Phenomic

Also, there is a known bug where Scheduled Task Wizard stops responding... which afflicts my WinXP. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/841846 I did the recommended fix but problem is still there. So maybe that's why Task Scheduler is messed up?

WinXP firewall could be blocking, or some routers change IPs and you're pinging the wrong IP.

Last accessed by whom? Explorer? Any app? If you press Explorer's Back button it will take you to the last accessed dir. It's also in the registry, so you can write a VBS script the copies the value to a link in the Send To folder.

Thanks. I removed the USB mouse before suspending and the screen still lights up when WinXP resumes to run task. I also replaced Hewlett-Packard PS2 keyboard with IBM USB, just in case the keyboard was defective or incompatible... but WinXP still turns on the screen when it resumes from S3. I usually boot Linux to see if a symptom persists, and if it does then it's a hardware or BIOS problem and not a sotftware problem... but I haven't used Linux gnome-schedule yet.

This is how the scheduler is supposed to work: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q283270/ but my XP SP3 is turning on the screen. It's possible for rogue apps to generate keystrokes or mouse events, but my .cmd file only runs AVG9 virus scan (avgupd.exe and avgscanx.exe), I've run these for years in Win2k and the screen never comes on. Can anybody guess why the scheduler turns on the screen in the middle of the night?

Thanks. The installer never terminates, uses 50% CPU, forcing a reboot that fails & hangs the system. You’re right a memory dump will find the culprit, though I can’t seem to find time for it. I’m tempted to just copy the update files to System32 directory, I think it’s just the quartz.dll file. Lately I’ve been spoiled by Ubuntu’s flawless automatic updates and losing motivation to fix Windows’ problems.

I’m running XP Task Scheduler to wake the computer and run a batch file. However, Scheduler also turns on the screen! It’s NOT supposed to turn on the monitor. Is there a way to set XP to not turn on the screen when it wakes up from S3 to run a scheduled task? Windows 2000 scheduler works correctly, why did they screw up XP so much?

Why not use MS robocopy for backup?

You can boot DOS from USB flash, but it doesn't recognize NTFS partitions. You can also boot the "Recovery Console".

