HI, When I install a patch for I.E 6.0 on windows 2000 and I click on help/about intetnet explorer, I can see the patch numbers installed along with the version and service pack number. and on another pc after installation, i do not see the patch numbers being installed, is it the way windows 2000 installed and what to do?

Use Belarc Advisor from www.belarc.com . It will report, amoung other things, all applied hotfixes & whether they "stuck" or not when installed. Belarc also includes embedded links to MS KnowledgeBase articles for documentation on each hotfix. An invaluable tool. Unfortunetly MS's windowsupdate often reports that a patch has been installed properly when in fact it has not been. (Way to go, Redmond!). Belarc does not have the capability to report what hotfixes are missing - so remove whatever hotfixes Belarc reports as failed, then go back to windowsupdate which ought to detect what's missing and offer to apply them. If you are on a fast connection you may want to grab patches in what MS calls "network install" or "re-distributable" form so that you can archive them, use them on many machines, or simply have around for re-installation. They are often substantially larger than the system-specific version that windowsupdate supplies, but they give you control & allow you to bypass MS's invasive snoops of your system during the windowsupdate session. You can trackdown individual SPs + patches at http://public.planetmirror.com/pub/microsoft/patches/win2k/hot-fixes/ (My fav. Non-MS source for the paranoid.) http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/critical/default.asp (Easy to use. Excludes all but critical updates) http://softwarepatch.com/windows/index.html (Good for Sps; patches less convincingly labelled/dated/comprehensive. Non-MS source for the paranoid.) Best, Jonathan