Windows Updates

Microsoft Win 98/Office ’97 Update Page – some information on Critical Updates for the Operating System and Office applications as well Windows Critical Updates.

The first Updates begin simply enough on the Start Menu Button. You can open Start and upward, near the top should be “Windows Update”. This link is set by default. This is a link to Microsoft’s web site, “Product Updates”, specifically for Windows 98. Information regarding this feature is readily available on their web site. Nonetheless, IT Support offers a portion of their “About Windows Update” page here, for clarification.

“About Product Updates

The Product Updates area is a catalog of fixes, updates, and enhancements to Windows and many programs that work with Windows. The catalog allows you to “shop” for components that will make your computer work better. Browse through the catalog, select as many components as you would like, and download and install them straight from the Web to your computer. (If you’ve never downloaded something from the Web before, you’ll want to read the “What do I need to do?” section below.) If you would like, the catalog can determine which updates and enhancements will work specifically with your computer, based on the software you already have installed. How does it work? When you first come to the Product Updates page, Windows Update scans your system to see what you have installed and gives you a list of suggested components. This scan is done on your computer to ensure the safety and privacy of your system information. None of this information is sent to Microsoft or over the Internet. This system check assures that you will get the most up-to-date and accurate versions of anything you choose to download from the site. Additionally, you won’t waste time downloading components you have already installed. When the list of components appears on the page, you can browse it, decide which components you want, and download them right to your computer. A few things to note: Be sure to download any Critical Updates recommended for your system. Critical Updates will fix known problems (such as security issues) specific to your computer.”

More information: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

Instructions:
Click Start/Windows Update. On the Microsoft site, click “Product Updates”. Pay special attention to the “Critical Updates”. Download as needed. Reboot is required for updates to take effect. At times, updates can only be downloaded one at a time, so you may need to return to the web page/reboot several times to get the full updates. Please note that the “Recommended” and “Picks of the Month” are just that, and therefore optional. Problems? Issues? Please Contact us…

Microsoft Office ’97 Updates
Please note: towards the end of last year, the IT Support team upgraded all Office ’97 users to both Outlook 98 and to Office ’97 “Service Release-2” (SR-2), a package of fixes and patches. To check if you have the newest “Service Release”, open Word ’97. On the toolbar: open Help/About Microsoft Word. You should see “Microsoft Word SR-2”. This should be the same result for all Office ’97 applications. If you don’t see the SR-2, contact us.

For the additional Office ’97 Updates, i.e. SR-2b: in the bottom left corner of the “Critical Updates” page for Windows 98, there is a link to the Office Updates Page. However, Microsoft appears to be strongly encouraging customers to upgrade to Windows 2000, and as a result information is biased towards Office 2000. For example, the Auto Update feature is not available for Office ’97.

The link below this paragraph contains extensive information regarding Office ’97 updates. However, here is the most relevant portion of the page for company users re: the newer SR-2b:

“If I installed the previous version of SR-2, do I need to install it again? No. You should only install the updates for Outlook, as described in the Knowledge Base article “OL97: Year 2000 Dates Are Imported and Exported Incorrectly and Microsoft Jet 3.5”, as described in the Knowledge Base article Updated Version of Microsoft Jet 3.5 Available on MSL. “

For advanced information on the “Fixed Problems” contained in SR-2 and/or SR-2b go to http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q151/0/20.asp

What does that all mean? It means with SR-2 we have followed the recommendations. All company users should have been upgraded to Outlook 98. The Microsoft Jet 3.5 is relevant to MS Access. Advanced users of Access who have not already updated ODBC Drivers can contact us…

It is not needed by most users here….

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