Thanks, I installed WMP9 and the 4 updates are still crashing the system. Here's the log for KB954600, it even shows where I'm canceling the update: "Message displayed to the user: Are you sure you want to cancel? User Input: YES" [KB954600.log] 0.062: ================================================================================ 0.062: 2008/12/29 09:16:16.296 (local) 0.062: c:\75b11d423c4d3a0eb2b273f39486\update\update.exe (version 6.3.13.0) 0.062: Hotfix started with following command line: 0.062: 1339 GetBuildType: noop for OS 5.0 0.078: C:\WINNT\system32\strmdll.dll is Present 0.109: FileVersion of C:\WINNT\system32\strmdll.dll is Greater or Equal To 4.1.0.3921 0.109: Condition succeeded for section Test.Exist.WM41.Section.strmdll in Line 1 of PreRequisite 0.109: C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\logagent.exe is Present 0.140: FileVersion of C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\logagent.exe is Greater or Equal To 4.1.0.3921 0.140: Condition succeeded for section Test.Exist.WM41.Section.logagent in Line 2 of PreRequisite 0.140: FileVersion of C:\WINNT\system32\strmdll.dll is Less Or Equal To 4.1.0.9999 0.140: First Condition in Test.UpperVersionCheck.WM41.Section.1 Succeeded 0.140: Condition succeeded for section Test.UpperVersionCheck.WM41.Section.1 in Line 3 of PreRequisite 0.906: In Function TestVolatileFlag, line 11825, RegOpenKeyEx failed with error 0x2 0.906: In Function TestVolatileFlag, line 11857, RegOpenKeyEx failed with error 0x2 0.906: DoInstallation: CleanPFR failed: 0x2 0.906: 1339 GetBuildType: noop for OS 5.0 0.906: SetProductTypes: InfProductBuildType=BuildType.IP 0.906: SetAltOsLoaderPath: No section uses DirId 65701; done. 0.922: DoInstallation: FetchSourceURL for c:\75b11d423c4d3a0eb2b273f39486\update\update.inf failed 0.922: LoadFileQueues: UpdSpGetSourceFileLocation for halmacpi.dll failed: 0xe0000102 0.937: BuildCabinetManifest: update.url absent 0.937: Starting AnalyzeComponents 0.937: AnalyzePhaseZero used 0 ticks 0.968: OEM file scan used 0 ticks 1.812: AnalyzePhaseOne: used 875 ticks 1.812: AnalyzeComponents: Hotpatch analysis disabled; skipping. 1.812: AnalyzeComponents: Hotpatching is disabled. 1.812: AnalyzePhaseTwo used 0 ticks 1.812: AnalyzePhaseThree used 0 ticks 1.812: AnalyzePhaseFive used 0 ticks 1.812: AnalyzePhaseSix used 0 ticks 5.765: AnalyzeComponents used 4828 ticks 5.765: Downloading 0 files 5.765: bPatchMode = FALSE 5.765: Inventory complete: ReturnStatus=0, 4843 ticks 6.953: CreateUninstall = 1,Directory = C:\WINNT\$NtUninstallKB954600_WM41$ 6.953: Num Ticks for invent : 6031 6.953: Allocation size of drive C: is 4096 bytes, free space = 117277921280 bytes 6.953: AnalyzeDiskUsage: Skipping EstimateDiskUsageForUninstall. 6.953: Drive C: free 111844MB req: 5MB w/uninstall: NOT CALCULATED. 6.953: CabinetBuild complete 6.953: Num Ticks for Cabinet build : 0 6.953: DynamicStrings section not defined or empty. 6.968: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\kb954600.cat 6.968: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\system32\strmdll.dll 6.968: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\system32\dllcache\strmdll.dll 6.968: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\system32\dllcache\logagent.exe 6.968: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\program files\windows media player\logagent.exe 78.328: Message displayed to the user: Are you sure you want to cancel? 78.328: User Input: YES 0.094: ================================================================================ 0.094: 2008/12/29 12:18:47.828 (local) 0.094: c:\e19132df200c3b7a2d01\update\update.exe (version 6.3.13.0) 0.094: Hotfix started with following command line: 0.094: 1339 GetBuildType: noop for OS 5.0 0.125: C:\WINNT\system32\strmdll.dll is Present 0.140: FileVersion of C:\WINNT\system32\strmdll.dll is Greater or Equal To 4.1.0.3921 0.140: Condition succeeded for section Test.Exist.WM41.Section.strmdll in Line 1 of PreRequisite 0.140: C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\logagent.exe is Present 0.156: FileVersion of C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\logagent.exe is Greater or Equal To 4.1.0.3921 0.156: Condition succeeded for section Test.Exist.WM41.Section.logagent in Line 2 of PreRequisite 0.156: FileVersion of C:\WINNT\system32\strmdll.dll is Less Or Equal To 4.1.0.9999 0.156: First Condition in Test.UpperVersionCheck.WM41.Section.1 Succeeded 0.156: Condition succeeded for section Test.UpperVersionCheck.WM41.Section.1 in Line 3 of PreRequisite 0.578: In Function TestVolatileFlag, line 11825, RegOpenKeyEx failed with error 0x2 0.578: In Function TestVolatileFlag, line 11857, RegOpenKeyEx failed with error 0x2 0.578: DoInstallation: CleanPFR failed: 0x2 0.578: 1339 GetBuildType: noop for OS 5.0 0.578: SetProductTypes: InfProductBuildType=BuildType.IP 0.578: SetAltOsLoaderPath: No section uses DirId 65701; done. 0.594: DoInstallation: FetchSourceURL for c:\e19132df200c3b7a2d01\update\update.inf failed 0.594: LoadFileQueues: UpdSpGetSourceFileLocation for halmacpi.dll failed: 0xe0000102 0.594: BuildCabinetManifest: update.url absent 0.594: Starting AnalyzeComponents 0.609: AnalyzePhaseZero used 0 ticks 0.640: OEM file scan used 0 ticks 1.453: AnalyzePhaseOne: used 844 ticks 1.453: AnalyzeComponents: Hotpatch analysis disabled; skipping. 1.453: AnalyzeComponents: Hotpatching is disabled. 