Some of you may know that Microsoft released a "stealth" update in late August. It was undocumented and unconsented-to, even by those who review and choose which updates they accept. It turns out that if you have done a repair install, this poison pill destroys Windows Update.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=817&tag=nl.e539
When MS first pushed out WGA (similarly undocumented and not consented to), I swore I'd never use WU again and rolled the b@stard back. At the time, you could use Autopatcher and WindizUpdate.
Pressure from Microsoft has caused the Autopatcher team to close shop (Google autopatcher, you can still find the August releases on the 'net). So there remains WindizUpdate:
http://windizupdate.com/
Laziness has prevented me from switching over to Ubuntu completely, even though I have finally got around to setting up dual-boot. Microsoft will continue to misbehave. It's effectively a monopoly, and human nature being what it is, they will try to get away with whatever they can. They have a mountain of money and an almost unassailably dominant position. But they won't have my business. Big deal, but nevertheless....
