Updating a Windows XP Home box on dialup, I find myself wading through the nonsense that is Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage. Before I can actually apply any security updates to this Dell OEM’d copy of XP Home, I have to download an initial Genuine Advantage package. Once installed, after ten minutes of downloading and installing, Micosoft explains it needs to validate my already valid copy of Windows XP. Great. Having no choice but to continue, lest my box become a compromised host, abusing the Internet at dialup speeds, I proceed. More data is sent to Microsoft and I wait, wait, and wait for a while longer. Another five minutes pass.
Finally, it’s time to install a newer version of Windows Update software. Windows Update checks for the latest updates for a fourth time, now under the guise of actually allowing me to proceed. Finally, the nonsense stops and I can apply security updates.
Amusingly, I found Automatic Updates has done its job, even over dialup, and all the latest security updates for SP2 have been applied without my attention. If only I had some idea where to look to verify that before wasting all this time, I would never have bothered with this quest.