1.453: AnalyzePhaseTwo used 0 ticks 1.453: AnalyzePhaseThree used 0 ticks 1.453: AnalyzePhaseFive used 0 ticks 1.453: AnalyzePhaseSix used 0 ticks 3.875: AnalyzeComponents used 3281 ticks 3.875: Downloading 0 files 3.875: bPatchMode = FALSE 3.875: Inventory complete: ReturnStatus=0, 3281 ticks 5.125: CreateUninstall = 1,Directory = C:\WINNT\$NtUninstallKB954600_WM41$ 5.125: Num Ticks for invent : 4531 5.125: Allocation size of drive C: is 4096 bytes, free space = 117051785216 bytes 5.125: AnalyzeDiskUsage: Skipping EstimateDiskUsageForUninstall. 5.125: Drive C: free 111629MB req: 5MB w/uninstall: NOT CALCULATED. 5.125: CabinetBuild complete 5.125: Num Ticks for Cabinet build : 0 5.125: DynamicStrings section not defined or empty. 5.140: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\kb954600.cat 5.140: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\system32\strmdll.dll 5.140: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\system32\dllcache\strmdll.dll 5.140: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\system32\dllcache\logagent.exe 5.140: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\program files\windows media player\logagent.exe 42.437: Message displayed to the user: Are you sure you want to cancel? 42.437: User Input: YES 0.078: ================================================================================ 0.109: 2008/12/29 12:26:03.703 (local) 0.109: c:\39dcd7d5e7d877837b3f\update\update.exe (version 6.3.13.0) 0.109: Hotfix started with following command line: 0.109: 1339 GetBuildType: noop for OS 5.0 0.140: C:\WINNT\system32\strmdll.dll is Present 0.187: FileVersion of C:\WINNT\system32\strmdll.dll is Greater or Equal To 4.1.0.3921 0.187: Condition succeeded for section Test.Exist.WM41.Section.strmdll in Line 1 of PreRequisite 0.187: C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\logagent.exe is Present 0.219: FileVersion of C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\logagent.exe is Greater or Equal To 4.1.0.3921 0.219: Condition succeeded for section Test.Exist.WM41.Section.logagent in Line 2 of PreRequisite 0.219: FileVersion of C:\WINNT\system32\strmdll.dll is Less Or Equal To 4.1.0.9999 0.219: First Condition in Test.UpperVersionCheck.WM41.Section.1 Succeeded 0.219: Condition succeeded for section Test.UpperVersionCheck.WM41.Section.1 in Line 3 of PreRequisite 0.844: In Function TestVolatileFlag, line 11825, RegOpenKeyEx failed with error 0x2 0.844: In Function TestVolatileFlag, line 11857, RegOpenKeyEx failed with error 0x2 0.844: DoInstallation: CleanPFR failed: 0x2 0.844: 1339 GetBuildType: noop for OS 5.0 0.844: SetProductTypes: InfProductBuildType=BuildType.IP 0.844: SetAltOsLoaderPath: No section uses DirId 65701; done. 0.844: DoInstallation: FetchSourceURL for c:\39dcd7d5e7d877837b3f\update\update.inf failed 0.859: LoadFileQueues: UpdSpGetSourceFileLocation for halmacpi.dll failed: 0xe0000102 0.859: BuildCabinetManifest: update.url absent 0.859: Starting AnalyzeComponents 0.859: AnalyzePhaseZero used 0 ticks 0.890: OEM file scan used 0 ticks 1.719: AnalyzePhaseOne: used 860 ticks 1.719: AnalyzeComponents: Hotpatch analysis disabled; skipping. 1.719: AnalyzeComponents: Hotpatching is disabled. 1.719: AnalyzePhaseTwo used 0 ticks 1.719: AnalyzePhaseThree used 0 ticks 1.719: AnalyzePhaseFive used 0 ticks 1.719: AnalyzePhaseSix used 0 ticks 4.969: AnalyzeComponents used 4110 ticks 4.969: Downloading 0 files 4.969: bPatchMode = FALSE 4.969: Inventory complete: ReturnStatus=0, 4110 ticks 6.375: CreateUninstall = 1,Directory = C:\WINNT\$NtUninstallKB954600_WM41$ 6.375: Num Ticks for invent : 5531 6.390: Allocation size of drive C: is 4096 bytes, free space = 117074083840 bytes 6.390: AnalyzeDiskUsage: Skipping EstimateDiskUsageForUninstall. 6.390: Drive C: free 111650MB req: 5MB w/uninstall: NOT CALCULATED. 6.390: CabinetBuild complete 6.390: Num Ticks for Cabinet build : 15 6.390: DynamicStrings section not defined or empty. 6.406: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\kb954600.cat 6.406: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\system32\strmdll.dll 6.406: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\system32\dllcache\strmdll.dll 6.406: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\system32\dllcache\logagent.exe 6.406: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\program files\windows media player\logagent.exe 14.344: Message displayed to the user: Are you sure you want to cancel? 14.344: User Input: YES 0.093: ================================================================================ 0.109: 2008/12/29 12:45:18.023 (local) 0.109: C:\WINNT\SoftwareDistribution\Download\094cb48add2362622ba4c3293b5a2f17\update\update.exe (version 6.3.13.0) 0.109: Failed To Enable SE_SHUTDOWN_PRIVILEGE 0.109: Hotfix started with following command line: -q -z -er /ParentInfo:3aa4e71a09120448a5f1f8cb3df5cb7b 0.109: 1339 GetBuildType: noop for OS 5.0 0.109: C:\WINNT\system32\strmdll.dll is Present 0.109: FileVersion of C:\WINNT\system32\strmdll.dll is Greater or Equal To 4.1.0.3921 0.109: Condition succeeded for section Test.Exist.WM41.Section.strmdll in Line 1 of PreRequisite 0.109: C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\logagent.exe is Present 0.109: FileVersion of C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\logagent.exe is Greater or Equal To 4.1.0.3921 0.109: Condition succeeded for section Test.Exist.WM41.Section.logagent in Line 2 of PreRequisite 0.109: FileVersion