Windows 10 system recovery...

[Synthman4]

Hi there. I first downloaded and installed Windows 10 when it first came onto the market back in 2015.
Since then I've regularly updated the OS with all the latest updates.
Afew months ago I had a virus on the machine and I had to do a system recovery (Not an advanced one because I wanted to keep my original files just in case they weren't infected too).

Do I still need to download all the Windows updates over the last 5 years since I first installed Windows because I'm not sure if system recovery has reinstalled all the updates too.
Thanks.

[resistorman]

Windows should have installed the latest OS during the recovery process, so no.

[Synthman4]

Are you quite sure. Did Windows install the updates onto the d drive for recovery then?

[Eddy Deegan]

If you are running Windows 10 and it has a connection to the Internet, then it will ensure that it is up to date.

Sometimes it's a little inconvenient because Windows can insist that it needs to update and will hassle you until you do. It's better than it used to be as you can tell it to do it later when it prompts you, but although Windows 10 has things about it (privacy mainly) that are annoying, one thing it is really good at is keeping up to date.

So, to summarise, if it's got a connection to the Internet then it will update with all the required patches and you do not need to worry about doing it yourself.

[Synthman4]

What about if you have to scrub everything that's on the C Drive including windows itself and it has to reinstall windows 10 that is on the d drive back on to the c drive to make a system recovery. Surely the windows on the d drive wasn't updated as well?

[Eddy Deegan]

The installation media doesn't have to be up to date. After the system has been restored, even to an older version of Windows 10, once it's connected to the internet it'll update itself to the latest version.

[Agharta]

In the old days you had to manually download and install a Service Pack as Windows wouldn't do that for you.
These days it will do it all from major upgrades to monthly security updates etc.

[Synthman4]

The installation media doesn't have to be up to date. After the system has been restored, even to an older version of Windows 10, once it's connected to the internet it'll update itself to the latest version.

But after the system recovery was completed my Internet was switched off. Some of my music software will not work now as some of it came out well a year or two after the first Windows 10 came out in 2015.
I can't update Windows.
And I won't be able to buy my computer back from cash converters to connect it to the Internet to know for sure what's happened to the end of lockdown. I want to know now what to do before I buy it back so I'll know what to do. I'm thinking of buying a 5g phone so I'll be able to download five years of updates very quickly.

[Mike Stranks]

Richard:

- Connect the computer to the Internet
- Go to 'Settings'
- Go to 'Updates'

Windows will tell you what needs to be done (if anything) and invite you to do it. Follow that advice.

You do not need a 5G phone.

... you mentioned a virus...

Check that Windows Defender is up to date and active.

Install the free version of Malwarebytes and use it regularly

[Hugh Robjohns]

Before we waste too much time and effort on this:

And I won't be able to buy my computer back from cash converters to connect it to the Internet to know for sure what's happened to the end of lockdown.

[Synthman4]

I suppose I'm going to have to wait till I get my PC back.
I'm very frustrated to know what the problem was before I gave my PC on buyback. I'd just reinstalled windows from the d drive and just wanted to know that when I updated Windows every now and again over the years, was Windows on the d drive updated everytime as well?

[Eddy Deegan]

I'd just reinstalled windows from the d drive and just wanted to know that when I updated Windows every now and again over the years, was Windows on the d drive updated everytime as well?

No, it wasn't. You could have restored a working system from it but would have had to connect the PC to the Internet afterwards it in order to bring the restored version on drive C back up to date again.

[Synthman4]

:As I said mate. The internet wasn't on at the time. It wasn't a working restore point just a system recovery.

[Hugh Robjohns]

It will need to be connected to the Internet to complete its updating to the current spec.

[ef37a]

Never mind Windows ten!
At 6 this morning I fired up my living room W7 desktop to listen to R3 and the taskbar had changed!

Almost everything had gone including the speaker icon* and I had a silly 'pad & pen' icon and something about 'Tablet'?

Took me a good five minutes of bleary eyed hacking to get the taskbar back as was. Yes, I probably could have done a Restore but my thinking was, it will probably revert again?

*I need that to turn off 'Stereo Mix' otherwise I get an echo. Wish I could lock that.

Dave.

[Mike Stranks]

Richard:

The past is the past... you are where you are.

Get your machine back and follow the instructions I gave earlier in the thread. Job done!

Nothing more to say.... except (of course) backup your work at regular intervals.