[BobJam]

I have my Automatic Downloads set to "Notify me but don't automatically download or install them":





I have this set to that purposely so that I can go to the Windows Update web site and review the "Critical" updates and decide if I really want to download them . . . because I find out on discussion boards like this that some of them are buggy and then I can wait 'till MS fixes them and then download them later.

That has actually never happened 'till now. While SP3 is probably not buggy, it is some 66MB big and on my primitive dial up would be in excess of 3 hours. So I will ask MS to send me the CD.

But that leaves me with a cosmetic issue. I have that yellow shield, the MS Update notification, showing in my systray perpetually.

I can make it disappear by turning off MS Updates completely, but I don't want to do that. So, is there any way I can make it disappear (and still have it appear when there are future critical updates) by telling it I want to "skip" the SP3 download, or am I going to have to look at it 'till I install SP3 from the CD (which I assume will then make it go away for that SP3 notification for sure)??

Also, when I go to the Windows Update site, I get a confusing notification that reads:

High-priority updates
No high-priority updates for your computer are available. To select other updates, use the options to the left.

Seems like the SP3 update should be listed.

I went to the Windows Update site to see if it had any option to "skip" the SP3 update, but I didn't see one . . . only saw that message above.

Anyway, my main question is: Is there any way I can make that bothersome yellow shield disappear (and still have it appear when there are future critical updates) by telling it I want to "skip" the SP3 download, or am I going to have to look at it 'till I install SP3 from the CD??

[Elvandil]

Taskbar properties > Notification Area > Always Hide.

[BobJam]

Thanks, Elvandil . . . that did it.

Actually, there was a missing step . . . it's Taskbar>Notification area>Customize>Always Hide, and you have to check the "Hide inactive icons" box in order to get the "Customize" button to enable.

Or at least that's the way it is on XP HE . . . maybe it's a little different on Pro.

And I take it that until I install SP3, that yellow shield will always be there?? (hidden of course)

And why do you think I got that "No high-priority updates for your computer are available" message on the Windows Update site?? As I questioned in my original post, shouldn't it have listed SP3?? No big deal . . . just wondering.

In any case, your tip was enough to get me kick started on the solution.

Thanks again.

P.S. I will mark this thread "Solved" the next time I visit.

[Elvandil]

LOL. Well, I don't remember everything about XP, but a lot is similar to Vista so I often just check that (and my memory). But at least you went to the right area.

SP3 may not be considered "high-priority". Don't know.

I just know that Vista's new way of handling the updates is very convenient. No web sites to go to. There is a window with all the updates, past, present, critical, recommended, refused, etc., and you just choose which you want. They are downloaded and installed in the background. No muss, no fuss.

[DoubleHelix]

With it set to "Always Hide", it will not un-hide when there's a new critical update.

[Davec]

Have you clicked the icon to download these updates, unchecked the box for SP3 and then closed the box. It gives me an option to "hide" the unchecked updates.

[Rich-M]

Have you shut down the pc since the yellow shield appeared? There are updates that will only install when you shut down that could be causing this issue!

[Elvandil]

Originally Posted by DoubleHelix

With it set to "Always Hide", it will not un-hide when there's a new critical update.

No, it won't. But considering that there are almost always some hidden icons, and they get checked from time to time, I doubt the notification delay will be very long.

I use SystrayX to control tray icons and have 30 or so hidden all the time, but I know they are there.

[BobJam]

Think I'll keep this one open for a while . . . was going to mark it solved, but now have a few more questions.

First of all, the yellow shield notification has mysteriously gone away. I had become accustomed to looking at that arrow for sliding over to the hidden icons in the systray, but then yesterday I noticed it was gone.

So I went in to taskbar properties just to see if my settings had changed, and this is what I saw on current items:



But I did see that yellow shield listed under past items:



(BTW, I DON'T have all that stuff loading up at startup . . . actually I don't have anything loading up at start up, I just load up ZA and McAfee and IE Maximizer on demand when I go on line with my dial up.)

You'll notice now that the Windows Update yellow shield icon is nowhere to be found in the current items (first image above). . . which I guess is OK.

I also went into the Control Panel Security Center to see if my Automatic Updates settings had changed any there. The setting was still the same as it's shown in my original post above, so again everything looks OK.

Finally, I went to the Windows Update web site just to see what it would list. This time it listed SP3 as a High Priority update.

Now I did what Davec recommended: I clicked the yellow shield icon and unchecked the SP3 box. Interestingly, the yellow shield continued to show up, and every time I clicked on it, the SP3 box was checked again (as if I had never unchecked it).

Now on Rich-M's shut down recommendation . . . YES . . . I shut the thing down and went through several cycles, but each day that pesky yellow shield icon (albeit hidden) continued to show up.

So, I have no idea if Davec's or Rich-M's things . . . or both . . . eventually did it, but somehow the thing is gone.

Now I'll have to see if the thing reappears when there is another critical update. I assume it will since the setting hasn't changed in Security Center, but just in case I will be checking that Windows Update site periodically.

If the next critical update does indeed bring up that yellow shield as it should, then I'll likely mark this thread as solved.

This whole thing has me scratching my head, but whatever happened it looks OK now.

[BigBad64]

I have Automatic Updates set to the same setting as shown in BobJam's OP, and yet tonight the yellow update shield appeared in the system tray and when I placed the cursor on it to my surprise it announced it was "Downloading Updates".

Sure enough it completed the download and then commenced installing it.

Checking the Windows Update history it did the same thing 2 days ago for another update.

I've re-checked Automatic Updates to make sure the setting is still "Notify me but don't automatically download or install them" and it is.

How then can it start downloading updates by itself?

P.S. I've just upgraded to XP SP3.

[Amppy]

Spooky stuff ...