why has vista stopped automatic updates?

OUgrad,

I downloaded all the fixes you suggested, but had limited success installing them all.  The ones that would not

install were;  KB4012583 and KB4012497.  I just now tried these again, and they installed OK.  I've switched back to Auto Update setting and the Vista PC is checking for updates as I write this.  I'll check back with you later.

I have one other question.  When this all began, I went to the Microsoft Update Catalog and entered a search for all Vista fixes released since December 2016, my last date of installs.  In this list was KB3210142, which, when exploded out, yielded the following KBs:   3078601, 3210139, 3210129, and 3210136.  Of that list, the first and third fix returned the message "not applicable to your system".  KB3210139 did install correctly, whereas KB3210136 reported "Installation Wizard does not apply or is blocked by another condition on your computer.

My question is, why do these two .msu files and this one .exe file not apply to my system when they are spelled out in the list of x86 fixes?

One final thing here, I'm just downloading ALL current Vista fixes on another PC using WSUS Offline software in the event all those fixes you suggested don't bring my Vista PC into auto-update posture.  Is this a plan?

Thanks,

Frederick

Hi Volume Z:

Just a heads up that the **KB3178690** (MS17-014: Security Update for Excel 2010: March 14, 2017) you have listed in your recommended speed up patches <here> for the March 2017 Patch Tuesday updates has a serious bug, but for some reason Microsoft has not pulled the installer from the Microsoft Update Catalog.  See Woody Leonhard's Woody on Windows InfoWorld article Botched Windows patch KB 3178690 freezes, crashes Excel 2010 for further details.

32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.0.1 * NIS v22.9.0.71 * MBAM v2.2.1

After processing the recommended manual updates, my Vista did 137 updates. Only two failed.

This morning, my Vista box successfully did updates!

So, again, both my Win 7 and Vista machines turned on updating yesterday. I'd really love to know the full story behind this. And here, all this time, I thought I had done something to the computers to damage them- when it was MS all along- either purposefully or due to some system wide bug in their update system.

Joe