Ever been in a situation where you needed to patch a bunch of Windows XP or Windows 2003 server machines in a short period of time? Hmmm, probably so if you’ve ever done a desktop deployment!
As an IT Administrator, I’ve dreaded the patching process that is always required after reimaging a bunch of new computers. Of course, WSUS is fabulous and usually takes care of things, but if you don’t have WSUS setup or you’re working on a computer that’ can’t download updates from a WSUS server, you’re screwed.
That’s where our friend Patchmate XP comes in! This nifty little ISO image contains ALL of the patches, security hotfixes, and service packs that have been released for Windows XP.
All you have to do is burn the ISO image to a CD and run it from within Windows. It will go ahead and apply every update to Windows XP that has not already been installed. The nice thing is that the developer adds any new patches and hotfixes that Microsoft releases every month, so the ISO is up-to-date.
If you have a Windows Server 2003 machine, it’s even more useful because you can apply all the updates before bringing the server onto the network, thereby reducing the security risk. Just make sure to download PatchMate 2003.
They are not out yet, but the developer is also releasing PatchMate Vista and PatchMate 2008, for Windows Visa and Windows Server 2008 respectively.
The great thing about PatchMate is that the updates are installed in a matter of minutes, way faster than using Windows Update itself.
The only downside to the program is that if there is an update that is not compatible with your hardware or software, there is no way to exclude it. Every update gets installed, whether you like it or not!
You can also check out other similar programs such as AutoPatcher. Of course, you could also slipstream service packs and security updates into Windows XP using a program like nLite. [via gHacks]
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