Tremor
Well what a surprise to find others having this issue. I had three windows updates between 27 Dec and 2 Jan and one of them stopped all my VST in their tracks. Midi data seen on the track but no audio and no output from my Focusrite Sapphire 40 either. Focusrite spent two hours with me on the phone trying to sort itout with no success. I tried a demo version of Reaper to see if that worked OK - which it did, all VSTs running OK. Uninstalled X3 and re-installed it three times - still no joy. Eventually did a restore back to 27 Dec and guess what - all back to normal. Bl**dy Microsoft!

 
Strange that I have a Saffire Pro 40 as well and no issues with Windows update. Just because you rolled back and did a restore does not necessarily mean it's a Windows update issue, unless you can point it to a particular patch then I would regard this as speculation, there could be LOTS of reasons why this happened (i.e. Windows update could have triggered a bug with a driver for instance).
 

Tremor 
I now also get a message saying " synoacc.dll file is missing from Windows". Don't understand that, but hasn't so far affected anything on my DAW.

 
Please check:
https://www.steinberg.net/nc/en/support/knowledgebase_new/show_details/kb_show/windows-elicenser-error-message-synsoaccdll-could-not-be-located.html
 

johnnyV
I too had this blue screen issue that might have been related to a bad update. I had to "refresh" Windows and it fixed the problem. I've been away so I'm not finished re installing everything yet. I'm making re store points as I go along and hopefully no more blue screens on start up. 
It seems to have finished with updates but I bet there was a buggy one they removed. 

 
You would have no idea what the cause would have been unless you troubleshooted it and found the exact reason. Regardless you got your system up and running which is good news!

johnnyV
Bottom line is always set restore points before updating. 

 
Totally agree! And clone your hard drives to external storage devices!
 
 
I totally agree that sometimes windows update causes issues, but this is extremely rare nowadays. Unfortunately MS gets blamed for some issue that is entirely external to their OS (I often feel sorry for them). Cakewalk often has to go through the same sort of thing whereby (for instance) drivers are causing Sonar to crash or behave oddly. Unless there is a smoking gun to point to I tend to side with the view that "something unknown" happened!
 
Running Windows update is essential and people should not be dissuaded :)

Thanks for the heads up. I do my updates manually and only when I actually have to do something like install new programs/hardware/go on the internet/etc...
 
Has anyone identified the rotten update so I can exclude it? Also do those who are having problems also install the recommended updates? I usually avoid those unless there is something specific I think I need.
 
Cheers.

One of the updates from last August did similar to me and that update cycle created a similar thread here. I did a restore, and then reinstalled a month later, but this particular one (to this day) still shows up as an "available" download, but has failed to download since (I.e. will not download from the MS server). I can give post the specific update when back on the computer, but the stranger part is that it remains in the listing if not truly available.

I did 9 updates manually.
I had some issues there after...
Not saying it is MS, as that internet Blue screen may have been an attempt to infect my system.
 
So, I have these installations via my own manual selection of updates done.
 
And saying cancel to a unknown installer...might have put something in any hoot.
 
So here is my listings out of control panel MS installed recent updates AS OF 01/01/2015.:
KB3013410
KB3013126
KB3008923
KB3008242
KB3004394
KB2989930
KB2994290
KB3008925
KB3012199
 
AND Again I cannot blame MS totally...or even say it was a possiblitily....As the weird thing witnessed just recently goes towards non protocol , if I have manual updates selected, no auto updates should be downloaded at all without my permission!
 
If other updates change these settings...Then I would say, it is possible, if MS is changing Settings with updated updates.
 
Hope this helps?...But take care....I would not say to not install....but prepare for that...possibility of mayhem if so done.
 
And always do that to protect the system that works, from any changes that sabotage the bliss!
 
Sir Les.

@mettelus... I think I've managed to delete unwanted update entries from the list. I forget the procedure but I'm pretty sure I did it. Maybe right click on the bugger.

 
I find this discussion a bit odd since the computer I'm sitting at right now (not my DAW) is running Win7-64 Pro with auto update enabled and hasn't received an update since one for IE 11 on Dec 17.  I think it's the same on my daw with Win7-64 Ultimate, but I quickly turned off auto update on that system when I heard about these latest problems.
 
