No updates have ever been installed

[RustyM]

Hi- My senior relative has a 1 1/2 year old pc. (XP home)
She had no interest in starting to use the internet and still does not. Just
offline computing. Well, her grandson went over her house and used her pc
periodically and connected his dial-up ISP so that he was able to go online
while he was there visiting. Between him, his sister, & another relative or
two, they got all kinds of spyware, and 3 viruses. I consider myself a
novice with only less than 2 years exp. on EVER using a computor much less
get on the internet. But what I've learned coming to these NG's & reading
stuff, I was able to determine a problem one day I went and turned on her
pc. I (with much trouble) downloaded Ad-aware and killed 375 pests. Then,
housecall scan ridded her 3 viruses.
Heres the thing, she has never installed ANY windows updates. I believe she
has the sp1 still. Now... should I first install all the updates for her sp1
before I install sp2??? Actually, on my pc, I still have not installed sp2
yet as I am still reading on it and dont know if I will wait for the CD in
the mail. (it would take 5 hours on my dial-up)-So, once I learn the best
way to install and configure sp2, then I will help her with hers. What is
your input on this matter and in shat steps should I proceed. Thanks

 

[Jerry]

You do not have to install any and all updates/patches/fixes/etc she may not
have installed. Just order the SP2 CD and update everything with it.

 

[Jeff]

Hi Rusty,

If you don`t plan on installing SP2, at least update her
computer with the latest SP1 patches. Also install an
Anti-virus software and at least a few other spyware
programs. Unfortunately, one spyware program is not
enough to stop spyware. Some other free ones you can use
is Spybot Search & Destroy, Spyguard, Spyblaster,
GuardBar. On nice one, not free though is PestPatrol.
The main thing is keep it updated for SP1 or 2 whichever
you decide and also make sure the anti-virus is updated,
since other are connecting to the net instead of your
relative.

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
You do not have to install any and all

updates/patches/fixes/etc she may not