Help with Windows Update
To run Windows Update…
1)
Press
the Start button on the bottom left hand
side of your screen.
2)
If
Windows Update appears as an item on the menu, click it, if not, click Programs or All
Programs and Windows Update should be on the second menu. There are slight differences between versions
of Windows, and these are some of them.
Once you have it running…
1)
If
you are asked to confirm any certificates, click ok
or yes.
This usually only occurs the first time Windows Update is used.
2)
Click
on Scan for Updates in the main window of
Windows Update.
3)
After
a while the results are returned.
Updates come in three categories.
1)
Critical
Updates
2)
Windows
XP
3)
Driver
updates
Windows update will automatically mark all the
critical updates as candidates for download.
I say you should then manually select all the Windows XP and Driver
updates. To do this…
1)
Click
Windows XP in the left pane of Windows
Update. All the patches in this section
will be listed.
2)
For
each update click the Add button, so they
are also marked as candidates for download.
3)
Now
click Driver updates in the left pane, and
click the add button for these updates too.
If there were no Windows XP or Driver updates,
then you skip that section.
Now I have my candidates marked, how do I
download and install these patches?
1)
Click
Review and Install Updates in the left hand
pane.
2)
When
the button appears, click Install Now on the
right hand pane.
Downloads will now start. Some of the patches may require you to agree
to a licence, click Yes
for each of these.
Once the patches have been applied, you will
see a summary on your screen, and possibly a box asking if the computer can be
restarted.
If you have saved any work you were doing,
click on Yes or OK to agree to a reboot. If it does not ask for a reboot, then it’s
finished without requiring one.
Other issues…
1)
Some
patches have to be installed on their own.
Look out for red text messages on the
Review and Install Updates screen, these tell you if any patches are to be
installed exclusively. The patch description
will tell you it’s exclusive (if you read the description!)
2)
After
running Windows Update, run it again.
Patches do sometimes have patches of their own. So until Windows Update says there are no
updates available, keep trying!
3)
If
your Windows installation is not legal, and you used a dodgy CD key, then
Windows Update may tell you to talk to your system administrator.