Windows 7 can't launch apps after applying windows 7 updates of 12/13/2011

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thomas1004

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I buried this comment in my last post, thought it worthwile to move it here.
It seems that a hard reboot (Shut down, then power on) somehow disables some, not all, the apps in the task bar. By disable I mean, the app appears in task manager, allocates a few hundred k, then stops..no ui, no full launch. It happened again, and this time I did a soft Restart after the symptoms appeared and I was able to launch all apps from the task bar.

I thought originally the updates of 12/13/2011 were responsible; maybe they still are or maybe I have a unique problem with my notebook. Not sure at this point.

I have windows 7 professional 64-bit SP1.

This morning I saw there were 19 'important' updates available.

I selected to update my pc (HP Pavilion dv7)After the updates and restarting, I could not launch Outlook or other apps on my toolbar.
I could launch task manager, IE9, explorer.

When I launched Outlook for example..it appeared in task manager with memory allocated at 120k..that was it..the screen never came up..same for other apps..they would appear in task manager with 100k or so but the display never launched.

I turned off my AV (webroot) but that did not fix anything.

I used system restore prior to the updates and my apps now launch correctly.

I've turned off the automatic windows updates for now..will do manually.What happened???

Thanks
Tom
 
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Solution
I dealt with a similar issue a while ago now where clicking on Office icons did nothing.

On that occasion going in to Programs and Features via the Control Panel, selecting the Office 2010 entry, then Change, then Repair solved the problem.

If this repairs the Office links then the same should work with any programs that have been "broken". I usually just run the Setup/Installer.exe over the program without uninstalling.

Not exactly an answer to your problem but it may be worth a try on one of the lesser important programs first.
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I am currently showing 15 important updates, 8 of which are for Office (I do not have Outlook). I can try to install a few at a time, but do you have any thoughts as to which ones might be the problem? Beside Outlook, what other apps had the problem so I can check, if I have it.
 
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hi, I'll try to post a screen shot of the pending updates...
nevermind, can't post good screenshot, but here are the details

Office 2010 (8)Definition update for Microsoft Office 2010 (KB982726) 32-Bit Edition Download size: 3.1 MB
Security Update for Microsoft Office 2010 (KB2553353) 32-Bit Edition Download size: 4.3 MB
Security Update for Microsoft Office 2010 (KB2589320) 32-Bit Edition Download size: 413 KB
Security Update for Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 (KB2553185) 32-Bit Edition Download size: 14.3 MB
Update for Microsoft Excel 2010 (KB2553439) 32-Bit Edition Download size: 20.0 MB
Update for Microsoft Office 2010 (KB2553270) 32-Bit Edition Download size: 34.2 MB
Update for Microsoft Office 2010 (KB2553385) 32-Bit Edition Download size: 1.4 MB
Update for Microsoft Office 2010 (KB2596964) 32-Bit Edition Download size: 419 KB

Windows 7 (7)
Cumulative Security Update for ActiveX Killbits for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2618451) Download size: 40 KB
Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 9 for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2618444) Download size: 21.8 MB
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2619339) Download size: 487 KB
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2620712) Download size: 65 KB
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2639417) Download size: 1.5 MB
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2633952) Download size: 1.1 MB
Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool x64 - December 2011 (KB890830) Download size: 1.3 MB

Office 2007 (4)
Security Update for Microsoft Office 2007 suites (KB2596785) Download size: 466 KB
Security Update for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 (KB2596843) Download size: 692 KB
Security Update for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 (KB2596912) Download size: 872 KB
Update for Microsoft Office 2007 suites (KB2596789) Download size: 7.4 MB


That's it. I saw a notification this morning and elected to install all. After that, some apps would not launch completely. I have the option to install updates automatically turned on.

Thanks for any help you can provide.
Tom
 

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I have downloaded and installed just the Windows updates and Excel, Word, and Firefox start fine. I will download the Office ones next.

Is your Outlook install in the Office 2007 or 2010 group? I also notice there are no specific updates for Outlook.

I wonder if running Office 2007 and 2010 is a problem?

Do you use any Google sync apps for Outlook?
 
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Just installed the Office updates, and no problems so far. Later today I will try the updates on my other system that has Office 2007..
 
