Windows Critical Update Notification Runs Every Five Minutes

• Microsoft Windows 98
• Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.01 for Windows 95
• Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.01 for Windows NT 4.0

SYMPTOMS

You may receive the following message every five minutes:

Microsoft Critical Update Notification

New critical updates are available for your computer. Microsoft strongly recommends that you install these updates now.

To read about and install these updates, click "View Critical Updates." The Windows Update site will guide you through the installation process.

If you would like to postpone installation for 24 hours, click "Notify Me Later." This message will appear tomorrow when you connect to the Internet. Postponing installation of critical updates is not recommended.

CAUSE

By default, the Windows Critical Update Notification tool is scheduled to run every five minutes in Task Scheduler. If you change the value to another time period and restart your computer, the time period changes back to five minutes.

RESOLUTION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

To resolve this issue:

1. Locate the following key in the registry:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

   By default, the data value for the CriticalUpdate value is:

   C:\Windows\System\Wucrtupd.exe -startup

   Delete the "-startup" value from this entry, so that it reads:

   C:\Windows\System\Wucrtupd.exe

   Quit Registry Editor.



2. In Task Scheduler, change the interval for the Windows Critical Update Notification task to the interval you want.



3. Restart the computer.

Additional query words:

Keywords          : kbenv kbtool msiew95 msient win98 
Version           : WINDOWS:4.01
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb 

Last Reviewed: July 23, 1999