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This is a clean installation of Windows XP Pro Gold [not the SP1/SP1a version] ~ two years after it was released. Immediately after the installation I took a look at Windows Update to see what was listed. The results are shown in Table 1 with a screen capture and links to the relevant documentation for each of the updates. Wow - 46 Critical Updates and Service Packs. That's a hefty number for a product that's only been on the market for two years, and that doesn't include 23 more Windows XP updates that are listed in another section of Windows Update but not given the Critical Update and Service Pack designation. Of the 46 items listed, the one that should likely draw a first look is the Windows XP Service Pack 1 (Express)* item shown at the top of Table 1. I went ahead and selected the [Review and Install Updates] option and a dialog box appeared stating that Windows XP Service Pack 1 (Express)* has to be installed separately from all the other updates listed. Accepting this and proceeding will leave the Windows XP Service Pack 1 (Express)* update selected and deselect all the other updates. I was curious how Windows XP Service Pack 1 (Express)* would impact the list of 46 so I went ahead and ran the Windows XP Service Pack 1 (Express)* update. Of the 46 original Critical Updates and Service Packs that are listed immediately after a clean install of Windows XP Professional Gold, installing the Windows XP Service Pack 1 (Express)* update eliminates all but 13 of the original Critical Updates and Service Packs. The remaining 13 updates are identified by the "This Update Remains After Installing Windows XP Service Pack 1 (Express)*" text in Table 1. In addition, a new update, Update Rollup 1 (shown below) for Microsoft Windows XP, is added to the Windows Update list to bring the new total of Critical Updates and Service packs to 14 items. At this point there is one entry listed in Add/Remove Programs (accessed via Control Panel) and that's for Windows XP Service Pack 1a. The 14 remaining updates are listed individually in Table 2.
Another change found after installing Windows XP Service Pack 1 (Express)* was the renaming of two updates to reflect the addition of the SP1 update. The changes are shown in the comparative screen captures below. The titles of the updates and the file download sizes have been modified as shown below. Each one now reflects the SP1 addition to the name.
The most notable change is the addition of the Update Rollup that was shown above. Although the official title of the Rollup doesn't specifically say so, it's only available for XP versions that have SP1/SP1a installed, explaining why it only becomes available after Windows XP Service Pack 1 (Express)* had been installed. Rather than install all of the remaining 14 updates after Windows XP Service Pack 1 (Express)* was installed, I chose to install only the Update Rollup 1 and see what would be left after it completed. Once the Rollup has been installed and the system is rebooted, a check of Add/Remove Programs shows there are two entries; the one for Windows Service Pack 1a that was there previously and another for Windows XP Hotfix - KB826939, the official designation of the Rollup. After the Rollup has been installed there are a total of 12 Critical Updates and Service packs available in Windows Update. The results and screen captures are in Table 2. Users of Windows Update are aware that when the system is scanned for updates the results are grouped and displayed in three categories; Critical Updates and Service Packs, Windows XP, and Driver Updates. From talking to other users it seems the consensus opinion is that when you select and install an update from one specific category the other categories remain unchanged. This simply isn't true. Prior to installing the Windows XP Service Pack 1 (Express)* update there were 23 updates listed under Windows XP section. Immediately after the install and reboot the number changed to 16 updates with some substantial changes. A complete list of those changes with screen captures is available in Table 3. The Update Rollup didn't cause any changes to be made in the XP section, leaving all the potential updates intact. At this point I wanted to test the theory that the Update Rollup could be uninstalled via Add/Remove Programs. As long as the archive function was selected during the installation of the updates the uninstall process completes and restores the system to the pre-update state. After running Windows Update one last time for the 12 remaining Critical Updates and Service Packs as shown in Table 4 I was presented with the screen below.
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