Getting by without Windows Update – can you update non-Microsoft applications and components as well?

Oct 05

Getting by without Windows Update – can you update non-Microsoft applications and components as well?

Microsoft, Security, Troubleshooting Add comments

So for those of you who have seen or been feeling the issues recently relating to MS’s **hidden/silent** update to the Windows Update client components Scott has now come back with not only an alternative, but a solution that further adds value by being able to check other applications and components.

In all fairness though I would strongly suggest that you ALWAYS make a point of checking that you have created a **valid** System Restore Point before updating things so that you can very easily roll back to a known point? I have been caught by this in the past and it’s not nice to have to spend an evening to try and get things working again – only to have to resort to a previous ghosted image and then try to remember all the extras that you need to reinstall….. <sigh>

Get free patching without Windows Update

By Scott Dunn
My Sept. 20 and Sept. 27 articles about silent and flawed upgrades involving Windows Update have made many people wonder whether they should really trust Microsoft’s installer.
Fortunately, there are alternatives to Windows Update that will keep your system fully patched without costing you a dime.

It’s easy to replace Windows Update’s functions

In my previous columns, I reported that Windows Update has been periodically installing at least a few small executable files without notice to users, even when those users have selected a do-not-install option in the Automatic Updates control panel. This stealthy behavior upsets many people, but they don’t want to completely do without a method of installing new security patches from Microsoft.
Windows Update (WU) does three things when it scans a PC: it determines which upgrades are needed, downloads the relevant files, and ultimately installs them. Fortunately, you can replace each of these tasks without spending any money.
In doing so, you give up some of the ease of automation offered by WU and Microsoft Update, WU’s big brother, which also upgrades Microsoft Office applications. But the good news is that using alternatives makes it easier to update software from all major vendors, not just Microsoft.
In two previous articles, I explained how to determine which security upgrades a system needs. The best free scanner to diagnose your patching needs is currently Secunia.com’s Online Software Inspector. My Sept. 9 article explains how to use the service with Internet Explorer. A Sept. 13 article explains the steps using Firefox.
I’ll show you today how to add to your monthly Software Inspector routine an alternative to Windows Update.
Not many completely free alternatives exist, but there are a few that are worth examining:
• The Software Patch
• Windows Updates Downloader
• Microsoft Download Center
• AutoPatcher
• WindizUpdate

The Software Patch is my number-one pick

The best updating tool I’ve found is a service called The Software Patch (SP). This Web site provides not only Microsoft security updates but also a great deal more. The site includes necessary hardware drivers and updates, Microsoft Office and WordPerfect service packs, patches for Adobe and Corel products, updates for games, and more.

Pros of using SP. The Software Patch has many positive attributes:

The site is well organized, grouping its downloads hierarchically by product type (hardware or software), then by subcomponent, and finally by whether an update is "essential" or "optional."

The service links to the vendors’ own sites (Microsoft, Adobe, etc.) to download updates, so you don’t have to worry that the patches were somehow altered by a third party. Since SP doesn’t store patches on its own server, the service is unlikely to run into legal tangles with Microsoft.

I was able to download and install a handful of Windows patches from Software Patch on a test machine. Windows Update had failed to install these same patches due to the bug I reported in the Sept. 27 issue.

Cons of using SP. No site is perfect, of course. Among the downsides to using the Software Patch are the following:

The site is supported by advertising, including pop-up ads, some of which manage to evade pop-up blockers.

The site has no downloads for Windows 2000 or earlier versions of the OS.

Navigating to Microsoft.com via SP doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily avoid being checked by Redmond’s servers for Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) compliance. For example, if you download Microsoft’s Windows Defender, a WGA check is built into the program’s installer. (But also note that Microsoft.com doesn’t currently require WGA compliance to obtain most of its security patches rated "critical.")

Software Patch lacks some useful tools found at Microsoft’s Download Center — for example, MBSA (Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer). In cases like this, you can usually find an alternative source for the program. For example, FileHippo.com offers a download of MBSA, both the current version 2.0.1 and the beta version 2.1.
Figure 1. The Software Patch site provides ways to upgrade a wide variety of products.