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Well I would say whether you are building this machine as an "ePeen" or not. By that I mean I have a couple of customers who spend frankly insane money just so they can brag they get some huge number on benchmarks. Now if you aren't building for an ePeen, I'd say go AMD as the lower price will allow you to put nicer gear in the rig. For example my PC is an AMD Phenom II Quad 925, with 8Gb of DDR2 800, 2 500Gb HDDs, a nice case with 500w PSU, and finally an HD 4650 (I'm not much of a gamer, so the 4650 is all I need, although it plays Wolfenstein and Bioshock II like a champ) and Windows 7 HP x64, all for $650 before MIR and around $570 after.

If you don't want to wait you can buy AMD now and thanks to socket compatibility drop in a bigger CPU later. That's what I did, buying a cheap dual core kit and upgrading to the quad with some of my Xmas bonus. You can see they have real cheap quad kits and you can even get a 6 core kit for under $600. All you have to do is pick your favorite OS and whichever video card you like (I'm partial to ATI after the bumpgate fiasco, never had a bit of trouble from Gigabyte Radeon cards) and you are good to go. Most games now are just starting to hit dual cores, so a quad will last you quite awhile and a 6 core will be pretty future proof.

So if you are just getting back into the game personally I'd go AMD. There is nothing wrong with the Intel but when you figure in the higher prices plus them getting caught paying off OEMs...well I believe in competition and a REAL free market. But of course your main reason will be performance and my AMD quad purrs like a kitten, with an idle of less than 96f and the hottest it ever got was 135f after hours of transcoding, and that is on a stock HSF. But I really torture my machines, audio and video recording and transcoding, audio and video editing, and my AMD takes everything I throw at it and then some. I can also tell you as a system builder I've not had a bit of trouble from any of my AMD builds, even those I have built for extreme conditions like construction trailers. They take a licking and keep on ticking. Let me know how it goes!

Oh, a word of advice...Once your build is done use Autopatcher and Ninite. Just use Autopatcher to have the updates for whichever Windows you choose already downloaded and ready to go, and then use Ninite to get all the basics like Firefox, K-Lite Codec Pack (great for hardware acceleration) and Open Office. Using those two together will save you several hours on a build. Enjoy!

Lord I wish I knew, as maybe we could get these brainiacs to stop doing it!!! The only thing I can figure is they install so damned much crapware on OEm PCs these days they are worried about confilcts with the buttload of garbage they put on these things. I just dealt with a Compaq laptop yesterday that had more than 45 damned startup entries, all OEM crapware!

They had "extra offers" for the printer that loaded, some sort of "helpful HP service" trying to push crap, crap for the Roxio burner, the picture software, you name it the damned thing had a startup entry for it. I know it wasn't installed by the user because the user had me wipe and reinstall from the OEM CD, since he wanted his Roxio (bleech!) back. Sure enough after a wipe and reinstall that thing was as slow as a 486Sx trying to run WinME! Luckily this user wasn't averse to learning new things, so I showed him how easy IMGBurn was to use and he let me kill the Roxio.

But if you or anybody else reading this finds out why OEMs kill auto updates dead, feel free to email me and let me know. I have been dealing with this since XP came out and it drives me nuts! I am just sooooo glad there is Autopatcher, as between it, the service packs for all the Windows versions on DVD, and Ninite that takes care of all the usual software like Flash, Java and Firefox (with NO TOOLBARS! Yay!) my life is a whole lot easier. Still I would be happy to lose a little business if the OEMs would quit turning the dang autoupdates off.

You get a PC from an OEM that is more than a year old with updates off? That thing has more viruses than a Bangkok whore pal. It ain't a pretty sight, and like the plumber that has to deal with the busted shitter i got to wade into that mess and clean it up.

Ninite works beautifully and oh yeah...NO TOOLBARS! That's right, no stupid Java trying to push Yahoo toolbar, no toolbars at all. it all just works. As for the PC? I would go with this one for the budget, as it is a 2.8GHz (more than most folks need) with a 40Gb HDD and 512Mb of RAM. As for not being able to run XP on 512Mb because of AV? well let me say BAM! Here you go, no problemo. Comodo uses around 10Mb of RAM, and that is including the superior firewall instead of Windows Firewall, and is 100% free to boot. Simply add Comodo Time Machine and you have a machine that even your grandma can recover, even if she manages to screw it up so bad it won't boot. Of course you could probably pick up a 512Mb stick of DDR on eBay for $10-$20, still cheap for a good PC.