of C:\WINNT\system32\strmdll.dll is Less Or Equal To 4.1.0.9999 0.109: First Condition in Test.UpperVersionCheck.WM41.Section.1 Succeeded 0.109: Condition succeeded for section Test.UpperVersionCheck.WM41.Section.1 in Line 3 of PreRequisite 0.718: In Function TestVolatileFlag, line 11825, RegOpenKeyEx failed with error 0x2 0.718: In Function TestVolatileFlag, line 11857, RegOpenKeyEx failed with error 0x2 0.718: DoInstallation: CleanPFR failed: 0x2 0.718: 1339 GetBuildType: noop for OS 5.0 0.718: SetProductTypes: InfProductBuildType=BuildType.IP 0.718: SetAltOsLoaderPath: No section uses DirId 65701; done. 0.718: DoInstallation: FetchSourceURL for c:\winnt\softwaredistribution\download\094cb48add2362622ba4c3293b5a2f17\update\update.inf failed 0.718: LoadFileQueues: UpdSpGetSourceFileLocation for halmacpi.dll failed: 0xe0000102 0.718: CreateUninstall = 1,Directory = C:\WINNT\$NtUninstallKB954600_WM41$ 0.718: BuildCabinetManifest: update.url absent 0.718: Starting AnalyzeComponents 0.718: AnalyzePhaseZero used 0 ticks 0.750: OEM file scan used 0 ticks 1.578: AnalyzePhaseOne: used 860 ticks 1.578: AnalyzeComponents: Hotpatch analysis disabled; skipping. 1.578: AnalyzeComponents: Hotpatching is disabled. 1.578: AnalyzePhaseTwo used 0 ticks 1.578: AnalyzePhaseThree used 0 ticks 1.578: AnalyzePhaseFive used 0 ticks 1.578: AnalyzePhaseSix used 0 ticks 1.578: AnalyzeComponents used 860 ticks 1.578: Downloading 0 files 1.578: bPatchMode = FALSE 1.578: Inventory complete: ReturnStatus=0, 860 ticks 1.578: Num Ticks for invent : 860 1.578: Allocation size of drive C: is 4096 bytes, free space = 119210037248 bytes 1.593: AnalyzeDiskUsage: Skipping EstimateDiskUsageForUninstall. 1.593: Drive C: free 113687MB req: 5MB w/uninstall: NOT CALCULATED. 1.593: CabinetBuild complete 1.593: Num Ticks for Cabinet build : 15 1.593: DynamicStrings section not defined or empty. 1.609: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\kb954600.cat 1.609: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\system32\strmdll.dll 1.609: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\system32\dllcache\strmdll.dll 1.609: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\system32\dllcache\logagent.exe 1.609: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\program files\windows media player\logagent.exe 0.063: ================================================================================ 0.079: 2010/04/18 11:38:41.539 (local) 0.079: C:\WINNT\SoftwareDistribution\Download\094cb48add2362622ba4c3293b5a2f17\update\update.exe (version 6.3.13.0) 0.110: Failed To Enable SE_SHUTDOWN_PRIVILEGE 0.110: Hotfix started with following command line: -q -z -er /ParentInfo:419f198cbd9409449a23e823a38fc4ba 0.110: 1339 GetBuildType: noop for OS 5.0 0.110: C:\WINNT\system32\strmdll.dll is Present 0.110: FileVersion of C:\WINNT\system32\strmdll.dll is Greater or Equal To 4.1.0.3921 0.110: Condition succeeded for section Test.Exist.WM41.Section.strmdll in Line 1 of PreRequisite 0.110: C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\logagent.exe is Present 0.110: FileVersion of C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\logagent.exe is Greater or Equal To 4.1.0.3921 0.110: Condition succeeded for section Test.Exist.WM41.Section.logagent in Line 2 of PreRequisite 0.110: FileVersion of C:\WINNT\system32\strmdll.dll is Less Or Equal To 4.1.0.9999 0.110: First Condition in Test.UpperVersionCheck.WM41.Section.1 Succeeded 0.110: Condition succeeded for section Test.UpperVersionCheck.WM41.Section.1 in Line 3 of PreRequisite 0.594: In Function TestVolatileFlag, line 11825, RegOpenKeyEx failed with error 0x2 0.594: In Function TestVolatileFlag, line 11857, RegOpenKeyEx failed with error 0x2 0.594: DoInstallation: CleanPFR failed: 0x2 0.610: 1339 GetBuildType: noop for OS 5.0 0.610: SetProductTypes: InfProductBuildType=BuildType.IP 0.610: SetAltOsLoaderPath: No section uses DirId 65701; done. 0.625: DoInstallation: FetchSourceURL for c:\winnt\softwaredistribution\download\094cb48add2362622ba4c3293b5a2f17\update\update.inf failed 0.625: LoadFileQueues: UpdSpGetSourceFileLocation for halmacpi.dll failed: 0xe0000102 0.625: CreateUninstall = 1,Directory = C:\WINNT\$NtUninstallKB954600_WM41$ 0.625: BuildCabinetManifest: update.url absent 0.625: Starting AnalyzeComponents 0.625: AnalyzePhaseZero used 0 ticks 0.625: OEM file scan used 0 ticks 0.750: AnalyzePhaseOne: used 125 ticks 0.750: AnalyzeComponents: Hotpatch analysis disabled; skipping. 0.750: AnalyzeComponents: Hotpatching is disabled. 0.750: AnalyzePhaseTwo used 0 ticks 0.750: AnalyzePhaseThree used 0 ticks 0.750: AnalyzePhaseFive used 0 ticks 0.750: AnalyzePhaseSix used 0 ticks 0.750: AnalyzeComponents used 125 ticks 0.750: Downloading 0 files 0.750: bPatchMode = FALSE 0.750: Inventory complete: ReturnStatus=0, 125 ticks 0.750: Num Ticks for invent : 125 0.750: Allocation size of drive C: is 4096 bytes, free space = 105729687552 bytes 0.766: AnalyzeDiskUsage: Skipping EstimateDiskUsageForUninstall. 0.766: Drive C: free 100831MB req: 5MB w/uninstall: NOT CALCULATED. 0.766: CabinetBuild complete 0.766: Num Ticks for Cabinet build : 16 0.766: DynamicStrings section not defined or empty. 0.766: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\kb954600.cat 0.766: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\winnt\system32\dllcache\logagent.exe 0.766: FileInUse:: Added to Filelist: c:\program files\windows media player\logagent.exe

