failed windows update question

[parisgood]

hi,
when i viewed windows installatiion history it noted 5 updates failed. My question is, Do I delete these five out of add/remove and redownload them again?.
I was going to try this but got an error message that if i deleted a certain one it would affect others and cause them not to work properly and thought i better ask someone first.
Would this really affect anything though since the updates failed anyhow?.

[MikeBCda]

Hi,

Unfortunately the logging system for Updates is more than slightly inconsistent. If, for example, an installation is unsuccessful but you do get a successful installation of it a week later, the original "unsuccessful" entry stays in the history plus there's now the new successful one.

Also keep in mind that the history only reflects updates that were downloaded and installed while still at the Update site. If you downloaded ok but had to install "manually" offline, that won't show up in the history, or at least not as successful.

Your best bet is probably just to ignore the history, and go by what the scan says you need. That relies on what it actually finds installed, not the history, so is probably more reliable.

Best,
Mike

[Pretender]

You could use the belarc advisor available free at www.belarc.com
It will list all updates that have worked properly and let you know if there were any problems with them. Much better than windows update history. I would never rely on the wu history for accuracy.

[parisgood]

I download the Belarc adviser and am playing with it now. It's really a nice little program that gives a lot of info. Appreciate it for turning me onto it and Thank you both mike, and pretender for your answers and suggestions

[Pretender]

no prob, have fun!