REBOOTING: Where are xp updates and hotfixes stored?

[Stevie M]

Hello guys, I'm looking ahead to do some changes on my network - the
reasons are both a few viruses and to get a more efficient home
network - and as part of it I'll be backing up the entire C partition
on my main pc and rebooting win xp. I've been running the system for
2½ years and in that time there's been a few downloads and security
patches.for xp and Explorer. Most of those are lodged under C:/
Windows/
SoftwareDistribution which is where hotfixes and the like land, but
is
that the *only* location they go to? And at the registry, are there
any changes made when xp is updated other than at HKLM/Software/
Microsoft/Updates/WindowsXP? That seems to be the main location where
updates to Windows will enter in the registry..Any other places in the
registry that are changed?

I don't feel like having to download every update afresh from the
web,
although I'll be making a list of the items beforehand, it would be
much smoother to simply move the "SoftwareDistribution" folder from
the
backup copied drive onto C\Windows after I've rebooted, and then
import
the registry keys. I hope this would work, but I'd like to know
because some programs, of course, don't run after a reboot unless
they're
reinstalled from the ground.

As I have a few viruses lodged on the system and they would wake up
as
soon as the backed-up partition is again in contact with the web, I
can't keep the windows part of the backup (on an external hd) intact
long after the reboot, I'll have to erase some parts of it before the
network goes online again, to avoid having the dirt wander back onto
the fresh system, so I 'll need to know where updates are installed.


I'm running Windows XP Pro SP1 - with several hotfixes and uopdates
that belong within sp2 and 3, haven't installed SP2 in its entirety
because it has a rep for interfering with other apps.

 

[Iceman]

Hello guys, I'm looking ahead to do some changes on my network - the
reasons are both a few viruses and to get a more efficient home
network - and as part of it I'll be backing up the entire C partition
on my main pc and rebooting win xp. I've been running the system for
2½ years and in that time there's been a few downloads and security
patches.for xp and Explorer. Most of those are lodged under C:/
Windows/
SoftwareDistribution which is where hotfixes and the like land, but
is
that the *only* location they go to? And at the registry, are there
any changes made when xp is updated other than at HKLM/Software/
Microsoft/Updates/WindowsXP? That seems to be the main location where
updates to Windows will enter in the registry..Any other places in the
registry that are changed?

I don't feel like having to download every update afresh from the
web,
although I'll be making a list of the items beforehand, it would be
much smoother to simply move the "SoftwareDistribution" folder from
the
backup copied drive onto C\Windows after I've rebooted, and then
import
the registry keys. I hope this would work, but I'd like to know
because some programs, of course, don't run after a reboot unless
they're
reinstalled from the ground.

As I have a few viruses lodged on the system and they would wake up
as
soon as the backed-up partition is again in contact with the web, I
can't keep the windows part of the backup (on an external hd) intact
long after the reboot, I'll have to erase some parts of it before the
network goes online again, to avoid having the dirt wander back onto
the fresh system, so I 'll need to know where updates are installed.


I'm running Windows XP Pro SP1 - with several hotfixes and uopdates
that belong within sp2 and 3, haven't installed SP2 in its entirety
because it has a rep for interfering with other apps.

If you have viruses lodged somewhere in your system, it's a question if you
shouldn't redownload the updates, whether you like it or not. ;-) This can
be done in a single session, and then you can keep the uninstalled files in
a designed folder on another partition.

See:
"How to download updates and drivers from the Windows Update Catalog"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;323166

 

[Stevie M]

Iceman skrev:

If you have viruses lodged somewhere in your system, it's a question if you
should redownload the updates, whether you like it or not. ;-) This can
be done in a single session, and then you can keep the uninstalled files in
a designed folder on another partition.

See:
"How to download updates and drivers from the Windows Update Catalog"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;323166

I can see the logic of that point - to be 100.00% safe, the way to go
would be to reinstall everything from zero - but I'm not tegularly
updating Windows - it can be several months between the times I'll get
a bunch. And as we all know, Microsoft's nofes on the how and why of
their updates are anything but clear. The pc is not on auto-update for
Windows or other apps except for the security systems (firewall etc).
There are no signs of *active* - i.e. wild - infection on the pc now,
nor has there been for a long time. What there is, is, a few admin
functions that I don't use on a daily basis, have been disabled. The
kind of thing a virus or a spybot can do in the flick of a wrist if it
gets in when the user is logged on in Admin mode, and then after that,
the virus doesn't do much more - but it's hell to trace which bug it
was and correct it! So I have *no* reason to think my Windows updates
and fixes could be infected, and would definitely want to keep them
(some of them may nort evn be online to get any longer because
Microsoft may have replaced them with sone new and bigger patch).