Today I made a clean install of the HP Photosmart PC that I have been using as it was getting bloated with years of accumulated buildup of software/patches, some that I use, some that are there for reasons I know not of. This followed an epic backup session where I had to constantly monitor the process and check the files that have been copied since for some reason the “accessed” denied error popped up extremely frequently. Afterwards, I decided to remove the 250 GB internal HDD lest some files were not copied somehow and replace it with a new Western Digital 400 GB SATA.

Anyway, the installation went without a hitch and after logging into Windows XP MCE2005 for the “first” time, I did the usual round of removing some bundled crapware (yes, that is a term techies use now) that was taking up disk space that could be used for other stuff. And then came Windows Update.

As usual when one does a clean Windows install, assuming it is a genuine installation, one goes on Windows Update to install the latest patches and security updates. Well, I did and the list of updates was quite an eye-opener. When WU finished checking, it plopped out a list of 94 Critical Updates!! While I do commend Microsoft for being hot on the tails of security exploits, the sheer number of Critical Updates, needless to say the other optional ones, was quite enough to culminate in a Service Pack. In any case, here I am, writing this post, about 30 minutes into the installation of the 94 updates, which I hope will end soon.