How to uninstall Windows Vista updates

Sometimes, just sometimes, when Windows Vista decides to run it’s magical little Windows Update service in an attempt to communicate with Microsoft.com in order to download updates and security patches - it doesn’t always go according to plan and can in some cases, cause system instability with your personal computer and rendering it completely unusable. Doesn’t sound very pleasant, does it?

This is, however, a worst case scenario and I personally would not recommend disabling Window Vista’s built-in update system at all. This Windows Vista tutorial is for those of you who are totally adamant that you must uninstall and remove any updates that were installed as a result of Windows Update.

Let’s get to where we need to go

First off, we need to make our way to Windows Vista’s Control Panel area; simply click your Windows Start button and the Control Panel link should be visible from there:

You should now be looking at the Control Panel. From here, click the ‘Uninstall a program’ link located under the Programs header.

Once the Programs and Features window has fully loaded, which can take a few seconds or even minutes depending on how many programs and how much software you currently have installed; computer hardware also obviously plays a small part in just how much time it takes for the list to be generated - if you have a fairly speedy CPU and a decent amount of RAM then that will also decrease the amount of time you may need to wait.

Now that is out of the way, we can continue onwards and upwards by clicking the ‘View installed updates’ link that is located in the left sidebar pane:

You will then be brought to the Uninstall an update screen, whereby you will be able to completely, and safely, remove any and all Windows updates you wish from the item list. When you have decided which item(s) you would like to uninstall, simply right click on the update in question and select Uninstall:

Windows Vista will do the rest all for you.

This item was filed under: Windows Vista.