Updates are ready

[Guest]

I am a new user of xp. I manually updated windows xp by going of windows
update website. after a while an icon in task bartold me that updates are
ready for my computer, I updated again but now again after 2-3 hours again
there is a message that updates are ready. what should i do? thanks.

 

[peterk]

Turn the update notification off
visit the update website and check for updates...review your update
history...see what did not install and reinstall.
When that is done turn update notification back on.
peterk

 

[Ed]

I updated again but now again after 2-3 hours again
there is a message that updates are ready. what should i do? thanks.

What is going on is that when doing initial updates to a new
install/system, you will find that there are updates to updates to
updates. In other words, C is an update to B which is an update to A.
You never get a notice of the C update until you download and install
update B which you would never know about until you downloaded and
installed update A.

So, it looks like you just installed all your A's which then prompted
you to return and install all your B's which you did. Now it is
letting you know about your C's. What people usually do on a first
updating of a new install or new system is to do the first round of
updates. Reboot and go right back to the update site and see what new
has appeared and do all those updates. Boot and do it all again and
keep doing it until there is nothing new listed on the update site.

If memory serves, my last fresh install of XP had me going back to the
update site 4 times before nothing new showed up.

Hope this helps,
Ed

 

[Karen]

What is going on is that when doing initial updates to a new
install/system, you will find that there are updates to updates to
updates. In other words, C is an update to B which is an update to A.
You never get a notice of the C update until you download and install
update B which you would never know about until you downloaded and
installed update A.

So, it looks like you just installed all your A's which then prompted
you to return and install all your B's which you did. Now it is
letting you know about your C's. What people usually do on a first
updating of a new install or new system is to do the first round of
updates. Reboot and go right back to the update site and see what new
has appeared and do all those updates. Boot and do it all again and
keep doing it until there is nothing new listed on the update site.

If memory serves, my last fresh install of XP had me going back to the
update site 4 times before nothing new showed up.

Hope this helps,
Ed

Do you recommend installing ALL the updates? When I did a critical
update on Win ME, I lost my sound on the computer.

 

[Malke]

Do you recommend installing ALL the updates? When I did a critical
update on Win ME, I lost my sound on the computer.

That's a really good question, Karen. I recommend this:

1. Set Automatic Updates to download automatically but not to install
automatically. You want to be able to look at them.

2. When you get the yellow shield notice that updates are ready, click
here - never choose the Express Install. The Custom Install will enable
you to see what the updates are.

3. Look at the updates and uncheck any that are for drivers. Installing
drivers from Windows Update is a Bad Idea. That's why you lost your
sound on the WinME box. All other updates for security and the
Malicious Software Tool should be installed. If you deselect driver
updates, there is an Advanced button (language may be different since
I'm quoting from memory) that enables you to tell Windows Update not to
show you any updates you've deselected. Do this for all drivers.

4. It is a good idea to set a System Restore Point before you install
updates.

Malke

 

[Jone Doe]

Karen, are you SURE it was a critical update you installed? I've never seen
a driver listed under the critical link. If you think you need a driver for
something, sound perhaps, go to the web page of the manufacturer and
download it there, never from MS>

 

[Malke]

Karen, are you SURE it was a critical update you installed? I've
never seen
a driver listed under the critical link. If you think you need a
driver for something, sound perhaps, go to the web page of the
manufacturer and download it there, never from MS>

Driver updates might not be included under the critical link if you go
to Windows Update manually, but I've seen quite a few drivers included
in the Automatic Updates downloads on XP boxen, particularly sound and
nic drivers. There was recently an issue with a Windows Update video
driver that caused Dell displays to not work. Your advice to always get
drivers from the device mftr. is Right On.

Malke

 

[Ed]

Do you recommend installing ALL the updates? When I did a critical
update on Win ME, I lost my sound on the computer.

Hi Karen,

Actually I was talking about criticals but this does also happen with
suggested updates also like .NET which needed 3 times (if I remember
correctly) to get all the updates. I don't know why a critical would
affect your sound though. Are you sure you are not talking about an
MS Driver update? If that is the case, I would suggest never letting
MS update a device/peripheral driver, always goto the site hosted by
the device needing the driver update and check there first.

As suggested by others, always create a restore point before doing
updates. Also, most (not all) updates do have an uninstall option.
If you downloaded a bunch of updates at one time before discovering
that you lost your sound, then you don't know which one caused the
problem. Another reason to do one update at a time so if it causes a
Snafu, you will know which update to reverse on.

Regards,
Ed