On Monday, 21 December 2020 at 16:13:45 UTC, Bert Coules wrote:
Any suggestions as to why my Windows 7 (Home Premium) desktop PC insists on
telling me that it's updating the operating system (always with three
updates) every single time I switch it off or reboot it? Win7 hasn't been
supported for about a year now, has it?

On every occasion, the "upgrading" goes through, only to happen again the
next time.

Thanks.

I have seen this sort of thing when there is a problem with the copy of the update on your machine.

In Windows 10, they end up in this folder: C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download

Can't for the life of me remember what happens in W7.

A possible W10 answer would be to delete the contents of that folder, restart, and check for updates. But there are bound to be numerous articles around discussing stuck updates.

Despite W7 being unsupported, MS have sometimes issued a patch to older software when they have had a major issue to resolve. Such as the recent SolarWinds hacking. Or possibly, do things which make the copy you have unable to verify itself.