windows not updating

Hey all. I have a problem with windows update. When I click start\windows update\scan my comp for updates it never goes past 0%. When I click review installation history nothing shows up although belarc advisor says they all verify and they are in add\remove programs. WUTEMP is empty. I did try to install a notepad replacement this week called noter light and although I closed all running applications I notice that a lot of files have become associated with noter light.My computer still ,as of 3 days ago,notifies me of updates theat are ready to download and install. I have disabled everything that I ever had to before accessing windows update and still no luck. NAV says clean. A2 malware scanner says clean.Disablieing firewall and NAV no help.I seen something about that catroot2 file but I don't want to scew myself up worse. I have no win xp cd only restore cd's. I have changed nothing to make this happen. Please help. Thanks

 

The fix should be on the site PeteC linked to but, if not, check out the MS KB article, Windows Update Site Lists Updates That You Already Installed - essentially the same thing as your updater listing updates that you already installed.

 

Thanks PeteC. I spent all yesterday looking around for a fix and came across that this morning. It don't work. Microsoft gave me that as a fix for something else and it didn't work then either. I just hope that when the next critical update comes I can install it.

 

Thanks for help but ----- no matter where I go to scan for updates it does not scan at all and clicking on installation history shows a blank space. I also tried to install the ms baseline security analyzer and it wll not install. The fix assumes that I have scanned my computer and the available updates are offered. I get nothing.-no scan, therefore no updates and no history.

 

Uninstall that Notepad replacement app. and then use system restore to restore XP to a restore point before you installed it. This should fix your associations and MAYBE the WU problem.

If still no luck with WU then go into your dialup proxy settings and untick "Automatically detect settings" and only set a manual proxy (or none depending on the ISP preferences).

 

I found out that the noter light program doesn't always work with windows xp . had to use compatability wizard for win 2000. Now its ok and looks good.As far as system restore goes that hasn't worked on my system in a long time. It saves restore points but it always comes back saying it couldn't be restored. That may be my next fix. keep an eye out. By the way the WU prob was solved after downloading the scripten.exe file and installing it. Thanks to all for the help.