Another problem - help

[pascal]

Hello Gentlemen and Ladies,
I've noted that the last three or so days after trying to get my NTI CD DVD Maker software working, I tried some earlier restores. I don't know if it is coincidence or not but I had a large Windows update download and install (like 8 programs). Everything went well and when they installed and I rebooted I got another alert for another download. I downloaded it Security Update for Windows XP (KB956572). It downloaded and installed. Several hours later the icon was back so I did it again. I went to Microsoft Windows Update Check and it said I need to install that program but not download it. I went to update history and it shows at least 5 updates of that Security Update. The icon is staring at me now as I type this, I think it's frowning. What might be my major malfunction and how might I rectify it? Thanks for any assistance.
pascal

[JimmyN]

The first thing I'd do is turn off automatic updates and stop being a beta tester for Microsoft.

Update manually, it's on your Start menu, on the first or last week of the month after Microsoft has fixed any problems with it's updates. You'll have fewer problems that way.

Microsoft really pushes for auto update as within hours of posting an update millions of systems will install it, and the flood of bug reports will start pouring in. Then they can patch the patch, without having to expend a lot of effort testing it in house to find the bugs.

You may have to go into Add/Remove Programs and uninstall the hot patches from the last update and then go update manually to install them again.

[Sgt. Schultz]

The amount of updates and patches that you need to download really depends on the age of your restore image. If your image is a couple of years old it probably only contains sp1 so your system will have to download quite a few files and reboot a couple of times.

[Sgt. Schultz]

The first thing I'd do is turn off automatic updates and stop being a beta tester for Microsoft.

There are reports of M$ forcing updates on users that had auto updates turned OFF in the past so if you want to totally kill auto updates you need to disable the services "Automatic Updates" AND "Background Intelligent Transfer Service"

I have always disabled automatic updates on all the XP machines in my house. If M$ puts out any updates that I feel are necessary I will download and manually install them myself.

[pascal]

Thank you kindly for the replies. I currently have downloads setup to notify only. In the Control Panel Add/Remove programs, I only show one copy of that particular Security update. On the Microsoft Site under view download history, that is where I saw the same Update downloaded successfully 5 or 6 times both automatic (accepted by me after notification) and manual downloaded after scan from Microsoft. The Microsoft scans IIRC said 0 to download/ but 1 to install. When ok'ed it installed. It always gave the successful download and installation prompt afterwards. I unchecked the last auto notification of the same update and checked don't notify of this download again. What would make it not know it downloaded already and to continually inform me to redo the same Update. Thanks for the suggestions.
pascal