Will Windows updates slow a pc?

[Guest]

I have a user with a marginal pc - at best - running XP SP2 and Office 2003.
It's got 256 MB of mem, 700 MHz processor, and a 40 GB hard drive. the auto
updates are set to download but let me choose when to install. she has
trouble every once in awhile with it freezing up. when I've taken a look at
it there's always updates that need to be installed. after the install it
runs ok until the next round of updates. my boss tells me the updates don't
have anything to do with it. I don't believe him however I can't find
anything that would prove I'm right. Where do the updates download to? my
thought is they are taking up some kind of resources on the pc and with it
being a marginal pc, cause the freezeing?

 

[Grand_Poobah]

Best place to start would be to look under the WINDOWS directory for
hidden files marked "$ntuninstallKB......." These are folders that
contain all the updates you have received. If you are certain that you
will not be uninstalling the updates, you can delete these folders and
recover loads of drive space. Some of these folders can get quite large.

GP

--->

 

[Ron Martell]

I have a user with a marginal pc - at best - running XP SP2 and Office 2003.
It's got 256 MB of mem, 700 MHz processor, and a 40 GB hard drive. the auto
updates are set to download but let me choose when to install. she has
trouble every once in awhile with it freezing up. when I've taken a look at
it there's always updates that need to be installed. after the install it
runs ok until the next round of updates. my boss tells me the updates don't
have anything to do with it. I don't believe him however I can't find
anything that would prove I'm right. Where do the updates download to? my
thought is they are taking up some kind of resources on the pc and with it
being a marginal pc, cause the freezeing?

With a 700 mhz processor and only 256 mb of RAM the machine is going
to be slow running Windows XP, especially when using a demanding
application such as Office 2003.

Your surest bet for fixing the problem would be to install at least
another 256 mb (and preferably 512 mb) of RAM in the machine. That
will be cheaper and more effective than spending time trying to
configre software.

As for the downloaded updates, the original files for these are not
going to affect the speed of the computer at all. All they do is use
up space on the hard drive. Sometimes an installed update will put an
increased processing load on the system, but that comes from the
installed files, not the downloaded ones.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2008)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."