Suggestions for WUD

[vsrawat]

I really couldn't understand how WUD is working.

I installed it yesterday on w7-x64 desktop, and first I downloaded all crucial updates and installed them all using a batch script.

my thoughts, step by step, are as follows -

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Maybe it can give an easier method to customize ULs.

- it doesn't start when UL is not there. a message appears, we have to click on + that opens a site in browser in background and we don't even come to know. then we somehow locate a new page opened in browser and figure out what it is for, then we read various menu items and figure out to go to UL page and download ULs relevant to us.

- then, we don't know how to make a UL go inside WUD main window, we try several options to find that double clicking UL gives the message "installed."

* I think that when ULs are really so small text files, (mine are 3KB for office 2010, 10 KB for windows 7), it can just bundle half a dozen ULs with the installation package itself, so that new users can at least start with something.

* It can give the link of the website page and say that "to get more or latest ULs, visit there".

* UL window just has delete. It can give add option there that would open the hard disk and let the user browse and go to a folder having a UL to get it inside WUD.

as the browser already sent minimal information like "windows 7 x64" o.s. of the originating system, it would be easy for WUD download window to pack relevant UL for that O.S. or give option in the download window itself. I think I downloaded from CNET or brothersoft or some site site, so I didn't get to know what a UL is and where it is available.

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UL files are not getting opened with notepad, showing binary or other non-lower-ascii chars.

* WUD should display the content of UL in some user friendly way so that we can know what we are getting updated.

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WUD doesn't have any option to let us select in UL what updates we need to downloaded.

say, I have office 2010, so its standard ULs will give all updates for all components of office 2010. But I have installed only MS Word and MS excel, so I want updates only for these, and not for publisher or access or outlook or visio.

* WUD should give some method to users to select what components mentioned in a UL are relevant to me to download. just show a list and let the user tickmark what he wants to download as per his config. don't check or show updates for other elements that the user has unticked (not selected) in the UL.

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- Does WUD check the already installed updates on my system? updated through SP1 or through windows update?

I don't think so. correct me.

When window updates is showing just 3 updates for my office profplus 2010, wud is showing dozens, if not 100s. How come? I have not put office SP1, just installed office yesterday and haven't updated thru windows update even once. then how come windows update still shows only 3 updates against so many many shown by WUD?

* I think it is necessary first to check which updates are already installed on our system, so that WUD doesn't waste time, efforts and bandwidth in downloading the already installed one again.

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It doesn't show the size of download in the main window.

All the benefit that I am getting from WUD is that I can save downloaded updates so that I don't have do re-download them because windows updates doesn't save them and we have to do it all over again. but there are so many 100s of updates that it is a headache to keep track of them and to manually store and download them.

so I want to save only larger updates (2/5 MB or above) so that I don't have to download them again. rest tiny ones 40 KB, 200KB can be downloaded and processed by windows updates, as many times as needed. Not much time and bandwidth wasted in them.

So, if WUD can show the byte size of an update, we can just download larger updates and save them for future use.

* so, I suggest WUD should show the size of update in the main window.

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* While downloading, it hides the main window and acts only on download window. No point really. Let us see the main window in case we want to check out anything.

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In download window, it doesn't show the UL it is currently downloading. We are left confused how to find what it is downloading that we had asked it. We need to go to the download folder to see where newly downloaded files are getting stored to figure out that this must be the UL getting downloaded.

There is so little difference in the ULs that it is very easy to click on one instead of the other one. Yesterday I wanted to download office 2010 updates for x64, I ended up clicking to select the same for x86, ( I have dual boot x86 and x64) and it went ahead downloading without telling in download window which one it is downloading. after some time it struck me. so I have to check from the harddisk folder.

* Show in the download window the UL that is being downloaded

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- Does WUD keep track of all the updates it itself has download and whether those have been installed in system?

I don't think so. correct me.

After I ran WUD and installed all crucial updates, restarted system, reran WUD, it is again showing the same KB nos of update that it had just downloaded and I have just installed.

In the meantime, as I wanted WUD to download further updates, and that would got mixed up with previously downloaded updates that I have already installed, I had removed the already downloaded updates to a separate folder away from WUD's download folder.

does that create the problem? but that is the way it has to be. We don't want WUD to continuing downloading 1000s of updates across the years in one single folder and then we will be sifting out which one is new download.

Most of the download manager now have such a system that if we pass on an url that we had already installed some time ago, the download manager gives us message that we have already downloaded that, and asks us do we want to download it again. Good enough. We go to history to find the previous download instance, check properties to find where I had kept that, and the date etc, so we get an idea what we did with previous version and where have we stored it.

* I think WUD should keep a history of updates it has downloaded the same way. When new updates are shown it should give us option to dim out the updates already downloaded by it, so that it need not download them again. if we have lost those updates previously downloaded, it should give option to download them again.

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aethetics

- I personally find that your green bar animation in download window moving too fast to be comfortable. just slow it down to the speed at which normal windows operations show it.

- The byte counter updates too fast. When we are downloading a 100 MB or 500 MB update, showing that in two places of decimal "123.45 MB completed" is too much. the decimal part moves too fast. just remove the decimal part.

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I guess these are not bugs. these are conceptual additons/ deletions from the software features.

That is it for the beginners. hope you would give a thought to these humble suggestions and discuss it within your think tank and would select at least some for implementation in some future version.

Thanks.

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Rawat