Hi there,

I just upgraded a very outdated Vista Home Basic to Vista Home Premium SP1 and I am in the process of installing 114 updates.

95 important
5 optional

What is the best way to install these downloaded and ready to install updates? 10-20 at a time? Or all at once?

Thank you!



Donna

Hello Donna,

Usually installing the ones selected by default first, then a few at a time for any others afterwards works well to help prevent conflicts between updates.

I can tell you what I do and it works. I know that some disagree. Install a few at a time, if sized in KB, a little less, if sized in MB.
The reason is that many updates require a restart and sometimes this causes a conflict. What you should, also do, after every few installs use Macrium reflect, to make an image on an external hard drive. If anything goes wrong you can reinstall with all the previous installed updates and not lose any time.
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

I submit this thread, as what can happen without system back ups
The Importance of an Image of your Hard Drive

EDIT: Brink and I were posting at the same time and I think both posts represent similar and equally valuable advice.

Wouldn't installing sp2 remove most of the lower level'd updates?

Hi Brink,

Ooops! Change that number to 119 important updates. 5 more just downloaded.

After they had all downloaded I clicked on the important updates to view the list. They were all selected by default. I noticed that SP2 was not listed so I'm sure there are more to be downloaded.

IE8 should be offered as an update, right?

Also, I have it set for Install updates automatically (recommended). Should I change that setting to Download updates but let me choose whether to install them till all the updates are complete?

Thanks!

Hi Rich & Patonb,

I have a bandwidth cap and I have to be careful not to go over that limit to prevent violating the Fair Access Policy (FAP) or my connection will shut down. I've changed the settings for updates to Never check for updates (not recommended) till I get the ones installed that are already downloaded. I hope those didn't send me over the edge. May have to go to the local library to download the rest.

Patonb, someone will have to explain that to me a bit more. Could I just download and install SP2? I clicked to view some of the updates and a few were published way back in 12/9/2008. Seems this system should be updated a step at a time. I don't know if SP2 would have that Security update included. Speaking of (KB956802).

Rich, I like your idea. Before I go any further with installing the updates I'd like to find out more about disk imaging and cloning. This laptop actually belongs to a friend who had it custom made by a shady Tech Shop who messed it up when she had them reformat after an infection. No recovery partition to speak of, no disk to fall back on and she has no idea about the dangers of malware.

Allow me some time to check out those links you provided. May take some time to get back to you, but I will get back to you with a plethora of questions I'm sure.

Thank you all for your time.

Donna

Sure, you could download and install SP2 to help eliminate some of the updates that are included in the SP2.

Download available for Standalone Vista SP2

Wonderful! Thank you Brink. That'll sure save me some time.......off to the library I go!

@ Rich,

How do I clone a hard disk with Macrium Reflect? Is there a tutorial for that here? What types of disks do I need? I have some 4.7GB DVD-R's on hand.

Could you guide me further please? I'd really appreciate it.

Thank you!

I will be glad to offer any help that I can. The best that I can do is refer you to a tutorial written by the Forum expert in that area WHS
Imaging with free Macrium - Windows 7 Forums
If you have further questions, I will ask him to help.

The best way to make the image is on an external hard drive. It is a great investment if you are really sincere in your desisre to avoid problems. The cost could be under $100. It can be used to back up your stuff, as well as the OS. It is best to make updated back ups of the OS, to stay current.