I want to thank everyone for their time and effort in helping
me trying to resolve this problem. I really appreciate it.
In my last message, I was having trouble loading the service
paks. I tried it again but this time I clicked save then opened
it instead of clicking open and it made all the difference in the
world. Everything started downloading and installed fine including
SP3 and 61 updates afterward! They all installed with no problem
but it did take awhile.
I have the computer set up for automatic updates but when I
manually checked for any it seemed it was taking a long time
about it so I canceled it. It should come right up within a
reasonable amount of time (1-2 minutes). In any case if I
needed updates it would let me know, correct?
I also installed Avast and Spywareblaster
If I come across any problems I'll start a new post.
p.s. should I go ahead and install the utility disks(below)anyway?
Drivers and Utilities
Dell Dimension Resource CD for reinstalling Device Drivers and using Diagnostics, Utilities, and Online Documentation
Drivers and Utilities
For Reinstalling V.92 (Capable) 56K Telephony
Data/Fax/Voice Modem Software
for Microsoft Windows
Thanks again,
Robert
You still have to review your Device Manager
(Start : Run : devmgmt.msc) results, to know
whether any additional work is required. Is
your Device Manager clean ? Are the yellow marks gone ?
Is your audio installed ?
The slow Windows Update, is a known bug. We all were
affected by it, within the last month or two or three.
The bug has to do with Window Update checking the
dependencies with respect to Internet Explorer updates.
Internet Explorer has had a large number of updates,
and the poorly written dependency software "goes off
in the woods" for awhile, pondering the problem.
Once you install KB2888505, it should be fixed for
a short while, until the next Windows Update comes along.
As far as I know, it's not a fix within KB2888505 that
speeds up the Windows Update, it's the fact that the
installation of yet another Internet Explorer patch,
changes the dependency tree, and Windows Update
has the balance tipped in its favor. So it's a side effect
of installing that one, that Windows Update responds
faster.
The following two links give you a choice. Without
visiting Windows Update, you can install KB2888505, for
either Internet Explorer 6 or for Internet Explorer 8.
If you haven't installed IE8 as part of your installation
procedure, then perhaps the first download will work. The
second download is for if you have IE8 installed. WinXP,
out of the box, comes with IE6 (at least my SP3 did).
As usual with software, there will be an "About:" box
somewhere on IE, to tell you what version it is.
You don't have to get these this way. You can go to Windows
Update, wait the 30 minutes or so it takes the bug in
Windows Update to finish, then the Windows Update screen will
appear. You can check the Windows Update history, on the left,
or look in the current suggested security updates, for KB2888505.
So you can do this one, without fooling around, but you'll have
to be patient for Windows Update to appear.
*******
Use this, if you're running IE6.
"Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer for Windows XP (KB2888505)
This update applies to Internet Explorer 6 with the following operating systems:
* Windows XP SP3"
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=41064
*******
Use this, if you're running IE8.
Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 8 for Windows XP (KB2888505)
This update applies to Internet Explorer 8 with the following operating systems:
* Windows XP SP3
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=41074
*******
You can also have a bug, where you see the network interface start
slowly, when WinXP starts. That can be fixed using
ngen.exe executequeueditems
and the problem arises any time a .NET security update
is installed. It would then depend, on exactly how many
..NET layers you'd installed (2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 and so on).
You don't absolutely need .NET when starting out with a
fresh copy of WinXP. But some program installers will
insist on installing them, and like a disease, you'll be
maintaining those just like you have to install Java updates
all the time, or Adobe Flash updates. Just a nuisance.
So don't worry about that one right now. But if you
notice it takes a minute or two for your network to
start, and the network icon to change states in the bar
at the bottom, that's the kind of command to use to
flush the "recompiling" of .NET assemblies. The .NET
assemblies are pre-compiled, in order to speed up
their loading, which isn't absolutely necessary. The
software also understands how to do that at runtime,
so the pre-compiling will happen in any case. The
above command says "hurry up and finish dammit", so
that your networking on WinXP will start right away
after boot up.
Paul
