Windows Vista Update Annoyances and How to Fix Them

So, I decided to try Windows Vista when my XP PC crashed. Windows Vista isn’t half bad after you get rid of the annoying UAC prompts. I actually like the simplicity, functions and the cool look of Vista. When I thought I had everything nailed down, I decided to update Vista.

THE ANNOYANCE

It was going great – or so I thought. The progress bar continued but in reality, nothing happened. I wasted like 10 minutes thinking that Vista was updating behind the scenes – when in fact it wasn’t. I rebooted, thinking that it might have hung up, and started the update program again. This time, I was welcomed with an error message, which told me to correct my system time and date. But everything was correct, and I rechecked, but Vista’s Update program still showed the error.

THE FIX

It seems that Windows Sidebar Widget and the system conflicts with the update program. You can get Windows Vista to update if you close the Sidebar Widget and hide the system clock. If that doesn’t work, select the option to disable the Sidebar Widget to launch on startup, and reboot. Run the update program once again and Windows Vista will update itself.

EXTREME ANNOYANCE

Even if that doesn’t work, you could search the Internet for a specific cause (usually with the error code) or you could get the updates manually from www.softwarepatch.com.

IT’S NOT THAT BAD

Apart from this annoyance, I have faced no other trouble while updating Vista. I actually like Vista’s update center far better than XP’s as it gives more information and allows manufacturers to release updates and drivers. Very useful indeed than having to download and install drivers separately.