I have an XP Home and an XP Pro machine and both are set to notify me of Microsoft updates but not automatically install them. There were two updates for the July that popped up, one being a security update and the other being the monthly rootkit nag. The security update on the XP Pro machine went fine (as always, I declined the rootkit update), but for some reason when I clicked on the download for this update on the XP Home machine, it never downloaded it and never installed it to my knowledge. The yellow notification icon never reappeared either and it's been three days now.

Any ideas why this happened or where to check besides Add/Remove programs to make sure that the update wasn't downloaded and installed?

Use the "Windows Update" menu item in IE (or in the Start menu) to go to the MS site and check for updates.

When an update is not installed, a dialog box pops up. It's something to the effect of, "Don't notify me about this update again [ ]." If you check the box, it does just that. Windows Update also has an option to hide updates you don't want.

Checking the 'Show Updates' box in 'Add and Remove Programs' will reveal installed updates. You can also look in the Windows directory for a directory with the Technet bulletin number in the name.

When an update is not installed, a dialog box pops up. It's something to the effect of, "Don't notify me about this update again [ ]." If you check the box, it does just that. Windows Update also has an option to hide updates you don't want.

Checking the 'Show Updates' box in 'Add and Remove Programs' will reveal installed updates. You can also look in the Windows directory for a directory with the Technet bulletin number in the name.

I thought I might have accidentally declined the security update along with the rootkit update, so I went and re-enabled the notification for all the previous updates I had declined and it still didn't re-appear. The last Windows updates that were installed on my XP Home system were from June 21, 2008.

What is the name of the Windows directory that contains the Technet bulletin numbers? I assume a date would be associated with these bulletin numbers as well?

It's the C:\Windows\ directory. ;) The directory creation date should indicate the date it was installed. The Technet bulletin can be found by typing KB###### into Google or at support.microsoft.com/kb/#######.

I've seen MS withdraw updates too.

Thanks for the help I_Want_My_HDTV.

As for MS withdrawing updates, have they done this even sending a notification that one is available by just not bothering to send it to you?

It really seems strange that this update would not reappear or not even get downloaded in the first place. I wonder if I should call Mulder and Scully in on this one.

It's the C:\Windows\ directory. ;) The directory creation date should indicate the date it was installed. The Technet bulletin can be found by typing KB###### into Google or at support.microsoft.com/kb/#######.

I was able to confirm that the last update installed on my XP Home system was KB951376-v2 on 06/21/2008 which dealt with MS08-030: Vulnerability in Bluetooth stack could allow remote code execution.

Interestingly, after just over two months, I received another notification today that Windows XP SP3 was available. While it's been a few days since I chose to re-enable notifications for all previous updates I had declined, I originally never bothered to either decline or download this update but it too mysteriously disappeared.

See here:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=746573&postcount=27

Check out MS Security Baseline Analyzer 2 (MSBA) and Secunia PSI. Both are better than Windows Update in some respects. Windows Update can be a lot faster if many updates are required. Secunia PSI is pretty much a "must have" security tool since it finds all programs with security risks, not just MS software.

When I turned on my XP Home machine earlier today, I was surprised to see the Yellow Exclamation Notification (YEN) icon from Microsoft pop up informing me that updates were available for my computer. I figured there was yet another gaping security hole discovered in XP, thereby necessitating the need for an emergency patch to be issued. However, when I clicked on it I was completely shocked to see that it was the KB951748 Security Update For Windows XP that was originally offered to me (and accepted) back on July 15 but for some reason never downloaded and installed on my machine.

Does anyone have any idea what might have happened here to cause such a lag? I have noticed over the past two days that the YEN icon has popped up for a split second a few times (but never remained steady) and this is something I have never experienced before either. Has Criss Angel started incorporating Microsoft illusions into his act or something? :eek:

I had the same type of thing going on, so I went to the Windows Update site and upgraded to SP3 manually.

I had the same type of thing going on, so I went to the Windows Update site and upgraded to SP3 manually.

This whole disappearing update thing is really weird but at least it's "good" to know that I'm not the only one it's happening to.

So, how did the SP3 update go? Any issues?

It seemed to go pretty smoothly. I just crossed my fingers and pressed update.

Check out this thread (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=88790). KB951748 caused major problems for ZoneAlarm users and was probably withdrawn temporarily. I refused it on a PC that used ZA but then it was installed a coule of days ago and totally scrued internet access on the system. No sites could be accessed. I also couldn't uninstall the update or ZA. The ZA interface totally locked up, preventing use the temporary work around. What a fiasco. The GF was not impressed. :o I had to reboot in safe mode to get rid of ZA and get the PC working again. :mad: The ZA subscription was about to expire so it has been replaced with another product. That was the last straw for ZA. It's history. :cool:

Based on the information and feedback on firewalls I've read in this forum, I will never touch Zone Alarm (nor have I ever) and have opted to use Online Armor Free instead. Since Windows Firewall seems to be ineffective if you're already using a hardware firewall, I have that turned off altogether.

Apparently KB951748 works with Online Armor because I haven't noticed anything odd happening with my system since the update was installed yesterday. I guess I just got caught in the middle of the temporary update withdrawal. It's hard to believe that Microsoft would release an update of any sort that would put a system in a worse state than before the update was installed, isn't it? :rolleyes:

Yesterday both my XP Home and XP Pro machines received notifications of new MS updates. There were nine in total and I accepted all but the monthly Windows malicious software tool for both machines. When I hit update, this tme the icon disappeared on both machines and as of now is still nowhere to be found.

What is going on here? Is this happening to anyone else here?

This is not unusual. The updates install in the background. I have updates to notify me before installing. The update icon goes away until they are downloaded. It goes away again if I choose to install. Then I get an annoying pop-up to reboot. I usually refuse and they are installed when I shut down. Are you sure these updates are not being installed?

This is not unusual. The updates install in the background. I have updates to notify me before installing. The update icon goes away until they are downloaded. It goes away again if I choose to install. Then I get an annoying pop-up to reboot. I usually refuse and they are installed when I shut down. Are you sure these updates are not being installed?

I'm positive that the updates are not being installed...at least not right away. (Please see below).

As I mentioned previously, I too have the updates to notify me before installing and when I selected which ones I wanted to install, the icon then goes away but now it doesn't come back right away. Prior to the normally scheduled updates of July and August, the updates I selected would always download immediately and then install. Last month when I received a notification of available updates, I selected the ones I wanted and the icon disappeared for 10 days until the updates finally ended up being downloaded and installed. It only happened on the XP Home machine last time, this time it happened on both the XP Home and XP Pro machines.

Now this is really weird because just as I was typing the above paragraph on my XP Home machine, the update notification icon just popped up informing me that the eight updates I selected yesterday are (only) now available to be installed. Spooooooky.

The point is, what is suddenly causing the huge delay between choosing what updates to install and then having them download and finally install? (BTW, I'm on a high speed connection so that's not an issue.)

I'll boot into my Windows XP partition and see what happens. I have the Automatic updates set to Notify me. I always check the updates, then agree to install. You can then usually click on the icon to see the download progress, and then the installation progress. In the past, I have had some disappear on me too, although, to be honest, I don't pay as much attention to when they actually get installed since I don't boot into XP much these days.

Had the same happen to me on an XP machine.
Vista also had updates and they installed just fine.

I also have the automatic updates set to Notify, and had the same thing happen to me more than once on an XP PC using the icon method. I no longer trust the icon method, so now I always use the browser method to download/install the updates. I use the icon notification only as a reminder.