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Outlook is "Part of Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010". Outlook itself looks like it is version 14.0.6112.5000 (32 bit)

I'm not using any Google sync apps. Also please note it was not only Outlook that wouldn't come up...OneNote, Eclipse to name two other apps both showed the same issues...appeared in taskmanager with a few hundred k, but never came up completely.

I might try the same path as you have..trying one group at a time..maybe I'll leave the Office 2007 updates to the end, if at all.

Thanks again.

p.s. just checked all my office apps (excel, word, powerpoint etc..they are all part of office 2010 and all 32 bit)
 
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Right click the taskbar (superbar) and choose start task manager if OUTLOOK.EXE is present, right click and choose end process tree, answer affirmative to any prompts
Go here
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14
or here if running 32 bit Office apps on 64 bit system
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14
Scroll as needed and find OUTLOOK.EXE double click it and if it launches properly from this location then rebuild your superbar shortcut by deleting the existing one and right clicking OUTLOOK.EXE in the path above and choosing Pin to Taskbar.
These are the applicable updates I installed yesterday for my office products.
Link Removed due to 404 Error

Nothing specific for Outlook 2010
 
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Trouble, the suggestions to open an app directly and replace its icon in the taskbar did not work.

First I returned to the restore point taken by windows update before the first attempt to install the updates this morning.
Then I selected just the 7 windows updates as listed above. They all installed successfully..no warnings or errors appeared.

after the restart I selected Outlook from the taskbar. It appeared in taskmanager, but did not open.
I followed the suggestions: ended the process tree, navigated to outlook.exe in explorer and clicked on it (I have open on single click set).
it appeared in taskmanager again, allocated 120k of memory, but no application visible.

for the record I've attached my taskbar app, taskmanager processes and the application window from taskmanager.

From the taskbar I can start IE9, explorer, the command window and a tool named sqldeveloper.
From Start I can open paint.

I cannot open these apps correctly from the taskbar:
HP Support Assistant, Outlook, Firefox, jEdit, OneNote, Eclipse
I tried to open the applications from their file locations but could not..the app just appeared in taskmanager along with the original app.

I'm going to restore again prior to this update. I want to keep updates active, but I need help from the community or Microsoft support before I turn updates on again.

am I the only person who has a problem with these updates?

Thanks for your time and help.
Tom

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I dealt with a similar issue a while ago now where clicking on Office icons did nothing.

On that occasion going in to Programs and Features via the Control Panel, selecting the Office 2010 entry, then Change, then Repair solved the problem.

If this repairs the Office links then the same should work with any programs that have been "broken". I usually just run the Setup/Installer.exe over the program without uninstalling.

Not exactly an answer to your problem but it may be worth a try on one of the lesser important programs first.
 
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Solution
Thanks Elmer. I'll give that a shot, but not right now. Feels like I've spent a lot of time today installing then restoring. It's very frustrating. I haven't had a problem with Windows updates since I bought this laptop in 2010.

I will try it again and will post the results.

Thanks for your help.
Tom
 
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Did you get any other updates in the last couple of days?

I got a display update on the 13th and for some reason one of my systems would not go to sleep and ended up with 23 NTFS errors and had to run chkdsk. I don't think it was related to the latest updates, but I do not know for sure.

You have done a cold boot on your system? Have you tried running the SFC /scannow file checker?
 
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I've seen no other updates since the updates that were made available on 12/13, and I installed on 12/14.
Since I've restored to the point just before the first install, I see the same 19 important updates pending.

I'll try to run an install again, and after the install I'll do a power off/on boot in addition to a soft restart. I'll also
run sfc both after the restart and after the cold boot.

Another response above suggested I try to 'repair' an executable file if it doesn't launch. The responder indicated he had a similar problem with an older update and a 'change/repair' sequence resolved the problem, though not the question of the launch failure. I'll try that too.

off topic: even though I've restored to a point prior to any update, the windows update history still shows all the installs performed on 12/14 completing successfully. If that history is just a dumb text log I guess it's ok, but I wonder if the update process will look at that history and do or not do certain procedures?
 
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The next time you open a program and it shows in Task Manager, but does not open fully, try right clicking and either Terminate the application, or end the process or the process tree. Perhaps that would reset the utility.

It is always hard to judge what some update might do to a system with some software that may react badly to some changes. So far you seem to be the first one with your problem, but others may start showing up as time goes by and more updates are done. If it is your specific setup or installed software (SQL) involved, it may take longer.

