Computer Shopper 2019-11-01

ISSUE 381|COMPUTERSHOPPER|NOVEMBER 2019 101

I

fyou keep your computer up to date, not

only do youpatch the latest security

threats and getthe latest features,

youcan also makeyour computer run

faster thankstobetter-optimised

softwareand bug fixes.

Oneofthe biggest issues thatComputer

Shopperreaders havehad is getting

Windows 10 to updateproperly.Asofthe

May2019 update, Microsoft has improved

Windows 10’supdatesystem, although you

first need to getyour computer to that

stage. Here’s what youneed to do.

Fixstorage spaceproblems

As of the May2019 update, Windows will

automatically reserve7GB of storage

spacefor updates. That fixes the issue of

users running out of storage spaceand,

therefore, notbeing able to update.

Beforeyou canupdatetothe May2019

version of Windows 10, youmay need to

fix the storage problems yourself.

If youcan free up some spacebydeleting

or moving around 10GB of files, then you

may find that Windows Updatewill run

properly.However, in some cases, Microsoft

may actually try and help, and youmay see

adialog boxsaying Windows needs more

space. This gives youthe option to free up

space, which will delete non-essential files

to giveyou the breathing room that you

need. However,asMicrosoft suggests, if you

haveaharddisk of 50GB or less, you’re

better offusing the second option from the

dialog box: an external storage device.

Plug aUSB driveintoyour computer,

using the largest driveyou canfind that hits

the storage requirementlisted on the

screen. Typically speaking, an external USB

harddisk is abetterchoicethan aUSB flash

drive. Click the refresh button to find your

drive, and agreen tick will appear next to

it, assuming there’s enough free storage

spaceavailable. Click Continue and

Windows Updateshould continue.

Fixastuck update

Sometimes Windows 10 canget stuck on

one update, refusing to move the status bar

to 100%. The best thing youcan do at this

stage is to leaveyour computer foranhour

or so: some updates arejust very slow.

If this doesn’t fix your problem, then

launch Settings from the Start menu and go

to Update&Security,Troubleshoot. This part

of Windows has automatic tools forfixing

issues. Select the Windows Updateoption

and click RunTroubleshooter. If Windows

detects anyproblems, it will fix them foryou.

Youshould only need to rebootyour

computer to getthe stuck updatemoving.

If this doesn’t fix the problem, rebootinto

Safemode. Go to Settings in the Start menu,

select Update&Security,then Recovery,

and click Restart nowunder Advanced

start-up. When the option comes

up on the screen, select

Troubleshoot, Advanced Options,

Startup Settings, Restart. After

your computer restarts, you’ll see

abootmenu. Select SafeMode

with Networking and letyour

computer bootasnormal, then

log into your user account.

When you’reinWindows,press

Windows-X and select Command

Prompt(Admin)tolaunch anew

terminal window. At the terminal,

typenetstop wuauserv,then

press Enter. This prevents the

Windows Updateservicefromrunning,

giving youafewrepair options.

Open aFile Explorer windowand go to

c:\windows\softwaredistribution. Select all

of the files in this folder and hit delete.This

deletesall the files that Windows Update

has already downloaded, forcing them to be

downloaded again. Once that’sdone, getup

an Admin Command Prompt, typenetstart

wuaservand hit Enter. Restart your

computer,and youshould be good to go.

Youcan tryto forcethe May2019 update.

Go totinyurl.com/Win10MediaCreationTool.

Select the Updatenow option to download

and run an upgrade tool that will push

through the update.

In very rare cases, Windows may still

refuse to update, in which case arefresh of

your PC, either back to an old image that

youcreated or using the Windows reset

options, may be in order (see page 100).

Once you’reonthe May2019 update,

you’ll see that youhavemoreoptions for

Windows UpdateinSettings, including

the ability to pause updates forupto35

days, and youcan deferthe big updates

(generally twiceayear)for up to 18 months.

ABOVE:If youdon’t haveenough storage space, youcan use an

external drivetorun Windows Update

ABOVE:The automatic Windows Update

Tr oubleshooter canfix manycommon problems

ABOVE:Safemode canhelp youfix issues that

youcan’t touch in normal circumstances

ABOVE:Clearing out the Windows Update cache

canhelp stuck updates work again

KeepWindows10

updatedatall times

TheWindows 10 automatic update system doesn’tworkforeveryone.

Here’showto ensureyourcomputeris as upto date as possible