After updating Windows 7, "update.exe" has application errors

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Wineclaw

Wineclaw

Honorable
Dec 11, 2012
21
0
10,520
I finally stopped being lazy a few days ago and caught up on updating my PC. I let Windows Update do its thing while I was out and came back to a freshly updated and restarted computer. No issues.

Later that evening, I got booted out of a fullscreen game I was playing and was greeted with:

update.exe - Application Error
The instruction at 0x74a3e5a8 referenced memory at 0x00000000. The memory could not be read. Click on OK to terminate the program

Since then, two times a day, I get an error like that. I've never had an issue like this before.

I took a screenshot of the task manager showing the processes that close out when I click OK on that dialog box:

http://i.imgur.com/rkqangi.png

I've already tried SFC /scannow. No issues found.

Specs:

Windows 7 64-bit
i5-3750K
Gigabyte Z77-DS3H
7950 HD
 
Sort by date Sort by votes



Interesting..since this week I too started receiving an identical update.exe error, and have never had it before. It generally appears out of nowhere during the day, generally only one or two times. All my MS updates look successful in history, and checking for new updates, none are found. Mysterious. Don't wish to touch the registry either. I have no Windows 7 installation disk, since have an OEM version, with only a 'recovery' partition on the drive.



 
Upvote 0 Downvote


I have an OEM version as well.




Would it hurt to try them all?

EDIT: It seems I have them already. Note that 7/22 is when I ran my updates.

[strike]UPDATE: I think this may all be related to the Windows 10 push. This article makes me think one of the W10 "reserve your copy!" updates is trying to reinstall itself. Removed all the related updates following this article. Will post here again if it fixes the issue.

UPDATE2: It has been about 16 hours since I restarted my PC after removing those updates and I have had zero errors.
[/strike]
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I started getting these errors in the past week, several times a day:

"update.exe - Application Error
The instruction at "address" referenced memory at 0x00000000. The memory could not be read. Click on OK to terminate the program."

My PC is running Windows 7 SP1 Pro 32-bit OEM. On my PC the application "update.exe" is the Avira product updater, not the Windows update process.

This error seems to coincide with the Avira scheduler, which is set to two hour intervals. Avira seems to complete the updates successfully. I keep my Windows updates on lockdown, not allowing automatic updates, so I do not believe anything crept in that way.

However, I did update Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit to the latest version [1.07.1.1015] within the period this problem began to occur. They have added some additional memory protection hacks to the latest...

Are any of you having this issue running Avira and/or Malwarebytes Anti-exploit by any chance?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Could it possibly be related to the global Windows 10 rollout? My update.exe errors started the same time that the $windows~BT folder and files starting appearing. I too have Avira, so it too is suspect, but no issue with the updates. I got the error several times shortly after coming out of sleep mode. Just a wild guess.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Don't think it has anything to do with Win 10 update, I have been selectively blocking all such updates related to Win 10. Don't have any specific issues against Win 10, just want to control what my PC allows to update.

The replies to this thread seem to indicate something in common with Avira [update.exe] product updater.

It would be interesting to know what other security software you have installed, in addition to Avira. The reason I mention this is that Avira has not been updated on my PC recently, except for virus signature files. So I am inclined to think there has been something else in the environment, other than Windows or Avira that has recently changed...

 
Upvote 0 Downvote


AGREED, that the ambiguous program names SUCK. I wasted some ridiculous amount of time wondering what this error was all about. When I finally searched my PC for file names "update.exe", it became obvious that it was an Avira program module. I think they should use only descriptive program names such as "AviraUpdate.exe" or something ...

 
Upvote 0 Downvote


 
Upvote 0 Downvote
We too, have at the beginning of the week received the update.exe-application error and can't get rid of it. We did an update as usual and every since then we receive the error message, could it be anything to do with the windows 10 free offer, too much coincidence as we've never seen that message before. Also what do members think of this free offer of 10 would we be the guinea pigs used to overcome teething problems before it goes on sale.