You could also go the opposite route of uninstalling the updates to see if something gets better after the change. I would reboot after each uninstall to make sure it has completed.
 
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Thanks Saltgrass.

I thought about uninstalling the updates one by one, but I was concerned about screwing up dependencies between updates and just breaking more stuff.

If I do uninstall each dependency, would it be safer and make more sense to start with the highest KB number and work backwards?
Or are these updates usually pretty independent of one another?

I might install just the office 2010 updates first. I would think these are the least likely culprits for this kind of problem, then do the Windows updates. I'd ignore the Office 2007 completely, since I don't have Office 2007 on this laptop.

Thanks again for your thoughts and help.
Tom
 
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thomas1004 said:
I'd ignore the Office 2007 completely, since I don't have Office 2007 on this laptop.
Click to expand...
What does this mean. If you don't have Office 2007 on your system, you would not be offered Office 2007 updates..

If you don't think you have 2007 installed, maybe it did not uninstall correctly. We might need to check for a special uninstall utility, or the Repair option for Office 2010, as has been suggested. You may have more that one problem.
 
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I just looked in Programs and Features in the Control Panel.

The only references I see to 2007 are 'Compatibility Pack for the 2007 Office system' and
'Microsoft Office PowerPoint Viewer 2007 (English)'. Would that be enough to trigger Office 2007 updates for my laptop?
Otherwise the Office pack I see installed is 'Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010'.

I just installed the Office 2010 updates. After the install I ran sfc scannow and no problems were detected. I did a soft restart and my apps launch correctly. I'll install the Office 2007 updates and see if I get the same results.
 
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I just installed the Office 2007 updates and there is no problem launching apps.

So the problem is in one of the Windows 7 updates (6 updates plus the Malicious Software Removal Tool).

I may install these one at a time and see if or where it breaks.
 
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I cannot answer this question, since I have never used the utility. But if I understand you install the compatibility pack to be able to use Office 2007 (and maybe 2010) documents in earlier versions of Office. Do you use it?

I will be waiting to see if you find the bad update. I have one more system on which to install the updates. You can check what the updates are for prior to installing. Such as, one if for setting the computer system clock in 2012.

This is the only system I have allowed IE9 to be installed...and one of the updates is for it.
 
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I bought my notebook with Office already installed. But in Word, I'll save a doc as .doc rather than .docx so other folks can read it.
Is that where 2007 compatibility kicks in?

I'm done. I don't understand what happened, but I'll describe what I did.
  • I ran the Office 2010 updates first then the Office 2007 updates; after the updates there was no problem launching any applications
  • I ran update KB2618444 by itself (Windows 7 update with lowest KB number)
  • after the restart I could not launch any apps
  • in taskmanager, I deleted the process tree for Outlook
  • in applications/taskmanager, I saw a folder named 'Office14' that was not responding
  • I ended that process; that seemed to terminate Explorer
  • after that, I couldn't launch anything..kept getting a pop-up message about a remote failure
  • I did a restart
  • after the restart, I could launch Outlook again, for example
  • I ran update KB2618451
  • after the restart, I went through all the same steps as for the first update but this time, I could not launch Outlook
  • I went to Control Panel-Programs-Programs and Features, selected Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 with a right click and selected Change
  • On the next panel I selected to Repair
  • After the Repair I restarted
  • After the restart I was able to launch applications again
  • I selected the remaining Windows 7 updates and installed
  • I had no problem launching apps after the restart
The 'Repair' suggestion was made by poster Elmer in this thread. I don't have a clue as to what broke or why Repair fixed it. I was not rigorous in trying to pinpoint the failure, but this is a personal pc and I just wanted the updates applied and I had spent way too much time on the problem.

Thanks for your time, patience and help.
Tom

final note: while the 'Repair' may have gotten Outlook to launch correctly, I also could not launch Firefox and some developer tools like jEdit and Eclipse. I doubt the repair would have helped those apps.
 
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Glad you got it to work, but I suggest you uninstall the Office 2007 compatibility utility. Since it is supposed to be used by older versions of Office to make them able to use file formats from newer versions, you don't need it. I would assume the PowerPoint viewer would be the same situation.

Hopefully you can get your system so it is no longer offered Office 2007 updates.
 
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