james said:
Greetings. Is there a Microsoft web page I can access that will tell
me what all the XP updates are for so I caan pick and chose. I have
altered the settings on the Auto Updates and went back about 3 weeks
on the Restore function but still have some I would like to delete.
Thanks for your help. James
Hi Jim,
Each update already installed on your machine has a KB (Knowledge Base)
article associated with it that explains its purpose and how critical it
may or may not be.
If you look in C:\Windows, there is a record there of all your installed
updates in the form of uninstallers, which I assume you have already
found, but if not, you may have to go to Explorer's Tools; Folder
Options, the View tab, and adjust three settings there that have to do
with exposing hidden and system files. They are all marked as Hidden
files.
Each $NtUninstallKBxxxxxx ... file, the KB part indicates the associated
Knowledge Base article about it. After looking at and examining a few
of those, you'll shortly realize how to check for and find each and
every one that has ever been released. Careful searching: Be sure you
go to the ones for your own Operating System, not a different one.
In the Catalogs section of MS's site, you can individually
download/install/read about any of the updates you wish. You have
already been given several excellent links for that purpose; check them
out. I think it was Shenan gave them to you. Shenan does ask some
pretty dumb questions now and then about why you're doing things, but in
some ways his heart is in the right place. In most cases, I've found
the questions silly and condescending, so it's either ignore him or pick
apart his posts for something useful. Often his post will be nothing
but those kinds of silly questions, many of which are none of his
business. When I find those, I simply stop following the thread unless
someone more intelligent about people follows him; then I look to see if
I can learn anything.
All that said: you may also find a gazillion log files about KB stuff
and SP downloads in the C:\Windows directory. If you really want to get
deep into this, those are very informative.
What you propose to do though, is highly non-recommended. For one
thing, some updates require other updates, so removing one without the
other can cause you some pretty big problems. Collateral issues are
common, so research it carefully.
If you're having updates that conflict with certain programs, it is very
highly likely that the problem is in that program, not with the updates.
Many of the updates are considered "critical" in that they plug
securty holes in the operating system. Deleting those can be armegeddon
for your machine.
Your post would draw much better response with details. Like, exactly
what you need to accomplish and your reasoning that an update is the
culprit. YOu'll get some strange responses from those who disagree with
your reasoning, but you may also end up with a very valuable bit of
knowledge about your issues that not only applies to yur current
situation but many others too.
Being specific is always a huge benefit and always include details on
the machine's OS & program versions, etc.
HTH,
Twayne
