Where are MS Updates & Yellow Shield Stored?

My system is Win XP Home SP2 and up to date with MS updates to September 2009, and I am also now running IE v 8.0.6001.18702. I have set Automatic Updates to "Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them ".

Periodically (generally within a couple of days of the '2nd Tuesday' release date) I get to see the yellow shield in the System Tray. However on occasion, as for instance yesterday, the yellow shield disappears before I have been able to click on it to start the installation of the updates. Despite system searches and Googling, I have been unable to discover where the download update files are stored, nor why the shield disappears before the updates have been installed. Eventually the shield will re-appear and the install can proceed.

Does anyone have the answer to these two points? Also is there any way that the yellow shield can be forced to re-appear so that the updates can be installed?

 

Hi Evan. Thanks for that information. I have located the Downloads folder where you said it would be. However that folder contains both files and other folders ALL OF WHICH (with the exception of one called Install) have unintelligible names which are strings of letters and numbers.

Of the 25 FILES displayed four have dates between 7th and 15th October whilst the rest have dates going back to March 2004. There are also 19 FOLDERS and most of these are dated 16th October with six being dated June 2008 and August/September 2009.

The install folder contains only one file - named mpas-d.exe - dated 15th October. Would that be the program to run in order to install the updates manually? Or would it be safer to wait for the yellow shield to re-appear?

I am a bit puzzled by the older files remaining as I would have expected them to have been deleted after the install had been run for a particular month.