Scott Hanselman's Computer Zen - Microsoft Update versus Windows Update

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Microsoft Update versus Windows Update

Posted in Musings.

Sigh, well apparently no one in Microsoft marketing remembers the chaos caused (and still caused) by multiple versions of Windows Messenger versus Microsoft Messenger versus MSN Messenger. And it was only a year ago.

Well, anyway, you can switch your system over to Microsoft Update (I have) by visiting http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate. Of course, switch only your personal computer unless your IT department has OK'ed this, yada yada. Looks like a new ActiveX control will be downloaded and you'll have Office Updates included within your Automatic BITS Updates. Shiny.

WindowsUpdate

Posted at 2005-07-19 09:27 AM by Scott
Comments [7]
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Tuesday, July 19, 2005 10:18:48 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Don't forget Office Communicator, which looks like Messenger but isn't.

Ry Jones

Wednesday, July 20, 2005 1:25:00 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

There's also cultural insensitivity. On the "Change Settings" page (which strangely has the heading "options"), the language choices say:

English (Recommended)

Why is English recommended? What if I don't speak English?

RichB

Wednesday, July 20, 2005 4:56:20 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Sigh...updates still are failing when running from a RUNAS (to an user with Administrator rights) instance of IE. :-(

J. Daniel Smith

Wednesday, July 20, 2005 7:53:37 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

They are likly recommending it because your browser reported itself as en-us?

Scott Hanselman

Thursday, July 21, 2005 9:29:55 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Shiny? Is that a Firefly reference?

Jorriss

Thursday, July 21, 2005 9:42:14 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Jorriss. 是啊。Very astute of you.

Scott Hanselman

Wednesday, August 03, 2005 12:32:01 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Eventually, Microsoft Update will provide updates for nearly all major Microsoft products, which will be a big time saver. It's already nice not having to visit Office Update separately now. No word yet on whether new Halo maps will be considered "critical updates" though.