Asus Mobo Owners Beware - KB3133977

Well if you are not in the habit of looking first, before installing updates this may not be obvious. For those that don't, let me explain in more detail. Rechecking to see if updates re-appear is a piece of general advice.

First, you should have hardware Updates turned off to begin with. Never, ever let MS install hardware drivers.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/82137-drivers-turn-off-automatic-driver-installation.html

When you get your list, you should examine what each KB does by clicking on the more information link. Our practice is to always wait a week or so to see what news breaks about updates gone wrong. Some are related to problems with a particular piece of hardware and if you do not have that component, may be ignored. Others may install "features" that will diminish performance, add anti-privacy "features" or store unnecessary files on your computers.

If you find a KB that you don't want installed, the recommended procedure has always been to hide it so you never see it again. However, since the Win 10 free upgrade arrived, MS has modified this policy. Among the types of KBs which the trade press (and my own experience) have noted as "re-appearing" over and over again are:

-Updates that allow / initiate the Win10 Upgrade
-Updates that include Win 10 tracking features as part of Win 7

In the last 9 months since Win10 became available I have seen KB 3035583 (According to Microsoft, this update enables "additional capabilities for Windows Update notifications when new updates are available") re-added after "hiding it" twice. Yes, MS has commitments to supply data from a certain number of users via Win10 tracking and no doubt the slower than anticipated adoption rate has had negative financial implications. I suppose the strategy is that users thinking "they blocked it" .... have now forgotten about and "missed' when re-added.

In the last 9 months since Win10 became available I have seen KB 2952664 (Labeled a compatibility upgrade for upgrading Windows 7, its purpose is to "make improvements to the current operating system in order to ease the upgrade experience to the latest version of Windows) re-added after "hiding it" twice

In the last 9 months since Win10 became available I have seen KB 3022345 (Update to enable the Diagnostics Tracking Service in Windows) re-added after "hiding it" once

If MS treats the Asus related KB article like most of them since Windows Update was birthed, the answer to your question is you would never have to hide it again

However, if MS treats it like the above examples, the answer to your question would be a question ... would you rather deselect it every two weeks for 9 months (39 times) or hide it 3 times ( well 2 for the last one) ?

I am not in position to determine what category MS will decide to put this particular KB in. Again, most of the updates I have hidden for users (at multiple sites) have not re-appeared at all. The "re-appearing act" thing is something relatively new. So the likelihood that once hidden, you will never see it again is rather high ....but if we are to practice responsible PC ownership, it is something one should be aware of and be on the lookout for.

Well every article will depend just upon how deep the author investigates the issue. There is certainly enough blame to go around. These facts remain:

1. MS was aware of the problem.
2. MS switched it from an optional to a recommended update after being made aware of the problem
3. MS is not doing anything in response to the issue.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2016/05/04/microsoft-warns-windows-7-boot-up-problem/#39e8969d395e

In short: Microsoft has made a seemingly small yet completely bizarre tweak to Windows Update on Windows 7 and confirmed it is crippling many users’ PCs.

The tweak? It switched the status of Windows 7 update KB3133977 from ‘Optional’ to ‘Recommended’. The bizarre part? Despite acknowledging the problems, Microsoft knew they would occur in advance and it has no plans to do anything about it.

Initially the fallout was small. Asus confirmed the problem, Microsoft confirmed the problem. But the best news was KB3133977 was an optional Windows 7 update so it had to be manually installed to take effect. The solution was simple: just steer clear of KB3133977 (aka do nothing) and you’d be fine.

Then last month – for some bizarre reason – Microsoft made KB3133977 a ‘Recommended’ update. The result was every user running Windows 7 and default Windows Update settings (the vast majority) would find the update now installed automatically.

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Another "interesting" part ... why would MS do this .... isn't it obvious ? Another opportunity to push users to Win10. Lose any benefit you had from the UEFI BIOS by disabling it .... or you could move to Windows 10.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3133977

•After you install update 3133977 on a Windows 7 x64-based system that includes an ASUS-based main board, the system does not start, and it generates a Secure Boot error on the ASUS BIOS screen. This problem occurs because ASUS allowed the main board to enable the Secure Boot process even though Windows 7 does not support this feature.

To resolve this problem, go to the following ASUS support website to learn how to disable Secure Boot for Windows 7:

http://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1016356/

Note The Secure Boot feature is supported in Windows 10. To learn more about the security advantages of this feature and about the upgrade path from Windows 7 to Windows 10, go to the following Windows website:

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