Update Blues
Like many avalanches, it started small. Reading an article on BBC News about the .wmf exploit, I thought it would be a good idea to go along and apply the hastily-released patch to my Windows XP Home Service Pack 2 installation. Couldn't take long, right? In fact, it didn't take very long at all. Following the link on the BBC News site, I found the patch, clicked through to the one appropriate to this installation, and downloaded it. Firefox was having nothing to do with anything OTHER than downloading it. Then I closed all my applications, installed the patch, rebooted, and came back online. Minutes, only. Painless, I thought.

Then it crossed my mind that perhaps I ought to try applying any other updates that had been released. After all, there couldn't be many, could there? Not with a brand new computer with Service Pack 2 and all.

I can hear y'all laughing.

Arriving at Windows Update, I was told I didn't have the latest Windows Update software. Did I want to install it? Sure, why not. Four games of Nonosweeper and three of Solitaire later, tis done. I thought. When I asked for available updates, and clicked Express, the computer started displaying pretty green lines but not doing much else at all. More Solitaire. Then Windows Update informed me that I didn't have the latest version of Windows Update. Deja vu? It seemed I had another three files to download and install.

The first is dloading as I type. It's 2.5Mb.

So, to recap. Lots of updates to Windows Update. No actual updates to, yanno, Windows. Yet.