Randy it does not take me to "New! Get Microsoft Update today to get updates for Windows, Office and other Microsoft applications all in one place". . It takes me to where they say they are "checking that you have the latest version of windows software on your computer for use with the web site". Then within a second another page appears with this :- [Error number: 0x80072F76 The website has encountered a problem and cannot display the page you are trying to view. The options provided below might help you solve the problem. For self-help options: Frequently Asked Questions Find Solutions Windows Update Newsgroup For assisted support options: Microsoft Online Assisted Support I contacted Microsoft support about the problem and now await their findings. This is the first time in four years of having this computer and Windows XP [home] that I have had a problem when I clicked onto 'Windows Updates'. It has always worked without a problem. Now this????? "Horton"

The laptop's all set up - and dd received it on Tuesday. For now we'll try open office. She does have a desktop pc with word if she needs it. And at school they use Mac's. So no matter what we use at home, it won't be quite the same as in school. abreeze - thanks for the link. It's beyond anything she or I will do now - but one or both of us might get more versed in powerpoint over time. That's a helpful comparison. I created recovery disks - but when I went to create a password reset disk, the laptop kept asking me to insert a disk. There was a disk in there. I even switched disks in case one was bad. But it was birthday day - so I figured I'd get to this later. Well - it came back and bit me in the butt. Birthday night had some trauma. After dinner, my mother fell backwards and hit her head on the sidewalk. I took her to the ER. My daughter was distraught - and the parent controls had logged her off at 9pm. Husband thought this was a reasonable exception - so he logged into the admin account for her. She immediately eliminated the time controls. No big deal, I thought - I'll reset them another time. Somehow she tricked my husband into entering the admin password again - told him she'd restarted the computer by accident. Well - that sneak had gotten him to enter the password in a field that allowed her to change it. She changed the passwords and locked us out of the laptop. So this is where that password reset disk would have been helpful - to override what she did and reset a new admin password. So this is partly a note to people about the important of creating a password reset disk (or set up on flash drive). I'd never even heard of this before. We're at the beach with my daughter and friend - it's instead of a birthday party. So we're not having the confrontation with this weekend. Monday - we tell her she has to hand back the reins for the admin account (or no laptop). The joys of parenting preteens. It took her less than 24 hours to violate most of the terms of the contract she signed. Sure wish I'd had that reset password disk. When I get admin control back, I'll be sure to create one somehow. (I assume at this point my only option is getting her to give me that new password she created.) Thanks. Lynn.

no you do not want to stop getting your windows updates they are very important to keep your pc secure and functioning properly. What we were discussing is setting the option in automatic updates to only notify you that you have updates ready but not automatically install them. That way you can wait to see if anything shows up here or other forums saying that one of the updates is causing big problems for people. then you can hold off on that update till they get the bugs out. SP3 is one of the service pack updates that has been put out through auto updates but it breaks many computers so some people are choosing not not to install it on their pc, there is even a blocking tool put out by microsoft to stop it from being sent to you. I personally much prefer to have my settings at Notify me but do not install, then I have the option of deciding what to install and when to install. I normally install all updates once I know they are not causing any problems. Watching this forum and other security forums on the Tuesdays that the updates are sent out is a good way to find out if you should wait to get a specific update. If no one screams that it broke their pc then it is probably ok. If you do not want to be bothered then leaving it set to do it all automatically behind the scenes is ok too. It is a personal choice. To change how it updates you can look at the settings area by going to Start> control panel> automatic updates. There you will see you can change the options from automatic to Notify me first to do nothing etc.

If you want you can go to update.microsoft.com and on the left there will probably be a link to review your updates history. There it will show updates and their success's or failures. They sometimes will have fix-it notes for failed updates. first page of mine... Windows Defender Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB915597 (Definition 1.23.4365.0) Friday, November 30, 2007 Other Source Windows Defender Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB915597 (Definition 1.23.4310.0) Tuesday, November 27, 2007 Automatic Updates Windows XP Security Update for Microsoft .NET Framework, Version 1.1 Service Pack 1 (KB928366) Tuesday, November 27, 2007 Automatic Updates Windows XP Update for .NET Framework 3.0: x86 (KB932471) Monday, November 26, 2007 Microsoft Update Windows XP Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1 Monday, November 26, 2007 Microsoft Update Windows XP Update for Windows XP (KB934238) Monday, November 26, 2007 Automatic Updates Windows XP Security Update for Microsoft XML Core Services 6.0 and Microsoft XML Core Services 6.0 Service Pack 1 (KB933579) Monday, November 26, 2007 Automatic Updates Windows XP February 2007 CardSpace Update for Windows XP (KB925720) Monday, November 26, 2007 Automatic Updates Windows XP Update for Windows Media Format 11 SDK for Windows XP (KB929399) Monday, November 26, 2007 Automatic Updates Windows XP Update for Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP (KB939683) Monday, November 26, 2007 Automatic Updates Here is a link that might be useful: update.microsoft.com