Windows is the most popular OS currently, and frequent updates are available for all recent versions. You have probably seen the Windows Live Update icon on your system tray as it checks for new updates and then downloads these. Hampered
as we are in India with slow speed and interrupted connections, not to mention power cuts, the download of the update file may span across sessions. Even
if your system crashes (which with Windows is not completely out of the realm of possibility) the resumption of your update downloads is not smooth.

'Windows Updates Downloader' addresses these issues. Moreover, you can also pick and choose which updates you would like downloaded and installed, rather than let the system make decisions. We are going to take you through the process of browsing through the updates released by Microsoft, selecting the ones you need, and then downloading them all.

The home screen of the application has four main sections. The first one represents the' Update List' which is a compilation of all the updates for a particular OS version. All the update lists installed on your machine are listed in a drop down box. Apart from this list you also have 'Add', 'Refresh' and 'Manage

Update Lists' buttons. Click 'Add' and

it will take you to the official website of 'Windows Update Downloader'; it is the same website from where the installer file of the application is available for download. Clicking 'Manage Update Lists' will list all the updates installed on your machine. After you download and install an update list, click 'Refresh' and this will bring up the 'Update List' in the drop down box.

The second section, is simply a text field displaying the folder path where your downloads will be saved. The default download folder is located at 'C:\Program Files\Windows Updates Downloader'. To change the default folder path press the 'Change' button, which will bring up a folder browser window, where you can browse to the desired folder.



The third section will display all the updates associated with the 'Update List' selected, while the last section is visible by toggling the 'Options' button and contains 'Proxy Settings' and customized options for grouping, description and others. If you connect to the Internet via a proxy server, here is where you need
to enter the proxy server's address, port number and authentication requirements such as username and password. The update files downloaded will be saved in the default download folder and can be organized using the checkboxes 'Product as subfolder' and 'Category as subfolder'. There are three modes in which you

can operate the application-'Check for updates', 'Check for updates, including beta versions' and 'Do not check for updates'. If you want the application to run continuously in the background check the option 'Minimize to tray' which will create a system tray icon for the program.

Procedure

Now follow the instructions to set up your PC to download Windows updates.

STEP 1: The first thing to do is install the program on your PC. You can either download the installation file from the official website (wud.jcarle.com) or copy it from this month's CHIP DVD. Once the installation process is complete, open the program by double-clicking the shortcut icon on your desktop.

STEP 2: The application doesn't include

any in-built 'Download Updates' lists so initially the 'Update List' will be empty. We can download these lists from the official website (wud.jcarle.coml. Browse to the website on your Web browser. Pressing the 'Add' button will also get you there as it will cause the page to load on your default Web browser. Once you are at the website, you need to click on the link 'Update Lists (ULS)' from the left navigation panel. These downloadable updates list files include all the updates for the corresponding OS version. Select your preferred download file, in our case, 'Windows XP x85' and check the option 'Save to Disc' on the download box and press 'OK'. This should download the ULS file to your desktop. Browse to its location and run the file by double-clicking on it, you should then get a dialog box stating 'Compressed UL File installed'.

If this dialog box doesn't appear, then go back and re-install the update list. STEP 3: In 'Windows Update Downloader', click the 'Refresh' button to view your currently installed ULS file Click 'Change' to select a new path for the download folder. Browse to your preferred local drive, click the' Make New Folder' button and name it 'WUD'. We do this as it will be easier to navigate to the download folder which is not very deep in the directory. Your folder path is 'C:\WUD'. STEP 4: Under the 'Options' section you can enter your proxy address, port, username and password if you connect to the Internet through a proxy server.

Select the option 'Check for updates' from the drop down list. The default option is 'Check for updates, including beta versions', but I recommend not to opt for that download mode since beta versions are usually unstable and are not necessary for the security of your Pc. STEP 5: Now, we can examine the updates available and check the ones we want Since critical updates refer to those which are absolutely essential for our PC, we can check the box and let the program download all the updates in that list. For other update types, for instance, 'Other', we can expand the list to pick and choose only the updates we need. So, select a couple of updates for download by You can disable Windows' 'Automatic Updates' from 'Start I Settings I Control Panel I Automatic Updates' and select the options 'Notify me
but don't automatically download or install them'. This way you can stay aware if any updates are released, but can download them using 'Windows Update Downloader'. checking their corresponding boxes and press 'Download'. Now, sit back and wait while the updates get downloaded.

STEP 6: When your download is completed, you can see which updates have been downloaded completely as their box color turns green. Now open 'Windows Explorer' and browse to your download folder, and your installation files will be in their respective category folders, this means that if you downloaded a critical update, you need to look under the 'Critical Updates' sub folder for the installation file. These are self extracting CAB files, which you have to double click to run and install the updates.

These are the steps that you will need to follow if you want to control the download and the installation process of Windows Updates. The update lists available for download also include the products 'Exchange 2003', 'Office 2003', 'Windows 2000 Professional', 'Windows 2003 Server' and 'Windows Vista, both 32-bit and 54-bit platforms. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and download Windows' updates .