I have a Compaq 8000 series running xp. I want to use my recovery disk to bring my computer back to factory specs. Can you copy installed window updates to a cd-r, and how do I do that if you can. Great Forum, recommended it to many people!!!!! I have a dial-up modem and It would really save to to reload from a disk.

if u know the exact executable which is required to run and all the files it needs just back them all up (zip drive, Cd burner or if they are below 1.44mb Floppy disks) then that way after that you can just put them back on! If u have an service packs which u wont for XP they are extremely easy to back up as they come zipped or in a single folder.....

You can't save the updates. You used to be able to download them from the Windows Corp. Update site and a few of them are still there but they have stopped doing this. SP1 will be out soon enough and this should resolve a lot of the issues. Later, KTTD

Use the Windows Update Catalog. You have to be running XP or 2K to get in but from there you can pick and choose. Everything you pick will be dumped into a folder which can then be burned. http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/catalog/en/default.asp Jimbo

It takes some detective work. On each update flagged there is usually a reference to a Security Bulletin or a Knowledge Base question. Go there, follow links, and you can download the update as a separate executable. Sometimes they clearly don't want you to do this, telling you to *telephone* to get the patch. Take a different approach, search some more and you can find it. The only patch I haven't found at all for any OS is the dumb and obsolete Direct Animation patch. Note that you still have to install all these patches, if you want to save your image, then Ghost. I build a lot of puters, I have 20+ patches (70MB) I install to get it running and avoid hours and hours of downloading. And XP/SP1 is no piece of candy, activation and every visit to Windows Update will now check your Product Key and many leaked keys will be bombed. Of course we are all honest. Have fun...