AutoPatcher -- How Safe & Reliable ?

[Seeker47]

Short version of the story:
I'm mostly still a W2K user, and prefer it that way, but I purchased XP Pro a good while back, and am trying it out on one hard drive. Win Update worked initially, back after the install was done onto an 80G drive . . . but then I migrated everything to a 160G drive. Now, some time later (since the drive was last in a computer), that WGA B.S. is telling me the product key is no good. There are any number of fixes and workarounds for this on the Net, but I think I'd just as soon skip the whole crappy mess, and not ever have to deal with Win Update again. Therefore, the title question.

I downloaded the archive from Softpedia, but would like to get some feedback on this before doing anything with it. The writeup says you don't necessarily need SP2 as a prerequisite, and that you can just pick and choose what fixes to apply from the archive. Is that correct ? What if I don't want SP2 itself at all -- just the many misc. security fixes ?

[redwudz]

I've used it on several computers. It does install some programs I didn't want, like .net or Outlook or Media Player. No big problem, but I would read each and every check box and the sub boxes and make sure you get just what you want on your system and not anything else. The same applies to the updates. You can disable just about any program if you don't want it installed.

Having stated my cautions, it is a very handy program and a big time saver if you have several computers. It also has some nice add ons, but use the same cautions.

[fritzi93]

Yeah, take the time to read each entry.

I've used it several times, with no problems. It's been very handy when I do an install or restore from disc on friends' computers. (Some of them are still on dialup! ). Every so often I'll DL the latest rollup overnight. If you're hesitant, there's also Windiz, same idea as Windows Update, you scan for updates and select them individually. You need something besides IE to access, e.g. Firefox. Here:

http://windizupdate.com/

[GKar]

You can also try RyanVK's update package:

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/RyanVMs_Windows_XP_PostSP2_Update_Pack/1151682394/1

You can download individual update packs from here:

http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/index.html

Personally, I would upgrade to SP2.

You can build and maintain a custom install and incorporate all your updates and update the install when needed with nLite (I love it):

http://www.nliteos.com/

[Seeker47]

I've used it on several computers. It does install some programs I didn't want, like .net or Outlook or Media Player. No big problem, but I would read each and every check box and the sub boxes and make sure you get just what you want on your system and not anything else. The same applies to the updates. You can disable just about any program if you don't want it installed..

Yes, I definitely don't want .Net (and so routinely dismiss any tool available here that requires it) or Outlook, and for what limited use I give to WMP, ver. 9 is just fine in my book. And I would prefer not to have to install such items in the first place, rather than try to zap them after the fact.

Personally, I would upgrade to SP2.

I just remember the reports of various problems people have had after installing it. Don't want to have to deal with any future roadblocks caused by SP2, or to see it interfere with any of the regular software I choose to use. Doesn't it include some strong DRM components ?

Anyway, many thanks to all for your suggestions !

[mh2360]

What if I don't want SP2 itself at all -- just the many misc. security fixes ?

As far as I know, Autopatcher only includes sercurity updates from SP2 onwards, and pre-SP2 security updates aren't available from softwarepatch.com. Microsoft won't let you use windows update if you don't have SP2, so unless you can find each individual pre-SP2 patch, you could be leaving yourself vulnerable if you don't use SP2 (just as Microsoft want it I suspect ).

As for windows 2000, that is also my main OS of choice, I see no reason to stop using it yet, there's nothing XP can do that 2000 can't (OK WMP10+11 and IE7, but no big loss there). As long as microsoft keep issuing security updates, then ill keep using it (and when they stop, it will be time to switch to Linux :P).

[Seeker47]

What if I don't want SP2 itself at all -- just the many misc. security fixes ?

As far as I know, Autopatcher only includes sercurity updates from SP2 onwards, and pre-SP2 security updates aren't available from softwarepatch.com. Microsoft won't let you use windows update if you don't have SP2, so unless you can find each individual pre-SP2 patch, you could be leaving yourself vulnerable if you don't use SP2 (just as Microsoft want it I suspect ).

I'd like to thank all who recommended AutoPatcher. Just recently tried it out, and I think it is awesome -- way better than messing around with MS Update ! What I did was first download and apply the network-deployable edition of SP2. It contains plenty of dubious crapola -- like DRM -- that I'd prefer to get rid of, but SP2 is a prerequisite for several other things, such as making a Bart PE cd, so I'll put up with it for now. (I imaged everything along the way, so if any of this stuff gets in my way, I can always nuke the boot partition and turn the clock back later.)

SP2 should be cumulative for all patches up until SP2 was released. After that, I let AutoPatcher take over. I ran the full Nov. '06 AP archive, selecting what I wanted and leaving the rest. (The processing takes awhile, as you would expect, but these patches all go on in one shot: no repetitive accessing of MS Update, restarting the computer over and over again -- so long to all that horse puckey !) Then I ran the last AP "lite" update, from Feb. '07. So, it's not all up to date, but it should be reasonably close. Tread very lightly on the internet until the new AP release is out shortly, and it should all be good. Just disconnecting that ethernet cable can do wonders for your risk exposure ! I have a very good hardware firewall, so the software firewall in SP2 is probably going to be like showering in your raincoat. But WinBlows is always gonna leave you wearing a bullseye target the size of the Chrysler building.

redwudz, I even let AP install the .NET stuff, despite my misgivings about it. So, I can now run VOB2MPG on that box. But, I'm in full agreement with mh2360: W2K will remain my day to day Windows. The dumbed-down tinkertoy UI of XP is quite annoying, even after I had the AP tweak options put it back as close to 2K-ville as possible. Vista ? Yecchh ! Don't make me laugh.