24 replies to this topic

[Scottar]

Ralph C., on 10 February 2012 - 01:38 AM, said:

Scottar, you mentioned in your post that you download Windows updates so that when you have to R&R the OS, you do not have to re-download all of them.  This is something I would love to do.  How do you do that?  I have a very restrictive internet connection that limits me to 5 GB / month and doing an R&R would absolutely put me over my limit for the month.  Please advise how to download and save the updates so that from now on I can do so as well.  I have 2 Win 7 laptops that we (my wife and I) both keep updated and therefore have to download all updates twice.  What a waste of my precious bandwidth! Your reply could save me precious $$ as I pay $1.00/MB if I go over my 5 GB's
Thanks in advance.

You have to look at the specific update name of the file and then do a search on the Microsoft support site concerning the OS.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx

Then click on support.

You can either download the SP updates or find the individual file and download it. You then have to install it manually.

I recommend a downloader program like Getright to get a intact down load without errors. You can also stop or pause the download to continue later or have it hangup or shutdown the computer if you are doing it overnight unattended.

I just download the large files and SP updates or comprehensive updates as they are created avoiding all the individual single update that MS auto update will list. After doing the large file updates and rebooting I will check the auto-updates for those updates that came later and just install them directly.

The large files are usually framework or SP updates.


For an alterative ISP check out arczip.com if you live in either the US or Canada. They have decent rates.

[marko]

Ralph, there is also a DVD you can download here (http://www.freewarebb.com/files/file/4550-microsoft-security-releases-iso-image/) which is updated every few months or so which will help install the majority of updates and then it's just a matter of catching up with the remaining missing updates

[BobC]

marko, on 09 February 2012 - 11:47 AM, said:

Bob, it is possible to have a new Windows 7 machine run XP, check this previous article for more info: http://www.freewarebb.com/topic/60487-installing-windows-xp-after-windows-7/

Marko, you need to read what you referenced. It does not address running XP under Win. 7, rather it references replacing Win. 7 on a new Win. 7 machine (new H/W tends to be 64bit - no XP drivers in some cases). Microsoft does provide a means for running XP mode on Win. 7, BUT you need the two highest levels (typically the business distros). Most home user machines come with Win. 7 Premium installed - you cannot run XP mode on Home Premium. You need to install VMWare Player or VirtualBox or some similar virtual machine support. I run Linux distros using VirtualBox on Win. 7. I have not installed XP yet - eventually.

Regards, Bob C.

[marko]

Hey Bob, my reference to replace Windows 7 with XP was intentional mate - I got the impression from your post that you we're far from impressed with W7 and would be interested in trying to run XP instead.   There are warnings on the referenced post regarding using XP on a machine built for Windows 7 in regards to incompatible drivers and the loss of some functionality depending on what OS disc used, but as I say, I pointed you to that post to give an option after surmising your disliking of W7 - hope that explains

[Ralph C.]

Marko,
Thanks for your info on an iso file download to update win 7.  Both of our machines are up to date but I will look again at it after some time has passed and the page is updated with new updates I don't have yet. Thanks again.