Chapter twenty three. Updating Windows

IN THIS CHAPTER

Picking and Choosing Windows Components 432

Downloading and Extracting Device Drivers 433

Updating Windows Online 434

Upgrading to Service Pack 2 437

Transferring Files and Settings 437

The Bottom Line 440

Keeping Windows updated is a full-time job. Up until recently, Microsoft saved up all its bug fixes, program patches, and driver updates and threw them all into annual "service packs." Microsoft still updates Windows via big-deal service packs, but it has also instituted smaller, more frequent updates to the operating system. Microsoft apparently assumes that every single customer has a persistent (and high speed!) Internet connection, so Windows XP now goes online and updates itself on a regular basis, downloading much smaller files and fixing bugs much quicker than was possible before.

In this chapter I'll cover a lot of odds and ends that all have something to do with supplementing the basic Windows XP installation. If you pick up anything from this chapter it should be this: Hang on to your Windows XP installation CD!