Windows/Office update question

[guitarzan]

In the old days, windows updates came from windowsupdate.microsoft.com and office updates from a separate site... Now with windows update v6 (update.microsoft.com), if I want to run Windows Updates on a PC that also has MS OFfice installed, it seems that roughly half the time, Microsoft Update will look for BOTH Windows AND Office updates on the computer, and the other half of the time it will only look for Window Updates... I have to go to the Office update site to get Office Updates.

Aside from this inconsistency, I HATE when Windows Update site tries to tell me what Office Updates I need... as it takes what seems like TEN TIMES LONGER!

Question 1: Does anyone know the reason for the inconsistency as to whether update.microsoft.com looks for windows updates only, or both windows and office updates?

Question 2: Is there a way to force update.microsoft.com to NOT look for office updates?

 

[linney]

See if there is anything here.

Any way to calm the Windows update client?
thread779-1301661

XP No Longer Updates
thread779-1047249

FIX: When you run Windows Update to scan for updates that use Windows Installer, including Office updates, CPU utilization may reach 100 percent for prolonged periods

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;916089&sd=rss&spid=3223#appliesto

830066 - Windows Update reports that new updates are not available, although your computer is not up to date

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;830066&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

How to troubleshoot Windows Update, Microsoft Update, and Windows Server Update Services installation issues

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906602/#appliesto

Windows Update Troubleshooter

http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/troubleshoot/

 

[guitarzan]

Thanks linney, I will check those out.

Also I forgot to mention, I am not using automatic updates on these particular machines, I am manually running windows updates.

 

[linney]

If you are manually scanning then when you go to Microsoft Update it will attempt to scan for Office and XP updates. If you just go to Windows Updates it will only scan for XP updates.

As far as Office updates are concerned I have found that you get them days earlier by going to Microsoft Download Center and searching for them rather than waiting for them to turn up on the Office Update site.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/Search.aspx?displaylang=en

 

[Ploper001]

Kind of related...why is Microsoft Update SO slow in general? It usually takes about 3 minutes to "search" for updates even on a high-end PC, even if there are no new updates...

 

[Glenn9999]

Nearest that I can figure from studying the Windows Update logs, what it's doing behind the scenes is downloading a full list of "required updates", and then checking locally against that list. I can imagine that downloading the list can take some time.

Much of the time element is really incumbent on the quality of your internet connection and the condition of Microsoft's servers at the time you run Microsoft Update.

 

[guitarzan]

Question for you linney..

If you are manually scanning then when you go to Microsoft Update it will attempt to scan for Office and XP updates. If you just go to Windows Updates it will only scan for XP updates.

Sounds perfect, but how do you "go to WIndows Updates"? It seems to force you to

http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us

 

[linney]

Microsoft seem to have removed the V4 site, and as you say are redirecting everything to the V6 site. This is a very recent occurrence and something I was not aware of.

There was this flurry of articles on "Windows Secrets" a few months ago, maybe some alternative update method would suit your needs?

Dump Windows Update, use alternatives

http://windowssecrets.com/comp/060629/

Genuine Advantage is Microsoft spyware

http://windowssecrets.com/comp/060615/

To auto-update or not to auto-update

http://windowssecrets.com/comp/060525

When Automatic Updates can be harmful

http://windowssecrets.com/comp/060511

http://windowssecrets.com/

 

[guitarzan]

Hmmm. I tried it on an XP Pro SP1 box, and it went to update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6, which showed me Windows Updates only.

As opposed to an SP2 box I just tried which went to update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6.

What bugs me is that I am sure that in the past I was on SP2 boxes and some of them gave me Windows Updates only (not Office), and some didn't... perhaps Misrosoft has been rolling out the Office Update functionality gradually, and now it's fully implemented?

 

[linney]

The V4 catalog site is still accessible from XP, 2000 and Server 2003 (but not from Vista). This further tends to indicate major changes are afoot?

http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/catalog/en/default.asp