RSS Replacement for Windows Update

November 26, 2005 7:29 PM

Where can I find an RSS based replacement for Windows Update?

I hate Windows Update because there is minimal visibility into what is being installed on my machine. Are there any sites out there that publish RSS feeds with links to the latest critical updates and hotfixes as they are released by Microsoft? I'd prefer separate feeds for Windows 2000, XP and 2003.

posted by jojopizza to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

WindizUpdate gives you much better visibility of updates, but has no RSS feed.
posted by evariste at 8:10 PM on November 26, 2005

Just turn off automatic updates and use Windows Update from within IE. For each patch there will be a "more info" link that leads to the full MS KB article as well as the MS security bulletin (e.g. MS05-nn) if available, and the CERT advisory.

Since MS only releases new patches on the second tuesday of every month anyway it seems pretty pointless to me to bother with automatic updates. Just run windows update on that day.

If you want an RSS feed, there are plenty of sites that will have stories on each patch tuesday, covering the patches that are released. I'm not aware of any that are SOLELY covering patch tuesday, but here are some that will have articles about it:

bink.nu
eWeek Windows
Microsoft Watch
neowin.net
SANS Internet Storm Center
posted by Rhomboid at 9:07 PM on November 26, 2005

Best answer: Microsoft Security Bulletins RSS Feed

Sample post:
MS05-053: Vulnerabilities in Graphics Rendering Engine Could Allow Code Execution (896424)
This update resolves several newly-discovered, privately reported and public vulnerabilities. Each vulnerability is documented in this bulletin in its own "Vulnerability Details" section of this bulletin. An attacker who successfully exploited the most severe of these vulnerabilities could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.
posted by Ervin at 9:55 PM on November 26, 2005

I have my updates set to download automatically then install when I say.

Whenever the install popup comes up, I just choose "custom install", that tells me what specificly is being installed.
posted by puke & cry at 10:30 PM on November 26, 2005

Response by poster: I should have mentioned that I also wanted the patches as downloadable files so that I can apply them to offline machines, so using Windows Update is not an option.

Thanks to all of you who answered and thanks to Ervin for providing a direct RSS feed.
posted by jojopizza at 9:59 PM on December 7, 2005