updates for windows xpsp2

Hope this is in the right section. I am using Windows XP Pro SP2 at the minute. I had read where MS had stopped updates for this at the end of May. Up until now I only got IE8 update in the update box. However, today I received 5 updates including the August Genuine Advantage Tool. 2 of the others were for Office 2003 excel & word which would apply to my pc, one for Office 2007 which wouldn't apply at the minute and outlook email which I don't use anyway. Could these updates be malware? If not, how can I check if they are genuine. I plan to upgrade to windows 7, but am unable to just at this time. Thanks for reading and in advance for any help offered.

If they come through Automatic Updates they are genuine. There have been no reported cases of malware being delivered that way yet.

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/cu_…ws=support#tab4

Are you experiencing a problem installing updates due to error 646?

We are aware of a potential issue you may encounter with recent Office Security updates. When installing these updates, the Windows Update control panel returns error 646 or 0x80070646.

To automatically fix the problem, you can use the Microsoft Fix-it tool.

Hi Ztrucker, thanks for that information. They did come through automatic updates, so I will install them. LDTate: I haven't tried to install these yet as I waiting to hear if they were authentic or not. If I do come across the problem you mention I know where to go to fix it. Thank you both for your help. Much appreciated, as always. hedley

Keep in mind, MS support for XP2 expired

Hi LDTate Thanks for that. I know support has ended for sp2. That is why I was surprised to receive any updates from MS. I have windows 7 os which I intend to install, but at the moment I have just had a hip replacement and I'm limited to what I can do. I'm waiting until I'm fully functional again before I attempt to install windows 7 in case of any problems. As an aside, I have read where it is advisable to install windows 7 alongside present os installation by compressing the amount of space taken up by the present os, as a safety measure. Unfortunately, the article didn't say how to do this. Can anyone tell me where I could find out how to compress the space and how much to reduce it by/to? Thanks again for the help, much appreciated. hedley

Not sure it's "advisable to install windows 7 alongside present os" but it's pretty easy to do.

Here is a good tutorial on doing exactly what you want: Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP

I have just had time to install the afore mentioned updates, but on installation I see that 3 of them have 7 digits in the KB numbers. They are the junk email filter KB2279246, update for word KB2251399, update for excel KB2264403. Also on checking, a security update for Windows XP in July also has 7 digits, KB2229593. Up to now all the updates have had 6 digits in the KB number. Can anyone confirm they received the same KB numbers for these updates? Just for now I have done a system restore on my system to take the updates out. Thanks for reading and in advance for any help offered. hedley

I don't have those but I do have other 7 digit updates. KB2115168 KB2079403 KB2183461 etc. so 7 digit updates are definitely being distributed.