So as you can see it really ain't hard to go cheap with a Windows box. All told we are talking a price of $109 with shipping, with no need for antivirus subscriptions or spending a penny on software. And I bet you are gonna love Ninite. I have been using it since it was beta and it really is top notch and simple. Oh and if there is any freeware you would like added to the list? Simply fill in then form and they will look into it. I asked for Klite codec pack (because with its built in DXVA support it really is a "one stop shop" for hardware acceleration on modern machines) and voila! There it is. A really great bunch and if you need even more their pay version lets you set up custom repos on your own network so you can have any third party apps ready to go for your users. And it is so easy even the most clueless of users can choose and install their own programs with it.

Give it a try, I bet you'll find it a "must use" website like I do, as it really takes the sting out of setting up a new Windows box. Between Ninite and Autopatcher allowing me to keep all windows updates from XP-Windows 7 X64 on a network share it has really cut down the amount of time and bandwidth needed to go from a bare drive to a fully loaded Windows PC.

Actually there is an easy way to prove it is nothing more than DRM. If it actually was "for security" and not DRM crap then autopatcher wouldn't work, which of course it does. While my XP is legit, I don't want to be dealing with that crap, nor would I install spyware like WGA without a client's permission, so I use autopatcher. Installs all the updates, along with nice reg tweaks I can choose from along with non security add ons like Java and Flash. I highly recommend it along with Ninite after a clean install to give them all the basics like FF, OO.o, and IMGBurn.

But the only ones that "win" in these class action lawsuits is the lawyers. It will not make MSFT do squat differently, the consumers if they are lucky get a coupon they have to jump through hoops for, which most never do (I had a chance with 3 different class actions, but they wanted so much info on me I refused to do it for a lousy $5-10 coupon) so nothing ever changes except the lawyer can afford a nicer trophy wife. Yeah I would say the system is pretty damned broken at this time.

No problem with the tools, Oh and hey I found a link for the repair utility toolkit for you. It is less than 100Mb and has over 50 tools for things like networking, recovery, virus removal, etc and it is butt simple to add your own. I added Malwarebytes Antimalware, along with a few tools from the portable freeware collection and all is golden. If you have to deal with any XP boxes I would suggest autopatcher which lets you have all the patches for Win2K-Vista offline, along with common add-ons like Java and .NET. They are gonna add Windows 7 support soon but the new autopatcher isn't out yet.

And while I thank you for the suggestion, if I end up with a machine that is that borked I use a WinPE LiveCD with built in support for resetting keys, running malware scans, launching system restore, and about a dozen apps, all from the GUI. It works just like a Linux LiveCD only I can use Windows apps natively. It is pretty nice and since I use online virus scans like Trend Micro Housecall I don't have to constantly be updating it.

But you should definitely download the repair toolkit and give it a spin. The AV will of course be out of date but that is easy enough to fix, and it has great tools like DriveImage, CCleaner, tools for finding out product and wireless keys, TweakUI, a ton of really great tools all set up in an easy to use and easy to add to package. Even if you only have to work on a PC once in a while it is a good tool to have in your toolbox and with flash sticks being so cheap it is an easy way to have powerful tools in your pocket. I added a bunch of programs like FixWin and Ultimate Windows Tweaker and it still only takes up 268Mb of a cheapo 512Mb drive I had laying around. Nothing to install, just unzip and use. Try it, I'll bet you like it.

As a PC repairman who has been in the biz since the days of Win3.x, I'd like to point out that there is a MUCH bigger reason for botnets, drivebys, etc-Trialware and updates not turned on at the factory. Do you know how many times I have seen a Dell/HP/Compaq/Acer cross my desk with the SAME copy of Norton from x years ago running useless in the taskbar, along with Windows Update having been left off at the factory and therefor unpatched since it left the factory? if you said pretty much every single damned time, then you are correct!

I've known quite a few pirates over the years, and usually they can get the patches no problem if they so desire, someplace like Autopatcher, which pulls the updates of of the MSFT servers and can have WGA unchecked, comes to mind, but they just don't give a crap. But the clueless that bought some "Best Buy Special" or whatever Dell has on sale this week is MUCH more likely in my experience to be running the same level of patches that came from the factory.