The following Windows media updates hang my system. They cannot be installed either manually or through Windows Update. Security Update for Windows 2000 (KB977816) windows2000-windowsmedia-kb977816-x86-enu.exe Security Update for DirectX 9 for Windows 2000 (KB975560) windows2000-directx9-kb975560-x86-enu.exe Security Update for Windows 2000 (KB954600) windowsmedia64-kb954600-x86-enu.exe Security Update for Windows 2000 (KB952069) windows2000-windowsmedia-kb952069-x86-enu.exe The installer hangs and has to be terminated but leaves system process running, which requires a reboot, but Windows hangs on reboot which requires a reset, which leaves file-system errors, requiring chkdsk in Recovery Console! I have NOT installed Windows Media Player 9 Series, but have installed Windows Media 9 codecs, Windows Media Format 9 Series Runtime files, and Windows Media Video 9 VCM. Any ideas?

Has anybody installed Windows 2000 on a machine with AMD 790GX/SB750 chipset? Motherboards with this chipset are usually made for the new AM3 Phenom II processors. Are there versions of AHCI driver that support Win2k? I've posted in this thread but the discussion is inconclusive http://www.msfn.org/board/integration-sb7xx-textmode-raid-ahci-drivers-t135840-pid-874015.html //

You just need to download the chipset/SATA drivers from NVIDIA.

