critical updates

how do i know if my updates are still installed on xp. history site said if computer has been restored some may no longer be installed. thanks

 

system restore will only affect system programs, and if an update modifies the O/S, there will be a loss of the updates.

 

Each time you go to the Windows Update site and click on "Scan for Updates" a comparison is made of available updates and those already installed on your system. Once you've installed an update it is then added to your Installation History.

I believe that what they are saying at the "View Installation History" section of the site is that if you had done a restore the updates that are shown in your Installation History may no longer be installed on your system due to the restore, but in this case they should show up again in the available updates following a new scan.

Another place to look is in Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs. Several of the Windows XP Updates, referred to as Hot Fixes in Add/Remove, will be listed here.

HTH.

 

Sandlady,
To answer your e-mail, I assume you did a system restore due to a problem. If you had a problem and you restored the system to a prior date, you may want to click on system updates as described by Rod and choose the critical updates to install or reinstall. I am sure you know that would include everything subsequent to the prior date selected by S/R. If an update is giving you a problem, you may be able to isolate the culprit patch. System Restore is a powerful tool for troubleshooting when used in conjunction with other apps. I have successfully used it several times.

 

Do be careful...

sandlady139 when accepting and installing any security updates and other patches that affect performance you should divide them into separate installs.

My own experience with installing several "critical" updates en masse caused one of my programs to be unusable. I had to use GoBack to recover to a point where it would run again.

I am now in the process of installing each portion of the updates individually so as to finger and easily exclude the culprit.

Incidentally, the XP and machine are as new as they come and the first day it reported needing 14 "critical" updates. Go figure.

If you have had a similar experience and had to revert using the System Restore feature, I would be interested in knowing which update patch you find to be at fault. Please report any findings here and I'll do the same.

I find "security" patches are the most likely to cause problems and often their value to a particular user is questionable.

Regards

 

Update...

Having spent the last hour and a half dividing the critical updates and XP system updates as well as 4 driver update packs into smaller downloads/installs, I now have everything up to date and the scan detects nothing needed at this time.

I'm happy to report that all programs work normally so far and the previous software problem I had hasn't returned this time around. Perhaps it was the result of installing all patches at one time versus the divided and conquer mode used this time?? I used 8 steps in all. Maybe it was from some other issue but I doubt that??

It's a shame XP was apparently released prematurely and right out of the chute the customer has the job of trying to fix it for proper usability. From what I see in Control Panel Add/Remove Programs, I have fattened up the drive by 187 megs total from all these patches. That would imply that XP is severely deficient as originally issued.

I feel sorry for the poor souls using dial-up connections to download all this ****. What took me 1 1/2 hours could well mean 2 days of fun and games using your phone line transfer speeds.

Good luck to all.