The right and left hand of MSE updates.

[88V8]

In the morning first thing I manually initiate an update of MSE and a general update via Windows Update. Both, but not always in the same order.

Inevitably, MSE seems to find something to download and install, the whole process takes a couple of minutes.

Going back a few months, general Update never flagged anything for MSE. But now it does. Often a few kb, yesterday a bit bigger, 2.8mb.

Now, the funny thing, even if I've already updated MSE, Update still finds MSE updates (this is getting confusing) but when I go to install them, it says Not Needed.

And if I choose to update first via Update, loading the MSE update can take ages. Yesterday for example, it started by creating a restore point, which take a long time. MSE never does that.

So, as a matter of idle curiousity, why does general Update not recognise that MSE has already been updated, and why does Update make such a meal of installing updates that MSE handles very quickly?

V8

[Breelander]

In the morning first thing I manually initiate an update of MSE and a general update via Windows Update. Both, but not always in the same order....
...as a matter of idle curiosity, why does general Update not recognise that MSE has already been updated, and why does Update make such a meal of installing updates that MSE handles very quickly?

This would be Windows 7 you're talking about as you can't install MSE on W8.1/W10.

You check for Windows Updates every morning? Why? Did you know that security updates are only released once a month? Patch Tuesday is the second Tuesday of the month. At 10.00AM Redmond, Washington time (6.00PM UK time) the 'Monthly Rollup for Windows 7' is released. This is the only time of the month that new security fixes are issued. The latest one was...

March 12, 2019—KB4489878 (Monthly Rollup)

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4489878

Inevitably, MSE seems to find something to download and install

New virus definitions updates are issued as required. Usually at least one a day, sometimes more.

One workaround would be to to separately update MSE/Windows updates. Set Windows Update to check for updates but let you choose which to download. Then check for updates and untick the MSE definitions update before downloading/installing the rest.

The good (?) news is that you will only have to bother about this for ten more months. The last ever update for Windows 7 will be issued on January 14th.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... fact-sheet

If you're lucky MSE may continue to receive definitions updates (they are the same ones as used by Defender) but I wouldn't count on MSE for W7 being supported beyond next January.