I just wonder how much piracy is gonna promote WinXP over Win7 myself. From what I understand (haven't gotten around to installing mine yet, as I'm still trying to decide whether to triple boot or blast my XP X64) Windows 7 is MUCH harder to pirate, and of course we all know one of the reasons why Windows and Office is pretty much everywhere is that those that couldn't afford it could pirate them easily. Will the extra difficulty make folks switch to Linux? Or will it cause XP to just keep going and going like the Energizer bunny? I'm betting the latter as my experience with Linux is the OS still has too many "lack of driver" issues. It would be funny if after all their years of bitching about piracy if they finally came up with a "foolproof" way to make folks buy it and they just walked away instead.

But piracy isn't the source of all the malware IMNSHO, it is the frankly shitty trialware and default settings on the boxes from Dell/Best Buy/Walmart/Rent A Center, etc.

Then I patch it as far as I can over their 56k modem.

Get Autopatcher and update it from a CD BEFORE you connect it to anything.

As a PC repairman I hate to break the news to y'all, but home users never update the damned PC. you could give them Apt and it would be just one more update they don't actually use. I have had machine come across my desk with 4+ year old copies of Norton AV (expired of course) and not a single update applied since it left the factory. That is just SOP for a good 90% of home users.

That is why my customers love me so much, because my motto is "do the thinking so they don't have to". So not only do I use Autopatcher to install all the current updates and have the latest service packs as well as set autoupdate for the OS, but I install Foxit set to autoupdate, have Spybot scheduled to autoupdate and scan, install Comodo AV/Firewall and have it set to scan on the customers schedule, install Firefox and set it to be the default browser, install the latest Flash and Shockwave and Java as well as Klite Mega codec pack so I don't have to worry about them downloading dodgy codecs, and finally install VLC Player which autoupdates and have it set as default video player.

While I don't get the return business of those that just reinstall and hand it to the customer to bone again I make up for that in referrals. But thinking something like Apt would be a silver bullet for home users is strictly a fantasy. First it would have to be run by MSFT to incorporate the Windows patches as well as third party updates, which would lead to vendors screaming and probably an antitrust investigation and I'm sure the EU would find a reason to have a shitfit, but then MSFT would get to deal with 3 or 4 years worth of lawsuits when they refuse to "provide" the myriad of programs that insist on installing toolbars or unrelated programs, like Java (toolbar) or iTunes (unrelated Safari and Quicktime).

So while having a central repository works for Linux, it simply would never work for Windows. Between trialware, crapware, toolbar installers, and unrelated installers you would either make it a one stop shop for crap which means the users would never allow it to run, or MSFT would spend the next decade in court for refusing to allow crapware into the repository. So sorry, it just wouldn't work.

Actually I've found you can get most of that speed back by using a really good registry cleaner like the one built into tuneup utilities. This is the freeware full version of the 2k7 edition, but if you like it I would suggest buying the 2K9 as it is even nicer.

That said i would also recommend monthly disc imaging which will give you a way to roll back effectively if you end up with an app that leaves behind a bunch of crap. And of course a disc image of a clean install with all drivers and patches and basic apps is certainly less time consuming than having to deal with a yearly clean install. After restoring from the clean image you can then do the full patches using something like autopatcher with Multiset taking care of automating any new "must have" software.

I have found with these little tricks you can greatly extend the life of your Windows OS without the need to do a clean install. By using these tricks along with keeping my data on a separate drive so I don't have to worry about backups before rollbacks I have been using the same install of Win2K that I am typing this on since 2000 when it replaced WinME(EEEK!) and simply haven't had to deal with Windows rot. I simply roll back when I have a nasty uninstaller and use Tuneup to clean out any junk registry entries and this old workhorse still makes a good Nettop even after all these years. And it is certainly easier than doing a yearly reinstall.

You know, funny you should mention that, as I'm really shocked that the Linux and OSX guys ain't having a giant shit fit over the fact that it is that way now with regards to MSFT. I used to play around with a lot of different distros, but when you figured in the distro download plus the updates they just ate into my cap too badly. I talked to my ISP and guess what? Any updates from MSFT don't count, whether from auto updates or from anything you get from Microsoft.com.

So I used autopatcher to snatch all the updates for the OS and Office from 2K through Vista so I wouldn't need them when my customers brought in a box. Yep, they didn't say a word and I didn't hit the cap. You would think that the FLOSS guys would be having a royal fit as that just gives folks one more reason to stick with MSFT. I'm willing to bet the same applies from all the other major ISPs(I'm on Cox BTW) and I bet as the caps get nastier it will just hurt FLOSS more and more. I don't know whether MSFT cut a check or they just get a free ride being the big dog, but either way it helped my decision to quit playing around with FLOSS and stick with Windows for the time being.

And as for your idea? I don't think it would fly. The ISPs have gotten so greedy that unless the game companies allowed them to host it on local servers(which would pound you with ads) and gave them a cut I doubt the ISPs would go for it. They have just become too damned piggish. Myself and the others that lived on the 5 mile stretch of road where they stopped offered them 15K(which according to a friend that worked there was how much the line would cost) to hook us up. They refused to move an inch for less than $75000 PLUS the cost of the line PLUS a guaranteed FIVE year contract of the maximum services PLUS a "fee" for the trouble of laying down the lines(which we would have already paid for). So yeah, good luck getting the pigs to ever give us nationwide broadband or actually allow us any bandwidth. I have always been a Barry Goldwater little government type but even I can see that We, The People will have to lay out the lines if we ever want nationwide broadband. The little fiefdoms that the monopolies have given them have ruined any chance of the free market working in that arena. They are certainly too damned greedy to ever give terms that any game company with a brain would accept.

It takes a grand total of 28 minutes with Autopatcher, 38 minutes if you add all the extras like Java,.NET,DirectX, along with the freebies like powertoys. And if you only have an XP SP2 disk, or even 2K3 or 2K, just use XP ISO Builder to make you a new disc with the newer service pack slipstreamed. It is so easy to use my oldest made his own reinstall disc so he could have the OS tweaked his way. You can make it unattended, add 3rd party programs, tweak the services, pretty much anything you want to do

With autopatcher it is all quite simple and only requires a single reboot to install all the patches, and with XP ISO builder even a child can use it if they read the labels. So why would you do it the old and busted way of using Windows Updates? And with autopatcher burn it to CD and you can update as many PCs as you like, even those on dialup. Great tools to have in your toolbox.

Yes, but I refuse to deal with anymore screensavers involving oily naked guy butts after having to clean the fat girl's PC down the street ;-)

But seriously with XP Iso Builder or Nlite why would you NOT just roll your own Windows install? With XP ISO Builder it is so simple I let my 15 year old nephew roll his own so he could have the practice and learn about things like services. It is pretty damned simple and straight forward with an easy to use tool like that. It isn't like the old days when you had to learn all the Windows CMD for slipstreaming to update and customize the OS.

Just use autopatcher to get all the patches(also great to get all the Office patches and have them all burned to DVD), use XP Iso Builder to integrate them, or NLite if you want to strip anything out of the OS beyond language packs, and hit burn. Pretty simple. And then when you need a reinstall or get a new PC it is a simple matter to build a custom install for the hardware. You can even add all the drivers for your hardware so it is ready to go on first boot.

Count your blessings. Here in North Central AR, here are your three choices(if you are lucky and live in town, if not it gets worse) and all three suck. There is DSL at $99, there is cable at $150 for the bundle($20 more if you don't want the bundle) and there is WISP, which is $150 to hookup and $100 a month. And if you are two inches past the city limits your choices are dialup at 16k for $45 a month, satnet at $400 hookup and $99 a month with a horrible FAP, and the WISP.

So it sounds like an easy choice, go for the WISP, right? Wrong. The WISP charges $100 a month for 1MBs, but that isn't the worst part. If you use ANYTHING they consider "out of the ordinary(read WinXP with IE6) then they disconnect you for having a "virus and slowing down their network". After having my Xandros Business 4 Linux box disconnected for the 4th time in two weeks for daring to update my packages I went to have a fit and get my money back. Their NETWORK admin told me "all I know is WinXP and Win2K server. If it uses any ports other than that I figure it has to be a virus". Needless to say I got my money back. My sis figures she uses Windows and it was better than dialup, how bad could it be? She lasted a week before threatening to sue and getting her money back because they refused to allow her back on the network thanks to the oldest taking down their ENTIRE network with a malfunctioning Yahoo messenger! Needless to say I LOL!

The moral of the story is this: while everyone thinks it is great the WISPs give new startups a chance to service new customers, realize that with the chance at big money and locked in customers come a lot of lousy network setups. With a big name you may not like their practices, but at least they do understand network protocols and operating systems other than Win2K/WinXP. From those I have been talking to around my home state the WISPs that have set up here give consistently shittier service, with more headaches, and worse they give preferential treatment to certain OSes.

Talking to the local cable and teleco reps it seems as FAPs and caps are being implemented this is happening across the board. What kind of preferential treatment you ask? If you are on an ISP with caps(like I am with cable. Lousy 36GB for $150)_ ask them if Windows Updates count. I bet you will find that NO Windows updates, either automatic or through the manual update count. Now ask if your Linux package updates count. Yep, they do. Just another case where MSFT being the incumbent gives it the advantage. I know that I use to play with a lot more distros and kept my Xandros Business on the network for guests to use, but since getting such a lousy FAP I stay away from Linux. It is simply easier to use Autopatcher which doesn't count since they pull all updates from MSFT servers now, that it is to use up what little bandwidth I have downloading package updates.

I had hopes that the WISP would solve this problem, but as you can read above it was simply worse in every respect. So be glad you have SOME choices that are affordable. Here you get screwed no matter which way you go. That is why I hope Obama does get nationwide broadband rolled out. Even 756k with no caps would be better than what we get here in AR, and from what I have heard many in the rural parts of the south are in the same boat, screwed no matter which way they go.

Uhhhh......I wasn't actually talking about using it to make WINDOWS unattended disks. Although it has that feature so does WinXP ISO Builder, Nlite, etc. I was talking about all the OTHER software that they end up needing. All the stuff like Spybot and Adaware, Klite Codec pack, FF3 and Opera, etc. All the little crap that adds hours to a full reinstall.

But if you DID want to use it for Windows reinstalls(I would rather use a tweaked Nlite that only needs their key put in and automates the rest) then you DO know that it is trivial to change the XP Key after install, right? But like I said this tool isn't for that. It may have that feature but that isn't where it really shines. Where it shines is in installing all the crap you have to stick on after you get to that clean desktop the first time. Let me show you how much time it saves, by using it along with one of my other favorite tools-

Come up to clean desktop. Install their drivers from backup. Launch autopatcher disc and use it to run all patches, along with DirectX, Dotnet, Java, and Flash. Come back 20 minutes later and reboot. On reboot stick in Almeza disc, of which I have two(one for home users with stuff like the various messengers and one for business which just gives the basics) look at my little sheet of which programs the user had installed, add a couple I think they'd enjoy, hit go. 10 minutes later all I have to do is transfer their folders and settings and I'm done. A hell of a lot quicker than doing it the old fashioned way, huh?

With an Nlite OEM XP disc, a disc with a fully loaded autopatcher, and the Almeza disc I can get 90% of the machines that walk through my door done with just those three. Then all I need to do is let the ANTI-spyware and AV do updates and hand it over. But like I said, they have a trial that is free on their website. Use Nlite for creating unattended Windows discs, it has much more options. But for unattended software installations I have yet to find anything that even gets close.

Aaah.....but you see there is a catch 22 there, and the catch is this: the power users ain't the ones being infected. You see the power users know what "run as" is, they know about programs like autopatcher that lets them keep all the patches and must haves like Java and Flash on a DVD to install BEFORE letting the machine loose on the net, they actually bother TO patch, and use a firewall and AV, etc.

I think in all the years I have worked PC repair I've seen power users maybe half a dozen times in my shop. And in EVERY case they knew what they were about to try was dodgy, but they went for it anyway because the malware writer waved the right carrot. Now I can't comment on long term use of UAC, simply because my 3.6GHz P4 with 2GB of RAM and a 7600GS ran so damned slow on Vista I was using a 733MHz with WinXP just to get away from the thing, but I can tell you that one of the big things around here is to have me kill UAC. The users can't STAND the thing, because it irritates the living hell out of you. Those that have kept it seem to just click "allow" on everything so it is pointless. MSFT just sucks when it comes to privileges, especially compared to Linux which almost never bugged me for escalation when I was running Xandros 4.

But I would still like to see, say a 6 month test on "real world" average Windows users before I would put any weight at all to UAC. Because I bet the majority who haven't killed UAC outright(or paid guys like me good money to go back to XP) have simply become trained to hit allow no matter what the thing says. Because after watching a couple of Vista users and the speed at which they click allow I know those warnings could say "We've come for your daughters Chuck. Can we have them?" and they would click "Sure thing. Have fun!" which of course makes UAC nothing more than security theater instead of actual security.

Oh please. Hackers are evil but even they aren't THAT cruel!

Seriously though, this thing is attacking a hole patched in October. Why in the hell is so damned many PC users not bothering to patch their stupid machines? Have they not heard of Autopatcher? I mean how much more simple do they want? Autopatcher will let you get all the updates to everything 32bit from 2K-Vista, along with all the office patches, DirectX and Dotnet, all the tweaks and addons like flash and Java, and then you burn it to a nice DVD and you can patch every machine in your house. I think this is just further proof that some people will NEVER patch and all we can do is ask the ISPs to toss them when they start spewing crap all over the net.

Because if they haven't bothered to apply October patches by now then they deserve what they get. Sorry, but 3 months is MORE than enough time to do backups and testing.

Not really related to DRM, but Autopatcher is an amazing piece of software for cutting down on the hassle of re-installing. Basically, it pulls all the patches off a server and installs them in one go. You end up with the latest and greatest with only one reboot.

I've used it on my last few installs, and wouldn't go back to Microsoft's shitty update system.

http://www.autopatcher.com/

Use Heise Security Offline-Update to patch any installation of Windows XP with the latest service packs and security updates.

Why? Heise Offline-Update handles everything. It comes from a reputable company that makes money selling other security services; they have a strong incentive to do it right. To make the CD or DVD, it downloads all the patches from Microsoft's servers, and makes an .ISO file which you burn to a CD or DVD. To use Heise Offline-Update, you insert the CD or DVD, start the program, and let it run.

Shortcomings of Heise Offline-Update? 1) It does only security updates. 2) The web site is mostly in German, although there is an older English explanation.

Why not the others? 1) Autopatcher and others were much more amateurish. Autopatcher is now back with a scheme like Heise Offline-Update, but that is after months of experimentation. The volunteers at Autopatcher don't seem to have the resources necessary. See the Autopatcher downloads page which says "This page will be back very soon :)" (2008-02-12). Before, Autopatcher provided patches directly from their servers; Microsoft stopped that, due to security risks, it said. But Microsoft did not provide its own solution.

Problems with Slashdot: 1) Bad stories create bad discussions. Slashdot editors apparently don't know much about Microsoft Windows. Almost all Slashdot readers have to deal with Windows, even if only to help family and neighbors. Sloppy stories that have not been researched waste reader's time. 2) Lots of readers comment when they don't have much to say.

That said, Slashdot is by far the best web site I know for computer-oriented news.

Problems with Microsoft: What Microsoft offers is not complete, so volunteers try to help. In my opinion, Microsoft is often extremely adversarial toward its customers.

It has been more than 3 years since Microsoft issued a Service Pack for Windows XP; that has wasted the time of hundreds of thousands because Windows XP is so unstable and buggy and malware-prone that it often needs re-loading. Often malware replaces a system file, and the only way to recover is to re-load the operating system. Re-loading Windows XP preserves all the programs and settings; however, the latest Windows XP CD from Microsoft has only Windows XP Service Pack 2; there have been hundreds of megabytes of updates since then, making updating over a dial-up connection extremely slow.

Microsoft does have a system for updating, but the system requires the very expensive Windows Server 2003, which requires a network and at least one other computer. Obviously requiring all that creates problems in helping someone with his or her home computer, or with a cash register computer in a small store, for example.

More problems with Microsoft -- Windows Update often fails. Amazingly, Microsoft is unable to deliver an updating system that works reliably. I just worked on a friend's computer, for example, and running Windows Update gives a long numerical error message with no help for fixing the error.

There have been many, many different kinds of problems with Windows Update. See, for example, Microsoft's Windows Update Discussion Group.

I guess that millions of hours are lost every year because of Microsoft's sloppy programming. Bill Gates deserves his title, Chief of Grief, although soon the chair-throwing, bad-mouthing Steve Ballmer will be the Chief, apparently. (The

M$ "tried" to kill AutoPatcher. It is back and working better then ever. Now, instead of downloading the entire distribution, you download a single small executable. It then retrieves all the XP hotfixes from M$ website. In effect achieving two goals: 1) Avoiding the source of the cease and desist that M$ sent the author. The unauthorized and unverifiable distribution of the hotfixes. 2) Chewing up M$ bandwidth instead of the author's... The thread to the new beta version is located at http://www.autopatcher.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=89

Dark days.

There used to be a utility which did what you want, but Microsoft killed it off a fortnight ago. Now if you install from a pre-SP2 cd, you have to get online to patch, and take your chances with the viruses.

From the autopatcher FAQ: http://www.autopatcher.com/faq/
Q: Is AutoPatcher legal?
A: Yes, Antonis Kaladis (our project manager) once spoke to a Microsoft employee and apparently they know about us but don't care what we do! The AutoPatcher project has been going strong since 2003 and never had a sniff of trouble from Microsoft.

... this is some sort of DMCA violation? That's bizarre because Microsoft has known about them for some time and according to their site, they didn't care:

"Q: Is AutoPatcher legal?
A: Yes, Antonis Kaladis (our project manager) once spoke to a Microsoft employee and apparently they know about us but don't care what we do! The AutoPatcher project has been going strong since 2003 and never had a sniff of trouble from Microsoft."

From http://www.autopatcher.com/faq/

Microsoft hasn't done it, but these guys have.

"... many large issues with stability."

Rule number one in dealing with Microsoft: Unless forced by circumstances, never move to a new version of Windows until the second service pack is released. Let other people have the grief. (Someone said that rule will just cause Microsoft to release service packs much more often. If that happens, it may be necessary to change the rule to "until the X service pack...")

The huge number of bugs in Windows XP before SP2 was very expensive for us. If I remember correctly, Windows XP SP2 fixed more than 630 bugs, and some of the fixes were not documented.

It is not only the vulnerabilities that are expensive.

Where is service pack 3 for Windows XP? We've found that it is often necessary to reload Windows XP, because of instability and infections. Windows XP SP3 would make that easier.

I guess Microsoft is trying to discourage people from using Windows XP by making them download 70 Megabytes from Windows Update, or use Autopatcher. When a company doesn't take care of business and requires volunteers to maintain its product, that's abusive.

Why, yes! Of course there is! There are two ways to go about this:
1. Install XP, then all the patches later, and manually.
2. "Slipstream them" -- replace the files on the XP CD with the newer ones. nLite http://www.nliteos.com/ is pretty good for this stuff.

If you want to download all the patches so that you can slipstream them or install them later, AutoPatcher http://www.autopatcher.com/ is the way to go.

If you have a Windows server somewhere, WSUS is a good option (though somewhat heavier).

You could use something like http://www.autopatcher.com/ to bring yourself up to date.
And sure, reinstalling windows would make your Linux inaccessible, but a simple grub reinstall (or alternatively using ntldr to boot linux) isn't too tough...

TheUni

Try autopatcher.com.

Actually Microsoft has never had control. Pirated copies of Windows have always been able to get any Windows update they push, and for those they don't push you can find all over the net. Autopatcher rolls all the Windows updates up into a package, Windiz updates lets you get them sans validation, as do a ton of other sites. Heck, you can even setup your own WSUS with one valid copy of Windows and update all your pirated copies.

This doesn't change anything, Microsoft won't care. This doesn't break activation, or generate valid ID keys, those are some things Microsoft does care about (even if it can't do anything, both of those exploits are in the wild), but not WGA. As long as WGA keeps honest people honest (a la locks on a door) it is doing its job.

Autopatcher offers monthly packs of Windows Updates for several versions, and it's free. :)
"In short, AutoPatcher combines the advantage of both Windows Update (presentation and description of updates and automated installation), and the special administrative updates (portability and installation without the need of an Internet connection)."

Cool, but not all the stuff included is free stuff. I hope this project would be 100% free open source software, with separate sections for Proprietary and Unsupported, just like Synaptic or Adept (I prefer Synaptic). I would love to see programs like HijackThis, Keyfinder, etc under a proprietary/unsupported section.

I was actually thinking about making something like this a while back. I was thinking to base it upon zip files (7z to save bandwidth maybe) with binaries and silent install scripts (NSIS with /s?), because with open source software and most other software packages it's always possible to reverse the installer and write a separate script, which is the basis of how portable applications work. I have written a few myself using NSIS. I think zip files work better than relying upon the developers' setups that may or may not have silent installation. Every program in an application like this should install silently by default in my opinion.

This would be great for anyone running a server to hold the applications and then have this software be the client software so any administrator can install or remove applications as needed. With the ability to select some to remove and some to install, and then do it all in batch it greatly speeds up the process of removing/installing software (where Add/Remove can only do one at a time, and installs would also have to be done one at a time).

At my work, we currently do something similar, except with AutoPatcher. I have to make an Autopatcher reference file, find out the setup's silent install command line and AutoPatcher does the rest (most of the reference file is a batch file). It speeds up system updates and software to install on customer machines (ffdshow, Adobe Reader, QuickTime (ugh), etc).

Why is this flaimbait? I didn't bash MS enough? Or is it the typo (Update shouldve been "patcher").. maybe I need to clarify: XP is manageable in terms of security if you can update your system via patch accumulators such as this one. It is convenient to use, has software compatible with most desktop needs and is no longer the main target for worm creators (the next Slammer/Blaster will target Vista).

There is absolutely no incentive to move to Vista as everyone has noted, save perhaps the DirectX10 games if you're into that kind of thing. The "security" measures in Vista do not appeal to the decent "power user" who manages to avoid downloading malware, and definitely not to a CS graduate student, such as myself, who has a hardened Fedora setup on another partition.

Have you heard of WGA Notifications? Every time you boot your computer it phones home to Microsoft and sends information about your computer. Every time you install Microsoft updates it phones home to Microsoft and sends information about your computer. If you Windows Update it sends information about your computer and forces you to install the wgatray spyware.

This is why I no longer use Windows Update. I use AutoPatcher (for existing installs) or RyanVM Update Packs (integrates into the cd, I use this for new installs. "RyanVM WGA Addon" contains the wga spyware).

Also, you should block the following domains at your router:

genuine.microsoft.com
mpa.one.microsoft.com
wpa.one.microsoft.com
wustats.microsoft.com

If you're using SquidGuard or similar, you should block or rewrite the following URLs:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=74005
http://runonce.msn.com/runonce2.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/

If you have this spyware installed, XP AntiSpy can remove it.

Try Autopatcher. They release a 'service pack' (bundle of patches) every month (on high speed mirrors). Its a viable alternative for Windows Update except that they're slightly lagging behind (roughly between 0 and 6 weeks). If you don't like IE there is even a "Windows Update for Mozilla Firefox" called Windizupdate or something like that.

While I agree this is slightly interesting, it's not terribly useful, since it's likely that a mandatory auto-update will plug this hole soon. And without updates, the first of the many-to-be-found-exploits in all the new Vista code, will leave you vulnerable. It's rather ironic (and convenient for MS) that Windows' shoddy security, and the associate desperate need for updates, gives them a lot of control of forcing updates on you to plug activation and genuine advantage holes and such.

Thankfully for XP (which is where I level off anyway, why bother with Vista), there's Autopatcher and similar sites, which allow a *far* more convenient way of getting and applying patches than MS update. Don't know if there is anything similar for Vista, or if it's possible or will be permitted to continue by MS.

Try Autopatcher:

http://www.autopatcher.com/

I've started implementing http://www.autopatcher.com/ whenever I have to reinstall XP. It allows you to pick and choose which updates get installed, and it does it all automatically, without having to reboot a bunch. It has significantly reduced my rebuilding time. Plus, it all fits on one CD.

There are two good options. They don't have every last update for the various flavors of XP (home, pro, and media center) but they have the majority of them.

Autopatcher and Offline Updater

Both have options for 2000, XP, and 2003 Server

you don't go through Microsoft Updates but instead go to their Security Search and manually download each patch? Since you've never activated WGA, does that mean you're invisible to Microsoft?

Just use Auto Patcher

Or, you could download Autopatcher and get every update in one easy download. This also makes things wonderfully easy when you need to patch a fresh XP install, all you need is that disc to be completely up to date.

I also like the fact that WGA is clearly listed as "Optional" when choosing which components to install.

A friend just bought a Toshiba laptop with Win XP at Christmas. Fresh out of the box, WGA thinks it is invalid.

Yay. Another pirate foiled, as far as WGA and MS are concerned. Of course, the reality is, he hasn't been able to update his system, so his security patches are out of date, and it will slowly get worse with time.

I recommended AutoPatcher as the solution. It's a heck of a lot easier than waiting on the phone for MS or Toshiba support.

I hope MS weighs all those frustrated legitimate users against all the "pirates" they think they are catching.

http://www.autopatcher.com/

They'res also AutoPatcher for offline patch installation, and it includes add-ons (such as Sun Java 6, TweakUI and the .Net framework).
They'res also Microsoft's Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer which will scan your computer and notify you of missing security updates, and direct links to download them.

TWO WORDS: auto patcher

http://www.autopatcher.com/

AutoPatcher anyone http://www.autopatcher.com/? First thing to run on any new install after the drivers are done.

Comes with all the latest 'Critical' as well as recommended patches, along with common a bunch of other wanted items (Java, TweakUi, PowerToys, Flash/Shockwave, etc) as well as a heap of tweaks out of the box!

No honestly its all sweet goodness, and will save you a lot of time and reboots.

Its called Autopatcher and its WAYYYY sexier. Lots of installable extras and sexy registry patches to make windows life easier.

http://www.autopatcher.com/

http://www.autopatcher.com/ This site has been offering offline Windows updates for some time. Lots of translations as well. Worth a look.

i keep a up-to-date copy for my dialup friends, which most are.

Autopatcher!