Re: Use of Windows Automatic Updates (How to configure?)

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

[Crosspost to Windows Update newsgroup]

Inline....

David wrote:
> I have XP Pro/SP2 on my PC. I also have a dialup internet connection
> which I know is very slow.

SP3 is available on CD for the price of shipping. See
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322389

> I have declined to install SP3 on my PC because of the many reports I
> have read that indicate endless reboot problems and very little real
> value.

Horse hockey! Properly installed, you shouldn't have any problems.

WinXP SP3 - Read all prerequisites for a successful installation
http://msmvps.com/blogs/harrywaldron/archive/2008/05/08/windows-xp-sp3-read-all-prerequisites-for-a-successful-installation.aspx

Free unlimited installation and compatibility support for WinXP SP3 was
available from 14 April 2008 thru May 2009. Such support will cost you
US$59 per incident now. (You snooze, you lose)

> I have declined to turn on Windows Updates in the automatic mode
> because of my dialup connection and because there are some updates I
> do not want. These unwanted updates include SP3 and other rather
> large downloads. In these cases, I use another PC with a broadband
> connection and download an update like SP3 to a disk file which I
> could install on my dialup PC via a USB flash drive.

You can configure Automatic Updates such that only the updates you want are
downloaded and installed. You can even control when they're downloaded and
when they're installed.

How to configure and use Automatic Updates in WinXP:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306525

> The real point of this post is not SP3, but whether or not I can
> configure Windows Update to be automatic, but NOT to download &
> install SP3 or perhaps some other download I do not want.

You can "hide" SP3 and any other updates via Automatic Updates and Windows
Update website. However, note that computers running WinXP SP2 will NOT be
offered any further critical security updates, Automatic Updates will cease
to function, and Windows Update website will not be available after 12 April
2010 until SP3 is installed.

HOW TO get a computer running WinXP SP2 fully patched
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/msg/a066ae41add7dd2b
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002
www.banthecheck.com

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

You're welcome & thanks for your feedback.

A very small (but admittedly vocal) minority of WinXP users encountered the
issue you reference upon installing SP3. The same issue arose when SP2 was
released. The original SP2-specific KB article was revised for SP3 and then
published by mid-May 2008 (IIRC), well before SP3 was released to Windows
Update:

Error message after you upgrade a computer that uses a processor other than
an Intel processor to Windows XP Service Pack 2 or to Windows XP Service
Pack 3: "STOP: 0x0000007E":
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953356

In addition to the above...

>> Free unlimited installation and compatibility support for WinXP SP3 was
>> available from 14 April 2008 thru May 2009

...for anyone who'd encountered the problem.

And anyone who feared encountering the issue could have "hidden" SP3.

David wrote:
> I have followed your recommendations and configured Windows Update to
> download & install only those updates I want. Thanks for the help!
>
> I must also reiterate that what I said about Win XP SP3 was correct.
> When SP3 first came out, a large number of users who tried to install
> SP3 ended up with the installation failing part of the way through the
> install & the computer going into an endless reboot cycle. The only
> way out of the endless reboot that I've heard of was through the use
> of a restore point. The problem was limited to users of HP & 1 other
> brand that I can't remember. HP & the other PC MFG had apparently
> done something wierd in violation of Microsoft's recommendations. I
> know the story is true because my co-worker had an HP machine &
> experienced exactly what I have described. He restored his machine
> using a restore point, downloaded a patch from HP's web site & then
> successfully installed SP3.
>
> Check it out. Its true & not Horse hockey!