Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Fix for Windows XP not updating on Windows Update

I recently reinstalled Windows XP SP2 on a Dell Vostro laptop, and Windows Update wouldn’t work. I knew malware wasn’t the cause, it’s a bug in Microsoft’s Windows Update and how it refuses to interact with older Internet Explorer 6 or 7, and if you try to update to IE8, it hangs if you let the install file check for updates before installing the browser.

In summary: I had to update to IE8 without checking for updates at time of install, then manually apply IE8-WindowsXP-KB2898785-x86-ENU.exe and reboot, then it finally began updating automatically.

This is a clean install of (Read more…)