Are security updates numbered sequentially?

[leoblob]

I'm new to all this "security updates" business since I ran WIN9x for years without ever downloading a single security update.

So, I'm trying to understand this better, now that I'm migrating to WIN2K. I downloaded & installed the Update Rollup 1 (#KB891861). Am I correct in assuming that any security updates with numbers greater than 891861, I don't have and I should get?

Conversely, if I were to know I have all updates through some number (910000 for example), does this mean that I don't have to fetch security updates with numbers less than 910000?

In other words, are the updates numbered sequentially with respect to time?

I know this is a real newb question, but I gotta start learning this somewhere

[dsvochak]

I looked at my repository of W2K updates which I've got in folders by date installed. With a couple of exceptions they seem to be numbered sequentially with respect to time.

Until you asked, I never really paid much attention to the numbering system. I always use "custom" instead of "express" on the update site and read the description of the updates before downloading and applying. I like to know what an update is proposing to do before I let it "do it".

[davidspalding]

Without even looking, I can tell you how I updated a new Win2k installation a year or so ago.

1. Install Win2k.
2. Install latest SP that you can find. (SP4, if memory serves.)
3. Install any "rollups" you can find on windowsupdate.microsoft.com. It ought to appear in the "critical updates" section. Do not install anything else, just the rollup. Reboot when prompted.
4. Go back to Windows Update, and install any hot fixes or security patches that are recommended in "critical updates." Again, don't select any drivers or other doodads. Reboot when prompted.
5. Go back to Windows Update (gets monotonous, I know), and check for any remaining critical updates. When this is clear, NOW review the drivers and stuff. Not a bad idea to do a system backup before updating any drivers or additional doodads that Windows Update wants to forcefeed.

This can take minutes, or an hour or two, rather like making lasagna from scratch. YMMV. I usually don't initiate this late at night, if you get my drift.

Bottom line: Windows Update is your friend. I trust it to analyze and determine what my Windows 2000 (or XP, or IE, or Outlook Express) needs.

Now, if you have "show all files and folders" enabled in Explorer options, you will find oodles and oodles of folders for all these updates and patches in c:\winnt\. If you want to flush those from your system (they contain all the uninstall information and files), post a new thread, and I can guide you through that thicket of thorny cleanup.

[leoblob]

Well, once again I am pretty I can now see that my original question really was about how to manage Windows updates by looking at those KB numbers (it seemed like a rather difficult task). I can also now see that the answer is Windows Update... which I've never used before... until today... it worked fine... it's all so obvious in retrospect... Thanks for the help!

((It only took about 2 hours... on dial-up ))

[GomJabbar]

I would say davidspalding hit it right on the money.

[davidspalding]

All this credit is going to go to my head ...



Oops, too late. Glad it worked for you. BTW, it's often not btter over broadband. One time, I spent 45 minutes doing nothing but visiting windows update to patch and fix and rollup and lay down and roll over and play dead a new Win2k installation. [sigh] This is what makes TechNet or MSDN worth the $ ... the regularly mailed-out discs with all this stuff.