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XP SP3 Automatic Updates, but you don’t want it?

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Are you tired of the by-now nag balloon from Windows Automatic Updates telling you that new updates are downloaded and ready to install, only to see that it is just Windows XP Service Pack 3, but you do not want SP3 on your machine because it crashed your computer last time? Well, my long phone call to Microsoft Tech Support in India will save you some work.

So here is a click-by-click to make that yellow shield go away from your system tray:

Click Start, Control Panel
Double-click Administrative Tools, Services.

From the list of services, right-click and click Stop for the following services:
-Automatic Updates
-Background Intelligent Transfer Service
-Cryptographic Services

Click Start, My Computer

Double-click the drive where XP is installed, usually C:\

Double-click Windows

Right-click on SoftwareDistribution, rename to SoftwareDistribution.old

Double-click on System32

Right-click on Catroot2, rename to Catroot2.old
Right-click on SoftwareDistribution, rename to SoftwareDistribution.old

Close window C:\Windows\System32

Go back to the Services folder and right-click, Start the following services:
-Automatic Updates
-Background Intelligent Transfer Service (unless it was originally set to manual, and you never had to stop the service in the beginning)
-Cryptographic Services

Close the Services Window and go to the Administrative Tools window.

Click the Back Button on your toolbar.

Double-click Automatic Updates

Select “Notify Me but Don’t Automatically Update Or Install Them” radio button then the OK button.

Close the Control Panel and resume computing.

Topic

Good stuff, Riggy!

In reply to XP SP3 Automatic Updates, but you don’t want it?

Thanks for posting this! I will no doubt be using these
instructions in the future!

Thank you! I was wondering how to get rid of that…

In reply to XP SP3 Automatic Updates, but you don’t want it?

The irritating update is no more!

Why bother with all this work?

In reply to XP SP3 Automatic Updates, but you don’t want it?

Just disable Automatic Updates in services.

RE: Why bother with all this work?

In reply to Why bother with all this work?

because if you disable auto-updates, then you have a red shield and a nag-balloon instead of a yellow shield and a nag-balloon. The point is to get rid of the nag balloon, not to change its color.

Stop the nag, or stop the updates?

In reply to XP SP3 Automatic Updates, but you don’t want it?

Does this tempting procedure stop only the nag balloon, or does it also stop the updates?

Optimally what I want is to download but not install the updates without the user’s knowledge, so that I can manage when to do this during off hours.

Thanks,

XP SP3 updates, but you don’t want it?

In reply to Stop the nag, or stop the updates?

It stops the nag balloon, and by selecting the radio button “Notify me but don’t automatically update or install them” it will tell you that an update is available, but won’t update (download) it, and it also won’t automatically install it.
I got the procedure from a Microsoft Tech Support rep as mentioned in the first paragraph of the original post. Read it slowly and carefully, it is a click-by-click procedure list. My machine is SP2, and I won’t allow SP3 again. M$ stuck WDS in there, and I lost my search puppy. I used system restore to get it back.

Stop XP from nagging about updates

In reply to XP SP3 Automatic Updates, but you don’t want it?

I followed your guide, but when I tried to rename the Catroot2 folder I get the following message. Cannot rename Catroot2: Access Denied. Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.
The disk is neither full or write-protected.
Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

Stop XP from nagging about updates

In reply to Stop XP from nagging about updates

The Microsoft CS rep told me the 3 services to turn off before renaming the folders (it’s in the list). Also, be certain you are renaming “C:\WINDOWS\System32\catroot2” and not “C:\WINDOWS\catroot2”.
Remember to turn the services back on, and tell Windows update what to do (no auto).
I did this on 2 machines, (taking notes from the M$ rep as he walked me through it on my machine) then duplicating the result on a 2nd machine.

Help with

In reply to XP SP3 Automatic Updates, but you don’t want it?

I tried to follow the instructions by Riggy001 and when I get to “stop cryptographic services” I’m asked if I want to stop “TrueVector Internet Monitor”, I click yes and when it gets the last green bar I get the message “Could not stop the Cryptographic Services service on Local Computer. Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.
How appropriate to my very slow computer.
Can anyone help?
Thank you

You don’t have to stop Cryptographic Services

In reply to Help with

to stop Automatic Update. Just turn off Automatic Update.

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