WU says 12 criticals (suddenly). Advice sought.

Hey, team! Sorry I haven't been around recently. Busy, busy time at work and a few health probs, too. BUT ...
Today, as part of the weekly maintenance routine, went to WU. First it surprised me by asking for permission to download the latest updater software. I hadn't heard there was anything new, and I've checked WU weekly and more often, and kept all updates up to date except "recommended" non-criticals I can live without.
I let it install the sware, then ran the scan and was STARTLED to see it recommended 12 criticals !!
(It also offered 9 non-criticals, which is 1 more than I have known about for a long time, so there's something new I don't really want -- seems to be for music, and I have none on this machine -- and I'll pass on those.)

Recommended crits are (plain) 816093 and (all KB) 825119, 828026, 826939, 824105, 823182, 824141, and 824146.
Doesn't add up to 12, does it?
And when I checked my update history on the WU page, all show as successfully installed except KB826939.
And when I checked my registry, all are listed in there except KB826939.

I rebooted, re-opened MSIE, went to WU again, and re-scanned. This time it didn't offer to give me the software, so that's okay now. But it still says 12 criticals needed, and gives me all those numbers I already have in both the history and the registry list.

Of course I've done all the usual things we recommend when anybody has silly problems, and there's nothing in the way of viruses, spyware, or unexpected things in HijackThis! In fact, everything is working perfectly, so far as I have noticed.

( Side note: Installed a new vid driver and had a bad conflict a few weeks ago, but changed drivers and put back the affected software and all was well. Doesn't seem relevant now, but I can't think of anything else that's reportable. )

OK, my friends and trusted colleagues, what's your best shot at advice for me?

I'm thinking there's a CHANCE the files those updates put in are somehow not there in the updated versions, and that it SHOULDN'T hurt to install all of the listed criticals one at a time after setting a Restore Point, rebooting between installs, and checking everything. Seems like a pain, but ...

What do you think the wisest course would be?

(If somebody tells me there's a well-known current glitch in WU that makes it say this about everybody who is already up to date, I'll breathe a sigh of relief and ignore all this, but I'm betting I won't be that lucky.)

EDIT: I oughta know better than to leave this out: XP Home SP1. All updates (I thought).

 

Dunno Wiz. I get no criticals and the handful of recommended stuff I've been ignoring already. That's for WinXP. Other OS's may get a different result. Doesn't Windows keep a log file of what's already installed? Possibly that got corrupted and isn't showing updates correctly?

I don't think it would hurt to re-install the updates; should just overwrite what's there already if it's there already.

 

Wiz,
Do you have a copy of Microsoft`s free update disc?
If so give it a quick run through and see if that changes the reading.
(Just a thought)

 

Hi Wizewiz
Hope those health problems are nothing serious

As for your problem ive seen this happen a lot of times before when someone has used the Last Known Good Config option in XP
Just wondering if you used this during your recent dramas with your graphic card drivers

 

I did. Back when I had a crash or two and couldn't boot completely because the new driver and another prog were in conflict. Used Safe Mode and Last Known and went back to a Restore Point, too, in the process of getting everything squared away.

So, General, do you think re-inning all of those is okay? The way to go? Even tho they're in the successful Update History list AND in the registry's list?

I s'pose I could just ignore WU's list, but the thought makes me nervous.

Just seems so mysterious that I HAD the installation sware and all of the updates (except one) before, and all of a sudden I "needed" both the updater sware AND a dozen fixes.

 

Well that would be it then
Just another strange quirk of XP i guess

Personally ive always reinstalled the updates when ive come across it, without any detrimental effects

 

Thanks, GLS. Seems to be okay now after a couple of reboots and twelve updates.

Funny. The Update History from the WU page now shows duplicates for so many numbers that it looks as though I believe that doubling patches is twice as good.

The WU page still says I need to consider 9 "recommended" updates, but I don't use anything they fix.

And the WU page still says I need a vid driver update dated 2002, when I have a March 2004 set of drivers (ATI Radeon, not Microsoft-provided) running perfectly beautifully.

Oh me, oh my.

Thanks again, m'friends.