Patch Management Terminology Changes

Even though Microsoft’s new patching solution has the same general architecture as its predecessor, name changes to components used in the two solutions can lead to confusion.

Consumers have two options when updating their computers. They can update software using a Web browser linked directly to Windows Update in the old solution or to Microsoft Update in the new solution, click a link to initiate a scan of their system, select which software updates they want to install, and then tell the program to install them.

Alternatively, users of Windows 2000 and later systems can configure their Automatic Update (AU) agent to periodically connect to a Microsoft Web service (Windows Update Web service in the old solution; Microsoft Update Web service in the new solution). The agent determines which software updates are available and applicable, and then downloads and applies them without user intervention. Compared with their predecessors, the Microsoft Update Web site and Web service is designed to eventually detect and update any Microsoft product, although initially it will only support Windows 2000 SP3, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003, Office 2003, Exchange 2003, and SQL Server 2000.