I wonder what updates you guys are getting that I'm not.  At first I thought that MS just hadn't gotten around to me, but that was a while ago.
 

 So I have this new selected feature now for win 8.1 :"check for updates, but let me chose whether to install and download them".
 
So the auto installing of downloaded updates via blue screen without my permission, and no choice or way out of that blue screen and message of Updates pending installation, already downloaded, and rebooting to install them, goes against that protocol I selected, or was changed to via unknown hands or setting in other updates..., which memory serves me as "Never check for Updates"...Right?
 
Thus I assume it was not a MS updates wanting to be installed already downloaded, regardless of the selection for Auto updates in my case, either way?...or it was a virus attack?, and cancelling the process when rebooting was a correct thought to do to over 30 of them.
 
Not sure it was effective though....As Virus can be tricky with cancellations .... although nothing has been detected via Trends Micro protection....I assume it must have been a Oddity of unknowns...in my case.
 
So to say those listed KB listings of mine be taken with a grain of salt..and not taken as a valid truth of the issue, but may have been part of the possibility ...is best at this point to keep a eye on!..
 
Now I have reset in my update selection: "Never check for updates" set again...again, and see if it changes again in future, would be a breach of Protocol By MS....I could push to some fighting for resolve ...At what end point of sought after Pending violations of set protocols, in loss of time, and causing troubleshooting to occur on my system, or any one else who finds this happening, be a valid repay or relay if so found next time round, as changing by itself or caused by updates, to change selected Protocols by users, to something other than....
 
Again not saying not to update...But to always prepare for them when doing them...by making a restore point, and backup of the working system before hand is best to do.
 
Programs and features/view installed updates..right click uninstall should get rid of the buggers...but who knows for sure?...As I have wiped drives clean in formatting ...and still was able to retrieve some data from that formatted drive....Eh?...so is it really uninstalled? or formatted completely, to wipe out what is not wanted,... is just another unknown process to ponder...Today..

I just sat at my computer and the update is "KB2993651"  (Security Update, seems font-related only). The only thing I can see with this update it to uncheck it, right click and "Hide Update" The "known issues" of that update are the hidden GUI BS from last fall anyway, so I just added it to my "Hidden" list. Thanks Beeps... "out of sight, out of mind" I guess.
 
This one popped back onto the radar for me because I ran "Belarc Advisor" about a month ago which will inventory a system, but has a nice side feature of logging "Security Issues" that should be fixed. Upside was that I found my Adobe Flash Player was EOL (version 14) which was causing me the only BSOD I see on this machine now. I had two versions installed, and apparently because I had "Do not notify me" checked, Adobe never deleted the old version - I did manually and problem solved. In addition to all software updates (which I repaired from the Belarc report), that Security Update popped up as an "item" but it seems it no longer exists (even clicking "More Info" in the Windows Updater yields nada for this guy, I had to manually dig it up)... or at least it has failed to download each time since the manual restore I did.

About updating Windows. I have a Win7Pro SP2 machine as my music PC that has never been updated. It was installed over two years ago. I run X3e. You can work with out updates. (It has never been on the net.)

That being said, I have Win8.1 as my everyday PC. It is set for automatic updates. And recently I have also had trouble with the windows updates. These updates failed and hosed my system. It would not boot. It would get caught in a reboot cycle. But to MS credit, it now has options to fix itself much much better than it use to. I had options to use a restore point and other things.

So it's getting to where I am liking Win8 better than Win7. But right now my music PC is stable, so I am
leaving it alone!

I believe, with Windows 8.1 auto updates can be selective to include drivers for systems Motherboard, including add on cards, and I believe installed signed drivers.
Be careful that you update Bios , and onboard devices when letting windows update...Turn off the driver update feature in the auto update...As is, you are not completely ready with firmware updated and Bios features making proper connection to new drivers perhaps?, Letting windows do things like put newer Drivers in for you, can or might cause issues with Bios tweaks not done, or firmware for chipsets not implemented, or DVD, SSD, or other  drivers or firmware not updated properly to go with firmware or bios settings made to go with newer drivers that get installed via those auto updates.
 
Which could cause windows confusion on boot ups trying to find and hook to those devices not installed properly.
 
Just a idea off the top of my head.
As I know windows updates will not update firmware or bios...Right?.