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MS has a very good reason to want you to use automatic updates
MicroSoft says: "... that it feels the best way for consumers to get SP2 is to turn on the Automatic Upgrade feature in Windows ..."

Of course, if you will need to reinstall your OS in the future, then you might find out that you haven't accumulated the updates you need, and MS has taken the "functionality" they want you to learn to rely on from the product! There's one big advantage to doing the upgrade the manual way: if you keep all the patches you downloaded, you can always reinstall to an up to date version, and everything in between. But if you need to reinstall WinXP 5 years from now on an old machine, you will have to revert to the original 2001 on your original CD, or download all the patches one by one and install manually. Or pay MS for an upgrade, and upgrade or replace your old equipment so it can take the new OS. That's what happened with WIN98: They did not only stop making new patches. They removed the whole windows update site and replaced it by a manual download of SEPARATE little patches. They did not have the decency of at least packing them in a zip so they can be downloaded in one click. My old PC now uses original unpatched WIN98. I had to reinstall it on a clean HD. Then I went to Windows Update that insisted that I need the latest IE to use the site. So I upgraded from IE4 to IE6 (of course IE5 was not available). Then I went back to Windows Update that then told me that the automatic update functionality was removed from this product. If I want to apply patches I can download them one by one. I contacted MS and asked if there is a way to download everything in one file and the answer was no. But they said I can pay for WinXP. I didn't. I don't think that PC can take XP, and I have no intention to pay for hardware just to support a new MS OS when the old one did the job.

So you see, there is a reason why they prefer automatic downloads: when the time comes, they can pull the plug on XP, and many millions would just go and upgrade...
Posted by: hadaso   Posted on: 08/11/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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P2P COULD be used legitimately ...  worknman | 08/10/04
~~~~~~~~Question  EnterPrise_Analyst | 08/10/04
Because without infringement, P2P would die tomorrow.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 08/10/04
Without p2p, the internet wouldn't exist  tic swayback | 08/10/04
Darn it Tic, you stole my thunder! lol  DigitalKid | 08/12/04
LOL..sorry for my many typos in last post..  DigitalKid | 08/12/04
Toulouse and Gartenberg = clueless  magila | 08/10/04
What are you talking about?  No_Ax_to_Grind | 08/10/04
NO  Jeff Spicoli | 08/10/04
Ah yes more cluelessness  magila | 08/10/04
One good deed doesnt erase a life time of illegal activity.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 08/10/04
Why not just ban the internet  NemesisNL | 08/10/04
Encouraging legit uses is a good thing  tic swayback | 08/10/04
p2p may have some good uses  V Sanders | 08/10/04
bwhahahahaha  magila | 08/10/04
burden of proof...  ryusen | 08/10/04
lol  johnnyu | 08/11/04
That's only how it works in the judicial branch  Michael Kelly | 08/11/04
By this token, do you also believe FTP should be outlawed?  Taz_z | 08/11/04
but,...  V Sanders | 08/10/04
won't be getting a trojan  cjules13 | 08/10/04
P2P  AbsolutelyNot | 08/10/04
So shut down P2P and there will still be  Squawkbox | 08/10/04
they might be engaging in theft. - No, ARE  wiskowst | 08/11/04
And you have never broken a law without knowing it?  Squawkbox | 08/11/04
There is no theft in downloading  Hanover Phist | 08/11/04
Canada?  rapson | 08/11/04
Canada's stance is not that  voska | 08/11/04
ms iste still says coming soon  V Sanders | 08/10/04
The problem I have is the size of the updates  jbaviera@... | 08/11/04
That's why they are making free CDs for your local Fry's  Confused by religion | 08/11/04
Shutting down P2P is conviction without crime  Protector | 08/11/04
This wouldn't pass  johnnyu | 08/11/04
Did you know that lots of people SPEED on the roads?!?!?  beggenbe@... | 08/12/04
MS has a very good reason to want you to use automatic updates  hadaso | 08/11/04
Windows Update still works on Win98  davidphogan74 | 08/15/04
Win ME still does auto-updates  Neil Parks | 08/26/04
No Fear Peer to Peer  BenEBrady | 08/13/04
XP SP2 Retriever  BenEBrady | 08/13/04

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