My laptop computer running Windows Vista Home Premium is unable to automatically or manually check for Windows Vista and Windows Defender updates. I have tried following the various troubleshooting code directions and instructions but nothing appears to work. On a different matter, I have been trying to setup an HP wireless printer to my home ADSL2+ network but without success. Do you have any advice for these two matters?

Both questions that you have asked are quite tricky to answer without more detail, such as the error codes that appear when you attempt to update Windows Vista or Windows Defender and the steps you have taken in your attempt to attach the HP wireless printer to your home network. However, I can provide some general troubleshooting advice on these matters which hopefully will be useful in your troubleshooting.

First we will deal with the updating problem. On many occasions I have seen problems with updating Windows and Windows Defender using the Windows or Microsoft update utilities. The cause of this problem is generally quite tricky to track down, so we will need a procedure of steps to narrow down the problem. The most common situation where I have seen this issue is when the computer is configured with a proxy server. A proxy server is a special server which caches content that users have downloaded off the internet. This means that if another user wants to download the same content, it does not need to be retrieved from the internet but can instead be retrieved from your ISPs proxy server. Most ISPs operate proxy servers, but most use them transparently (where you do not need to configure anything on your computer, all your traffic goes through the proxy server by default). However, some ISPs or organisations (if your computer is a work computer) need the proxy server manually configured. It seems that quite often Windows Update can have difficulty establishing a connection through such proxy servers. So, we will check the settings on your computer to see whether a proxy server has been configured.

Go to the “Start” menu > “Control Panel” and open the “Internet Options” control panel (you may need to select the “Classic View” link in the left-hand pane to display the control panel icons). In the Internet Options window, click the “Connections” tab then the “LAN Settings” button. Check whether any of the boxes within the Local Area Network (LAN) Settings window are enabled (and thus configured to use a proxy server). If so, write down all the current settings (in case we need to revert back to them again) then untick all the settings (thus disabling all proxy settings) and click OK then OK again. Restart the computer and attempt to use Windows Update again. If this works, it seems the proxy settings were causing the problem. You should now check whether you can still access the web, so open Internet Explorer and visit a few websites. If all works correctly, it seems that the manually configured proxy server was redundant and you can leave this disabled. However, if you can no longer access the web then you will need to revert to the proxy server settings you wrote down once you have finished using Windows Update. Should this be the case, there is little we can do to fix the problem as it relates to the proxy server that your ISP is operating. In this situation, you will need to contact your ISP for advice (as it is likely that other users also experience the same problem and they may have a workaround).

However, if you find that you do not have any proxy server settings then this would not be the problem. Now we need to determine whether this is a general problem with your internet connection or whether the problem is computer specific. To test this theory, you will need to connect your computer to another internet connection. Preferably, someone’s internet connection who can verify that Windows Update works correctly on their computer attached to that connection. Since your computer is a laptop it hopefully should not be a major difficulty taking your computer to a friend’s or colleague’s house to use their internet for troubleshooting this problem. If you find that the problem does not continue when using their internet connection then it seems there is something on your connection causing the problem. In this case, I could not easily advise on the root cause of this problem, since everything else on your internet connection seems to be working fine except Windows Update. As such, I wouldn’t suspect that there are any configuration or setup errors on your computer or ADSL modem/router. Additionally, I would be hesitant to start changing settings since you may break your entire internet connection, rather than just Windows Update. Should you reach this situation then I suggest you contact your ISP for further advice on the issue, as the problem appears to be related to the connection itself rather than your computer.

On the other hand, should the problem still occur on the different internet connection it seems something is wrong with your computer itself preventing it from using Windows Update. We should next consider whether there is any third-party security software running on the computer that could be blocking Windows Update. If you are running any firewall software then look through the settings or any log files to see whether there is any useful information. You could always try temporarily disabling the third-party firewall to see whether the problem fixes itself, but you should never do this unless you have alternative protection. As such, if you would like to disable the firewall to test this theory then make sure that you enable the Windows Firewall on your connection, so you are at least provided with basic protection while your main firewall is disabled. If you do find that disabling the third-party firewall resolves the problem then this is definitely not a long-term solution, so do not be tempted to leave that firewall disabled. Instead, as you have now determined that the problem is firewall related you should look through the firewall settings to see whether you can fix the problem so the firewall can remain enabled while still allowing you access to Windows Update.

If you reach this point and still have problems using Windows Update then please contact me again with additional information so I can research the problem further. In particular, if you could provide the exact error message(s) which appear when attempting to use Windows Update, together with the steps you have already taken in attempts to resolve the problem, then this will also assist in troubleshooting the problem further.

Moving onto your second question about connecting an HP wireless printer to your ADSL2+ network, without specifics on the actual problem you are experiencing and the model of printer together with the setup of your network I cannot provide any assistance with this matter. However, one point which might be useful relates to the general network setup. Depending on your ADSL provider, you may not have an ADSL router but instead just have an ADSL modem. This connects directly into your computer (most likely via USB or Ethernet) and functions as a modem for that specific computer, giving access to the internet for that computer only. Should this be the case, you will need to either upgrade to a wireless ADSL router through your ISP or purchase a wireless ADSL router. Without a router you will not be able to connect other devices onto the home network, apart from that one computer. Additionally, unless the router is wireless you will obviously not be able to connect a wireless printer onto the network. If you need further assistance or advice with this setup then please contact me again with more specific details.