Windows Update on a CD: Where to manually download Microsoft's fixes for Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000.

Keeping up with Windows fixes, updates, and patches has never been easy. With new Windows versions like WinME and Win2000 added to that mix, end-users have a tine-consuming task and an administrator's job reaches a new plane of hell.

Microsoft had a relatively good idea on how to ease this tedious process a bit with Windows Update, which combines all the fixes for any specific version of Windows into one website.

Now, Windows users can visit one webpage and download the relevant updates without having to figure out what they do and don't need.

Unfortunately, most folks are using dialup connections, so using Windows Update still takes forever with a ton of reboots in between marathon download sessions.

Windows Update also did not make an administrator's job easier. If you have more than one Windows installation, or heaven forbid more than one version of Windows installed, you'll still have to play musical webpages on each computer to get all the fixes. Trying tricks such as grabbing the install files is hard, too - they are automatically deleted after installation.

Wouldn't it be easier to download all the fixes, store them on a removable medium like a burned CD, and simply use that to install the fixes? Yes, it would, but Microsoft didn't design Windows Update with this in mind.

Administrators and power-users rejoice! Microsoft DID make this possible! They just didn't go out of their way to call attention to it for the home-user crowd. However, since overclockers tend to be more computer-literate than the average user, Overclockers.com regulars might benefit from being able to grab ALL of the available fixes in one place at one time and burn them to CD-ROM or store them on a removable large-capacity disk or whatever for installation later on one or a multitude of computers. Plus, if you have more than one WIndows version, you can grab the fixes for all of the versions you have.

All you need is a few hundred megabytes of space to store the files, and a day or so to collect all the updates. Simply download everything for your Windows version(s), transfer them to your favorite method of transporting files (CD-R, Zip/Jaz disk, etc.), and install them at your leisure. (Author's note: I find it a good idea when using a local copy of the updates burned onto a CD-ROM, to use Windows Update to tell me what I need to install, but install from my CD instead of from Windows Update. On dialup connections, this turns an all-day job into a one-hour job!)

One more note: When installing updates manually like this, it's VERY WISE to reboot after installing EACH fix. The one-at-a-time process is a bit more of a hassle than installing a bunch of updates at once, but some of them require that certain updates be performed first.

The pages for each operating system version are listed below.

For Windows 95 and 95 OSR 2.x:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/downloads/

For Windows 98 and 98 Second Edition (SE):

http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/corporate.asp

For Windows Millennium Edition (ME):

Microsoft does not have a direct-download page for WinME yet. Sorry, you're stuck with Windows Update for now!

For Windows NT 4.0 Workstation:

http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/

For Windows NT 4.0 Server (Including Terminal Server and BackOffice):

http://www.microsoft.com/NTServer/all/downloads.asp

For Windows 2000 (All versions):

http://corporate.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp

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