Speed up Windows Patches and Updates

Autopatcher let's you update all your Windows machines without having to connect each to the Internet for downloading the latest updates

Saturday, March 10, 2007

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Windows gets a regular dose of updates. Sometimes even 2 to 5 updates are released in a week. Every Windows computer connected to the
Internet downloads these updates to keep the operating system secure. This is fine if there are one or two machines connected to the Internet, but in an organization, if every networked Windows PC has to do this, then it can really chew up the bandwidth and not to mention all the wasted
efforts. That's where a software called Autopatcher comes into the picture. This is a software with all the updates and patches released by Microsoft, along with various add-on software. You can burn it on a CD and then take it to all the machines that require patching. The best thing is that the machine doesn't need to be connected to the Internet anymore. This can be great for system administrators who need to frequently setup new machines for their users.

Installation
Updated versions of Autopatcher are released frequently, so make sure that you download the latest release. The full version is pretty heavy of course, as it contains all the patches and updates. You can install it in any directory. During installation, it checks your current OS and extracts new setup modules as required. The next window shows a categorywise listing of various updates. It even contains Windows add-ons and registry tweaks for your system.

Choosing what's suitable
Among the various update options, Microsoft updates are selected by default and it is advisable that all of these should be installed to get your system updated properly.

You can choose which critical and recommended updates, add- ons and registry tweaks need to be installed to your system

Expand the Add-ons menu by clicking on '+' next to the name. You will see various add-ons such as Microsoft Power Toys, Google Toolbar, Bootvis, TweakUI, Sun Java, etc. Choose the ones that suit your need. The registry tweaks are divided into tweaks for appearance, functionality, security and speed. Out of these, select all the speed tweaks, and from the remaining three categories install the ones that are required by your system.
Do not blindly select all options as there are various settings that can change the appearance and functionality of your system. After you've selected the components to install, it might take 20 – 60 minutes depending on the size of the components.

Now just restart your system and it will be updated with the latest patches. Overall, Autopatcher is a must have for all Windows users.

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