First download time-zone editor form MS -- TZEDIT.EXE Then you need to change a couple of dates, instructions are here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914387 and here http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_top***ues EDIT 1 Forum mangles this URL, here it is again: support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_top***ues EDIT 2 Censorship?? Missing characters are "iss" as in "top issues" //

Most forums have a handy link for checking your recent posts. Is there a quick way to get a list of my posts in chronological order?

Resume from S3 is much slower on my XP machine than my 2000. What is your experience, which OS resumes faster? My XP is painfully slow on new mobo ASUS M4A78T-E with Phenom II.

Right on! A hardware-based firewalls like Nvidia Active Armor with application filter plays no favorites and will stop any outgoing connection. It will even notify you if Windows' own services changes behavior... but you may have to stop services.exe

If you install Open Office 3.0 you get a font "DejaVu Sans" that gives you "universal" font smoothing. It's not subpixel antialiasing but it's close enough and it works. I'm curious what people think.

AVG 8 and 9 works fine with my Win2k, I have the licensed version but free should work too.

It phones home with usage data without the user’s knowledge or consent, that’s spyware and very close to the definition of malware. If you prevent it calling home it will continue to nag until you allow activation -- Nagware. If you disallow it calling home, it will disable itself after 30 days -- Crippleware. And we’re not even discussing the various prohibitions on hardware changes, like mobo, etc.

Really? Spyware? jaclaz yep, Windows calls home every time you boot... and win7 (a.k.a Vista lite) has the most advanced spyware ever made.

All versions of Windows after Win2k contain spyware, so why not try Linux, it has come a long way the last 10 years. I'm using win2k on my main machine and don't plan on buying any OS from Microsoft, if you use Firefox with noScript and a good firewall you're good to go.

How about looking at the post just before yours... Thank you... that's a lot of files! Are they all really necessary? Can nLite slipstream 150+ files?

I'm reinstalling Windows 2000. Over time, I have downloaded ALL hotfixes/updates using MBSA (Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer), about 140 files... windows2000-kb9... ie6.0sp1-kb9... oe6.0sp1-kb94... Do I need to install all of them? Aren't they cumulative? For example, can I just I install the LATEST for IE6 and skip the older ones? Is there a short list of must-install updates?

There's a free utility from Sysinternals -- PsTools. I use it on my home network to suspend machines, shutdown also possible, but suspend is better cos you can wake them up too with magic packet. psshutdown.exe" \\192.168.2.115 -d -t 0