Mark said:
Hello Paul,
Well, I actually don't use Office, so I guess I
don't need it. I was just trying to cover all the
bases.
I thought MBSA would give me the links. I didn't
realize I would have to search for them!
Also, with Microsoft Updates were back to the question
of Active X which doesn't install even after I've clicked
the notification to allow it to install but nothing happens.
'Hot Text' is suggesting that to install Active X I need to
remove the old version but I don't know where my Internet
browsing history is? I also don't understand the reason for
all the other commands? Do you recommend this?
Thanks,
Robert
I haven't forgotten about you.
I had to prepare a backup of my WinXP first, before making
any changes. So I could experiment and become familiar with
the available tools. This is what I've got so far...
*******
I tried Hot Text's procedure. And as near as I can tell,
removing those two doesn't have any lasting effect. Windows
Update did not try to put them back. The available Fixit did
not consider those "missing files", and did not put them back.
I was still able to use Windows Update after deleting them.
On IE6, you can see the items in question here, before I
deleted them. I wasn't able to make them come back, no
matter what I tried. And Windows Update continued to work.
It's possible these are old and derelict files of some sort.
http://i59.tinypic.com/wiu795.gif
*******
One reason things might be failing, is your security settings.
Or one of your AV or other forms of protection, might be
preventing the running of ActiveX files. Some AV programs
have "temporary disable", but I don't know whether this
would make a difference or not.
You can reset Internet Explorer, to put the security sliders
back to their nominal positions. In IE6, I can see a Restore
Defaults in the Advanced section. So that remains a possibility.
I didn't experiment with purposely breaking ActiveX installation,
because there is no way for me to know whether I've successfully
modeled your control settings for IE security or not. Internet
Explorer uses a slider for Internet Zone and low/medium/high
security, so that's one way to change these things. There are
a ton of separate settings, of which I can't tell what half
of them do. For me, the slider is about all I can handle
*******
I could find two "Fixit" programs. They seem to be the same size
and have the same effects.
"Automatically reset Windows Update components"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058
(This link is what I downloaded and ran)
http://diagnostics.support.microsof...247627&eventseqno=2&buttonclickno=1&_ext=.exe
(I selected the option to review what it was going to do,
before letting it repair. It didn't find any problems. But,
it still offered to do a separate file check anyway.)
This second one, I got from going to the Fixit page and looking for it.
"Windows Update Fixit"
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9767096
http://diagnostics.support.microsof...672697&eventseqno=2&buttonclickno=1&_ext=.exe
Both seem to be doing the same things. I would
arbitrarily select the first one for your purposes,
and leave the second one for some other day.
Both of those are 347,816 byte files.
*******
I could find a Windows Update installer as such.
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=91237
http://download.windowsupdate.com/w...one/7.4.7600.226/WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe
When the WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe file downloads,
if you run it, it will politely refuse, as it will
find the program was previously installed.
So, if you open a Command Prompt, CD to where you
downloaded it, you can run it from there and force it in.
My file was in C:\downloads when I tried this step.
(Command Prompt)
C:
cd \
cd Downloads
WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe /wuforce
The installer ran. But I couldn't tell if anything
really got changed or not.
*******
Now, before I ran some of these tests, I opened the
Windows Update web page in IE (from the Program menu
entry in the desktop), and I selected the change to
Microsoft Update. The ActiveX installed and I was in
Microsoft Update.
This was the screen before the ActiveX is downloaded.
You probably tried this screen, and the failure was
right after this one.
http://i61.tinypic.com/33trn2f.gif
None of the fixit packages or the WindowsUpdateAgent30,
would change me back to Windows Update as my preference,
from the Microsoft Update choice. However, the web page that
opens, has a button to switch you back.
You can see the button, after you select "Change settings".
http://i57.tinypic.com/34glspc.gif
After that one runs, the next time you go to the
Program Menu, you should see the Microsoft Update
has been changed to a Windows Update entry, and the
position of the entry could shift in the Program Menu
(up or down). When you then run Windows Update, it
will need to download its ActiveX.
The question in your case, is whether you can get to
any control, which causes the ActiveX to download.
I would only do that, after modifying whatever
is wrong with your ability to download and
execute ActiveX.
Paul