymore 'phoning home' updates nor using excessive resources, and also block Telemetry updates for my NVIDIA GPU's with the CCleaner Startup tab. Because I don't know for sure if these are for customer service, or to share with their partners & most likely, Microsoft is one.

 

It's getting to the point of keeping the OS security updates installed, as well as installed software & any plug-ins, and distrust the rest that offers no benefit. As Microsoft is likely getting in gear to pull over on Windows 7 users (the #1 most used OS still to this day) the same stunts they did with XP users a couple of years prior to EOL.

 

Cat

Microsoft re-releases snooping patches KB 2952664, KB 2976978 :

As a stupid joke, one of my friends posted this back to me, and said "it was nice to see the New President, answering his critics"    

FYI It reappeared.  Even though I've hidden KB 2952664 several times in the past it reappeared this week (4/4/18).  

 

Question: does Microsoft's "hide" option have some sort of expiration time frame?  Why do some Updates -- which are many years old and which I have hidden in the past -- occasionally reappear?  Does MS just really, really want me to install them?  It gets old.  Sigh.

Talking windows 8.1 for a moment, I saw KB2976978 offered to me (KB2952664 never existed for windows 8.1) when I updated window on one of my machines yesterday, it was offered as BOTH an optional and an important update, hence showed on both lists and had to be hidden on each. I make a habit of downloading the msu files for the "security only" versions of updates rather than the full security and "quality" ones offered through the usual windows update interface, so if there is any telemetry stuff being put into them, alongside the telemetry junk in KB2976978, I should be safe from it too.


Post #7 when updates reappear it is because a new version has been released* and you are being shown the new version. I think that when M$ is desperate to push an update, as they were when distributing the KB3035583 GWX.exe malware, they release new versions without actually changing the patches very much.

*also occasionally you might get offered a really old update if you've just enabled a feature you've never used before or downloaded certain third party software which needs parts of the .NET framework you don't yet have.

Post #1, the comment you displayed had the user saying this nasty update would "flat-out brick a system with an ASUS motherboard". But it seems they fixed it by altering BIOS/UEFI settings, or am I reading something incorrectly? Is the update wrecking computers to the point where no settings tweak can fix things, or is the word "brick" just being used ambiguously?

Edited by rp88, 06 April 2018 - 03:02 PM.

Just a few days ago I down loaded it, it has been revised and now causes no issues.  I had a post up on it about a month ago due the issues it caused me, but all is well now.

Edited by OldPhil, 06 April 2018 - 03:50 PM.

I keep hiding this update but it keeps coming back like a bad weed.

I keep hiding this update but it keeps coming back like a bad weed.

 

You are not alone.

I keep hiding this update but it keeps coming back like a bad weed.

 

I'll continue to hide the update for Windows 7 & 8.1 for long as possible. From time to time, will still run the .bat file above to ensure any hasn't snuck in while my pants were down.

 

While it's a job to suppress CEIP components on a W10 system, there's still possibilities available. However that's beyond the scope of Topic & for Windows 7 & 8.1 users, keeping Telemetry components off of the install has two benefits. The first & obvious being privacy, the second & often noticed once removed are lost performance regained. Windows 7 SP1 is still quite a good daily driver, especially with the excess bloat removed.

 

Cat