Is there a place where I can check if I've got all Windows updates?

Question

I'm afraid someone or something has been messing with my Windows 7 updates. The last update for windows itself was from 12 November (KB2641690). And as far as I know, Microsoft releases updates every week. However, updates for Windows Defender and updates for installed programs are downloaded.

What I'm looking for is a list, that will show me all the numbers of updates, so I can check if something is wrong.

If something is wrong, how do I go about fixing this? Automatic updates are on, and are checked each day.

Answer 1

As far as I'm aware, you can only do this via Windows Update itself. I also believe Microsoft generally posts updates on the second Tuesday of every month (known as Patch Tuesday) but there are exceptions such as Windows Defender. I just tried to navigate to Windows Update online to see if it was possible to check them there, but it actually opens Control Panel in Windows 7 directly anyway.

If your Windows Defender updates are installed correctly, I don't think you're having an issue here. Even looking at my own Windows Update history, my last installed updates are pretty consistent with yours (I'm also using Windows 7). That doesn't guarantee anything of course, but unless you have a bigger reason to suspect you're missing updates other than the timeframe you thought updates were released by, I think you have nothing to worry about.

Update: See afrazier's answer if you'd still like to compare your installed updates to those which have been released.

Answer 2

Yes, Microsoft does have such a thing.

KB894199: Description of Software Update Services and Windows Server Update Services changes in content for 2012 lists everything that's been made available via Windows/Microsoft Update all year long. The newest updates are near the top. At the bottom of the page are links to previous years' articles going back to 2005. Of particular note: This article number always points to the current year, with previous years being archived into different KB articles, so you don't have to search for a new KB article every year.

There's also the Microsoft Update Catalog, where you can search for and download the published updates. I've always found it a bit... unusual, and difficult to use if I didn't have a KB article number.

Finally, a non-Microsoft source: kbupdate.info. It shows you lists of all KB articles organized by their last modification date. This also means that there's often relatively minor changes to older KB articles that cause them to pop up in newer lists. This lists all KB articles, so it will list security & non-security updates, hotfixes, informative articles, and fast-publish articles.

Answer 3

Use "Windows Update" or use "PSI" from Secunia

PSI will check all installed applications for security issues.

Answer 4

Check Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> Updates

Answer 5

I think there are quite a few elements that need to be clarified and put together, so that you get the information you want:

1. When you use Windows Update, you get the updates missing from your computer and recommended for your specific configuration.
2. If you are getting updates for things you do not want updated (like Windows Defender), you need to hide those updates and you will never have them installed or recommended by Windows Update. If you want to know how this is done, check the "How to Prevent Updates from Installing" section of this tutorial: How to Check for & Install Windows Updates
3. If you want to see which updates got installed on your computer and remove those which are troublesome, check this guide: How to Manage Installed or Hidden Windows Updates One thing to remember is that you should have System Restore turned on. If installing or removing an update causes trouble, you can at least revert back to a more stable state.