Notify Me But Don t Automatically Download Or Install Them in C#.NET

Encoding QR in C#.NET Notify Me But Don t Automatically Download Or Install Them

Selecting Turn Off Automatic Updates disables Automatic Updates. Doing so is appropriate if you want to manage updates from a network location instead of having each computer download and install updates individually. (For details, see the following section.) To install an update that you previously rejected, open Automatic Updates; then click the Offer Updates Again That I ve Previously Hidden link. (This link will be unavailable until at least one update has been declined.)

Some of the available updates are quite large, often exceeding 5 MB of data. Also, sometimes the file size shown in Windows Update is misleading; it indicates only the size of the installer for the update, not the update itself, which might be considerably larger. Particularly if you have a slow Internet connection, you ll want to minimize the bandwidth consumed by downloads from Windows Update. Although it s not very well advertised (compared to the myriad ways to start Windows Update, only a portion of which are enumerated earlier in this chapter), Microsoft maintains Web sites where you can download standalone installable versions of the security patches and 194

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Security Essentials other updates for Windows. After downloading these patches and updates, you can burn them to CD or make them available on a network server for installation on multiple computers. A site called Windows Update Catalog offers updates for Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003. The easiest way to access Windows Update Catalog is to open Windows Update, click Administrator Options (in the left pane), and then click Windows Update Catalog. Alternatively, you can use this link: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/ LinkId=8973. If there is a computer running Windows Server 2003 on your network, a better option is available to you. Windows Update Services (which replaces Software Update Services) is a free add-on that helps to automate updates of Windows, Microsoft Office, and other Microsoft products throughout your organization. For more information about Windows Update Services, visit http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/wus.

Windows Update doesn t work. When you start Windows Update, it might display a software update incomplete message. (This message appears before you have an opportunity to scan or select updates to install.) Windows Update requires the use of an ActiveX control, which is installed automatically with Service Pack 2. If you have not yet installed Service Pack 2, this control should be downloaded and installed the first time you access the Windows Update site. To successfully install the ActiveX control, you must: Be logged on as a member of the Administrators group. Enable (with prompting) the download and running of signed ActiveX controls. (Use settings on the Security tab of the Internet Options dialog box; for more information, see Controlling ActiveX Downloads, page 297.) Click Install in the Security Warning dialog box that asks whether you want to install the Windows Update control. Once the ActiveX control is installed, an explanatory message appears if a nonadministrative user tries to run Windows Update.

Windows Update gives any Windows user with administrative rights the ability to locate, download, and install security fixes, drivers, and other updates. That s fine on a personal computer, but in a business setting you might decide that you prefer to give a single network administrator the right to install updates rather than relying on individual users to keep their systems up to date. If the computers in question are running Windows XP Professional, you can set a policy that prevents individual users (even administrators) from using the Internet

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Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out, Second Edition version of Windows Update. (Group Policy is not available in Windows XP Home Edition.) With this configuration, you can (and should) download and save individual updates and install them manually on each computer. The following procedure disables manual access to Windows Update on a local computer running Windows XP Professional, shuts down Automatic Updates, and removes all links to the Windows Update site:

1 At a command prompt, type gpedit.msc to open the Group Policy console. 2 In the console tree, open User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update. 3 Double-click Remove Access To Use All Windows Update Features. 4 Select Enabled. This option eliminates all manual access to Windows Update for all local users. (Select Disabled to restore access to Windows Update.) 5 In the console tree, open Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\ Windows Components\Windows Update. 6 Double-click Configure Automatic Updates. 7 Select Disabled. This option completely removes the Automatic Updates tab from the System option in Control Panel.

The policies in Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update let you configure Automatic Updates in a number of other ways that are not available in the Automatic Updates control panel; you might want to peruse the other options before you close Group Policy.

Several other Windows features also trigger Windows Update. Specifically, the operating system may access Windows Update on its own in any of the following three circumstances: