Windows update fails for version of Office that no longer exists

At one time, I had Windows 2013 on my desktop computer. At some point I upgraded to Office 2016 and uninstalled Office 2013. However, every day for weeks now, Windows Update has tried (unsuccessfully) to install the following:

Security Update for Microsoft Office 2013 (KB2956151) 64-Bit Edition
Update for Microsoft Lync 2013 (KB2956174) 64-Bit Edition
Update for Microsoft Office 2013 (KB2899522) 64-Bit Edition
Update for Microsoft Office 2013 (KB2881001) 64-Bit Edition
Security Update for Microsoft Lync 2013 (KB2881013) 64-Bit Edition
Service Pack 1 for Microsoft Office 2013 (KB2850036) 64-Bit Edition

I don't know if other updates are being blocked because these can't be installed. Plus, there appears no way to tell Windows Update NOT to try to install these again, as previous versions of Windows had.

Any suggestions on how to stop Windows Update from trying to install these every day??

Did you by chance have Office 2003 or earlier version on the computer? Have seen where installing the Compatibility Pack for Office 2000 through Office 2003 that allows using Office 2007 and later files doesn't get uninstalled which did kick in the newer updates. Also have seen it with one of the Viewers was installed when not having a particular application from the suite installed such as Visio Viewer, PowerPoint Viewer, etc.

JohnC said:

Hi bertsiskin, welcome to Ten Forums. It might be faster to uninstall office 2016 and then run the fix it tool from Microsoft to totally uninstall Office 2013. Uninstall Office 2013, Office 2016, or Office 365 from a Windows computer - Microsoft Office . I would bet that it did not uninstall completely. And then reinstall Office 2016.

I've been pondering whether I should uninstall office 2016. I really don't like that you can't choose what drive to install it on and what components to install. I don't see any value in Office 2016 over 2013, so I may just uninstall 2016 and reinstall Office 2013. I just dread that I'll have to re-configure Outlook (I have a lot of email accounts!).

Berton said:

Did you by chance have Office 2003 or earlier version on the computer? Have seen where installing the Compatibility Pack for Office 2000 through Office 2003 that allows using Office 2007 and later files doesn't get uninstalled which did kick in the newer updates. Also have seen it with one of the Viewers was installed when not having a particular application from the suite installed such as Visio Viewer, PowerPoint Viewer, etc.

The computer is only 2 years old, so I'm pretty sure the first version of Office was 2013.