Cannot do updates at all on XP Home

[Vince C.]

Hi.

A friend came to me with a HP laptop she bought one year ago. She told me the
anti virus didn't start anymore. I uninstalled Norton Internet Security and
installed AVG instead. I know NIS is a resource hog and I prefer free,
functional tools.

Now I wanted to appply already downloaded updates. There were approximately
20-25 of them. I selected Custom install and the update ran in less than 5...
seconds! I wanted to check Windows Update web site and I got an error message
"Your security settings do not allow execution of ActiveX controls".

I downloaded the full SP2 install program (260 MB). After it decompresses all
the files, I get an error: "File not found" then "The installation of didn't run
correctly" (or "L'installation de ne s'est pas déroulée correctement", word upon
word). The system is XP home, French. Note: I translated error messages into
English hence they might not fit the real English ones.

The facts:

1. Updates are not applied automatically
2. Applying updates manually doesn't work either
3. Installing service pack doesn't work for reasons I ignore.

Results: system totally insecure, unpatched.

1. She has admin rights
2. I deleted temp. internet files, offline content included
3. There are no viruses (I checked that thouroughly)
4. There are no spywares (I checked that thouroughly, too)
5. All security settings are restored to their default values, *.microsoft.com
being in the trusted zone (hmmm...)

What should she do, apart from reinstalling Windows of course?

TIA,
Vince C.

 

[chanmmn]

Reintall then.

chanmm

 

[Vince C.]

Reintall then.

chanmm

Suuuuuuuure. Know what? If I have to tell her to reinstall, better install
something worth spending time on it. Certainly not any Windows at all. If that's
the way to go. Don't understand? Reinstall.

Vince C.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Now I wanted to appply already downloaded updates. There were approximately
20-25 of them. I selected Custom install and the update ran in less than 5...
seconds! I wanted to check Windows Update web site and I got an error message
"Your security settings do not allow execution of ActiveX controls".

Check in Internet Options - Security - Custom.
In ActiveX controls, you need Download signed ActiveX Controls, and Run
ActiveX Controls and Plugins both enabled. You can get this by
selecting Custom Level as Low

Once SP 2 is installed, which tightens this security on the Internet
(for good reason), I suggest putting the Windows Update site in the
Trusted Zone - Sites

 

[Vince C.]

"Alex Nichol" <[email protected]> a écrit dans le message de
news: (e-mail address removed)...
[...]

Check in Internet Options - Security - Custom.
In ActiveX controls, you need Download signed ActiveX Controls, and Run
ActiveX Controls and Plugins both enabled. You can get this by
selecting Custom Level as Low

I had also done that.

Once SP 2 is installed, which tightens this security on the Internet
(for good reason), I suggest putting the Windows Update site in the
Trusted Zone - Sites

Had done that too. But no way. SP2 fails to install with the error I explained.

Vince C.