I read that there was to be this big service pack 2 update
happening, and when I came to this site it said "just have
automatic updates on and all shall be cool".

It was shortly after that that I discovered that my
automatic updates are not only turned off (it wasn't me!)
but I can't turn the thingy back on! In the system gizmo
from control panels, it tells me that automatic updates are
"unavailable" and the box to tick etc. are all faded out.

What's going on?! Has something hijacked my computer and
stuffed up my automatic updates? Now I'm worried that all
sorts of junk could be getting onto my machine, although my
virus scanner says I'm clear...

Thanks for any help!

Graham,

Have a look at the following page on the MVPS site which
details how you can switch back on your Auto Update
Service.

http://www.mvps.org/marksxp/WindowsXP/wuauto.php

Hope this helps

Mike Bright MCP,MSP

e:(E-Mail Removed)

Thanks for the link... I went through the steps as it
detailed. However, it didn't fix the problem...

I got a message saying:

Error 1083: The executable program that this service is
configured to run in does not implement the service

As suggested, I ran a scan to check that the system files
are intact and originals, which they appear to be.

So now I'm really baffled... any other ideas?

Thanks again for your time.