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02/23/2004:
Tools . WinUpdateList 1.10


WinUpdateList v1.10 is a nifty utility that displays the Windows updates, service packs and patches installed on your computer and the patches you should be downloading. Double click on the summary grid and it shows the the properties. The files related to the patch are listed on the lower grid. Pressing CTRL+W would fire up the browser opening the page at Microsoft's Support Center that contains information about the patch and a link to where you can download it. Very helpful if you'd ask me. Especially these days where some humans tend to have grown this fondness for hole-hunting.

Yeah I know there's WindowsUpdate that comes with Windows... but there are times you prefer having those patches saved on your hard drive so that you won't be downloading things again if you decide to nuke/reformat your hard disk or install a cleaner OS.

Same holds true when you try to update multiple computers. Unless you're the type of person who likes to waste bandwidth here and there downloading files again and again.

Probably it would take some time too executing each patch compared to leaving WindowsUpdate to do its thing, but you can remedy this with a small application that saves the patch filename and runs each patch after the other at a given interval. You can even save the file in a database, which you can update later, and ShellExecute each file based on the filenames saved on that database.

Batch scripts can be good alternatives as well.