Thanks
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Do you have Avira ? I have the same problem and checking realtion of update.exe with an alternative task manager i found that it's parent of sched.exe pid 1732 in my case. Sched.exe is the avira scheduler update program.
I suppose that one of the latest microsoft update create a conflict with avira updater.
Can you confirm that ?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
yes we have Avira, Avira does a scan every day to check for viruses etc., so we ran the scan again today but nothing showed up, we're not too savvy with problem solving. We also ran a Microsoft scan and nothing came up.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I suppose this is just a bug cause i can't find anything suggesting a virus or malware. Considering that i can update Avira manually without problem and also run a system scan. Waiting for update solution from microsoft or avira seems inevitable.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
OK, somewhere in this mess may be the culprit ... on my PC I have discovered that Avira most recently did a silent update on 7/26/2015 ... had to dig around in Windows Event Viewer to find this. It is not logged within the Avira app itself.

In addition, there were several other Avira program updates this month shown in the Windows Event Viewer.

To see your current Avira program versions, open Avira and click on help; about; and then version information. This tab will list all the installed program modules, with the dates of their versions. My PC has "update.exe" listed as Updater 15.0.12.402 7/25/2015.

It appears that Avira can update the programs all individually by pushing out updates silently as needed.

Program installs and updates are logged in Windows Event Viewer here: Applications and Services Logs>Microsoft>Windows>Application-Experience>Program-Inventory. On my system I can filter for event codes 903, 905 to just pick out program installs and update logs (This is helpful in trying to determine when a program was last updated).

Found this logged at 7/26/2015 10:59:10 AM:

A program was updated on the system. For details, please examine the event data.

Name: Avira Antivirus
Version: 15.0.12.408
Publisher: Avira Operations GmbH & Co. KG
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Additional info on Windows Event Viewer: to find all the logs of the error that pops up "update.exe - Application Error" (useful to determine when the problem started on your PC).

From Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Event Viewer: Windows Logs>System

Using "Actions" column in right hand pane>Filter Current Log

Select the dropdown item "Application Popup" and click OK.

You will get a nice list of all your "update.exe - Application Error" popup messages.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote


Using your info, I can now say this all started for me on the 24th. I'm going to switch antivirus software for the time being.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote


It started for me on the 26th. It's annoying for sure, but seems harmless. I may wait to see if they fix it and it just goes away. Or I may annoy their support team with a problem report :-D

I have been testing Bitdefender Free on an older XP PC that I use as a media server/game box without issues. I also tested it on my main Win 7 box, but with no ability to set exclusions and the limited the quarantine options, I opted for Avira. If Bitdefender Free sees a file it doesn't like, it will quarantine it regardless of false positive or not. That could be a problem in certain situations, if you have difficulty restoring a critical file. My alternate choice would be Avast Free, which I used for several years without issue. I really like the UI and low system impact. But recently it has not scored as well in detection as Avira and Bitdefender, which have current test results as good as the paid for stuff (regarding detection rates). AVG seems to lag in detection as well.

Just an FYI (and a caution) regarding Bitdefender Free quarantine
http://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?showtopic=57506
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I have a question for anybody experiencing this error and you are using Avira.

Are you running any other security software along with Avira and what type is it? [strike] If you reply to this, please include your Windows version and if 32-bit or 64-bit. [/strike]

I am attempting to get answers from Avira and I know what I have. It would help if I knew what you have too!

Thanks!

Update: This issue seems to affect both Win 7 32-bit and 64-bit.

I have seen a couple of responses for Malwarebytes.

If you're using Avira AND Malwarebytes, please include the Malwarebytes program you are using. For example Malwarebytes Anti-malware (on-demand scan only or real-time protection) and/or Malwarebytes Anti-exploit.

Is anybody getting this error with just Avira and NO other security software installed?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom