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I love Windows Update

Tonight, the updates for May 2007 showed up in Windows Update. You can read about this month's updates here. My experience receiving updates this evening really impressed me and I felt it was important to highlight that here. I absolutely love how they improved Windows Update with Windows Vista. The Windows Update client, which is built in to Windows Vista, allows you to view all available updates real easily. By right-clicking on any of the available updates, you can view details regarding that specific update.  You can also view your history of installed updates as well.

 

If you've enabled the use of Microsoft Update - you will also see updates for other Microsoft products using the Microsoft Update Engine. You will see updates for Windows Vista and Microsoft Office grouped into seperate groups. In the case of this evening, I had several updates for Office 2007 including an update for the Outlook 2007 Junk Mail Filter. Some of the Windows Live desktop apps are also designed to take advantage of Microsoft Update too.

You can see if you are using Microsoft Update or not in Windows Update by checking where you receive updates at the bottom of the Windows Update window.

If you are not using Microsoft Update, it will say "Get updates for more products" which you can click to install Microsoft Update.

Windows Update is also great at delivering updated device drivers. A few nights ago I was alerted of a new wireless network adapter driver for my laptop. And this evening I got an update for the Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver (which I will talk about in a later post).

If you have Windows Vista Ultimate you'll notice that Windows Update is used for downloading Ultimate Extras such as Windows DreamScene.

Overall, you'll find being able to keep your PC up-to-date is real easy with the Windows Update client in Windows Vista.

NOTE: These experiences are based on having automatic updating configured in the Windows Update client on Windows Vista.


Comments

  1. Posted on: May 09, 2007 at 1:33PM  

    I like the new update too, but it's

    slow to download.  I was watching the

    network traffic last night downloading

    the latest fixes and there would be

    some traffic, then a big delay, then

    some more traffic.  This went on for

    quite awhile before all the fixes were

    downloaded and it started applying

    them.

  2. Posted on: May 10, 2007 at 6:50PM  

    Why aren't the extras coming out for Ultimate?  For a while it seemed that they were coming along fine, but then nothing came out and now there's nothing new.

  3. Posted on: May 11, 2007 at 10:22PM  

    The only thing I would like to see in updates is a way to subscribe to recommendations from other sources, kinda like a second opinion either from a tech expert on the web or your local IT administrator if your on a network.

    This way for example if in the future say there was an IE8, and Microsoft view it as recommended/critical... your second reference might say its optional/not recommended at this time.

    Still a step in the right direction for sure.

  4. Posted on: May 12, 2007 at 1:53AM  

    newscientist2000 - that is certainly a very interesting concept/suggestion.

    mgtb, I am sure the Ultimate Extras Team has some cool stuff up their sleeve! ;-)

    As for slow download speeds - when I did updates on all my PC's I didn't notice any real download lag. I apologize for the issue though. If it happens next time, leave me a comment and maybe it should be investigated further.

  5. Posted on: May 12, 2007 at 10:13AM  

    Every comment must be coming from IT personnel who have hundreds of hours of time to learn Window Vista.  OH MY GOD - it is a nightmare!  I upgraded with a bought my new Dell, like an idiot.  It is anything but seemless.  Microsoft sould take a page from Steve Jobs playbook!

  6. Posted on: May 12, 2007 at 3:10PM  

    carl, not everyone here is IT Personnel. I consider myself a Windows Enthusiast more on the side of consumers and geeks than IT Pros. That isn't to say IT Pros are coming and reading my stuff either! And I of course welcome it.

    carl, I am sorry your experience hasn't been great. If you have any questions please leave a comment and I'll try to answer them to the best of my knowledge. Perhaps I can help out.

  7. Posted on: May 25, 2007 at 8:56PM  

    I would love to get more updates, but my key is now considered "already in use".  I experienced extreme frustration trying to find drivers for my hardware. I've had to replace my computer completely. To make matters worse, the store where I bought these components sold me an incompatible motherboard & CPU. After a couple weeks, I now have a working computer. Now, however, the key that I registered is considered "already in use"... by myself, I am sure!  How do I get around that???

  8. Posted on: November 24, 2007 at 2:20PM  

    We and others are having considerable trouble with the "update on system compatibility, reliability and stability" (KB941649).  With XP, Windows update support is provided when problems occur, but not with Vista. Why not?

Trackbacks

  1. Posted by: The Windows Experience Blog on September 24, 2007 at 3:39PM

    Today Microsoft is releasing the Beta of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 which was announced by Nick White