Re: Windows XP Updates...

mikolaricola wrote:
Recently I've noticed that the little yellow Windows XP update
icon that is usually located on my toolbar hasn't popped up for
the past week. I tried fixing this problem by switching from
manual to automatic in the "Background Intelligence Transfer
Service" (through running services.msc); however, this hasn't
solved my problem because the icon still isn't there. I also went
into Windows Security Centreand it says that Automatic Updates is
on even though it isn't because according to
update.microsoft.com, I have a lot of updates that are listed as
failed. I don't know how to manually update Windows either. Any
suggestions on how to fix this problem? Or at least how to
manually update?

Shenan Stanley wrote:
Should fix things and allow you to manually update...

Start button --> RUN and type in:
%SystemRoot%\system32\net stop wuauserv
--> Click OK.

Start button --> RUN and type in:
%SystemRoot%\system32\regsvr32 %SystemRoot%\system32\wups2.dll
--> Click OK.

Start button --> RUN and type in:
%SystemRoot%\system32\net start wuauserv
--> Click OK.

Download the latest version of the Windows Update agent from here
(x86): http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=91237
.... and save it to the root of your C:\ drive. After saving it
to the root of the C:\ drive, do the following:

Close all Internet Explorer Windows and other applications.

Start button --> RUN and type in:
%SystemDrive%\windowsupdateagent30-x86.exe /WUFORCE
--> Click OK.

(If asked, select "Run.) --> Click on NEXT --> Select "I agree"
and click on NEXT --> When it finishes installing, click on
"Finish"...

Reboot.

Log on as an user with administrative rights and open Internet
Explorer and visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and select
to do a CUSTOM scan... (Every time you are about to click on
something while at these web pages - first press and hold down the
CTRL key while you click on it. You can release the CTRL key
after clicking each time.)

Once the scan is done, select just ONE of the high priority updates
(deselect any others) and install it.

Reboot again.

Come back - let us know if that worked.

(If it did work - try it again - selecting no more than 3-5 at a
time. The Optional Software updates are generally safe - although
I recommend against the Windows Search one. I would completely
avoid the Optional Hardware updates.)

Really - come back and let everyone know if that worked.

mikolaricola wrote:
Ok, I did everything up until this: "Log on as an user with
administrative rights" - what does that mean?

Shenan Stanley wrote:
Sorry. I *hope* that most people are using their computers wisely
- and thus not logging in as a user that can install software,
remove software, etc. That they log in with a regular user account
that cannot do any of that - making their system more secure and
hardened against viruses, spyware, adware and other malware (since
the active user account does not have the permissions many things
would need to install themselves or erase things.)

If you only have a single user - albeit bad practice - you are most
likely an adminstrative level user account. Log in and continue to
follow the directions (you may even 'automatically logon' - which
is a whole other can of worms, in my opinion. heh)

Again - if you have only one user account (or it boots straight up
to your desktop) and you were able to do everything else in the
instructions up to that point - it is more than a safe bet you are
logging in as a user account with administrative powers and you can
just pretend those words are not there.

mikolaricola wrote:
So I should have another usser account for just downloading,
installing, and whatnot for safety purposes?
I did everything, by the way, but anything I tried to install
couldn't be because of "Error Code: 0x80070005".

Thanks anyway for helping!

Shenan Stanley wrote:
Look at TaurArian's answers here:
http://forums.techarena.in/windows-update/1088869.htm

They may get you through your update issues!

And yes - you should have (best practices anyway) several accounts
on the computer. The one you use everyday should not have the
ability to install/remove stuff. The other - the administrative
account - can do *anything* to the computer. The reason it is
'best practice' to use a non-administrative account for daily use
is simple: if your account doesn't have the ability to screw up the
computer own its own - then the bad guys cannot use it to do that
either.
Is it a horrible thing that makes you a horrible person for not
doing that? Nah. Makes you normal. ;-)

One other thing...

Download, install, run, update and perform a full scan (seperately) with the
following two applications (freeware versions are the ones to use for this):

SuperAntiSpyware
http://www.superantispyware.com/

MalwareBytes
http://www.malwarebytes.com/

After performing a full scan with one and then the other and removing
whatever they both find completely - repeat the steps I originally laid out.
It may be that you were infested with a spyware/adware/malware application
and it was causing all your troubles.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html


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