Review the License Agreement

In essence, this is a reminder that license agreements for the products you are updating also apply to the updates while also stating that during the products initial installation you may have agreed to updates without reviewing the original products license agreement again before they are installed. Standard stuff and no big deal.

Install the ActiveX Control Required to View Website

A reminder that in order to use the Microsoft Update website you need the ActiveX control installed. By now this should be a fairly standard operation for most Windows users, but just in case it shows you how to install the control.

ActiveX Control Security Warning

I'm really not paranoid (although I do wonder why those twelve users over in the corner are staring at me) but I do like to be asked every time before software is installed on my system. If you don't see this Security Warning I suggest you tighten up your system security, especially regarding ActiveX controls.

Welcome to Microsoft Update

After the ActiveX control is installed the Welcome screen opens with a reminder of how Automatic Updates is currently configured. As the screen capture shows, mine is set to Notify Only. If you want to alter the settings, select the [ Change Setting ] link. If not, click [ Check for Updates ] button and see The Final Welcome to Microsoft Update below.

Change Automatic Update Settings

If you elect to change Automatic Update settings, this is the screen you'll see initially. Clicking the OK button will turn on Automatic Updates and you can adjust the timing options. I suggest instead you click the More Options button to select the proper Automatic Updates settings for your individual situation.

Selecting the Proper Automatic Update Settings

If you truly do want to set your system to update automatically, select the Automatic option. Frankly, I think that's foolish because you essentially give up all control over what and when updates are downloaded and installed. I think the Download or Notify options make much more sense and allow you to control the 'when' and 'what' aspects of what is updated based on your individual needs. Turn Off is also an option, but I don't recommend that either except in very limited circumstances.

The Final Welcome to Microsoft Update

This is it --  the new Microsoft Update. Compare this view to the first screen capture in the article and you'll see very little difference between the user interfaces. The changes come in the actual usage that I'll look at in the next section.

Microsoft Update     //     Microsoft Update - Usage Overview