AutoPatcher is an application that hundreds of thousands of people, especially those working in IT, depend on and use regularly. It’s a simple and free application that has been around since 2003. It has served a vital purpose for many people by providing Windows Updates in one consolidated package that could be downloaded. These were available for XP, 2000, 2003, Vista, and even various versions of Office.
The entire point of AutoPatcher was to make updating multiple computers a piece of cake. I always used this after formatting my PC so that I wouldn’t have to sit and download all of the updates just to get my computer back up to speed. The great thing was that AutoPatcher was updated monthly therefore providing the latest updates. Each of those updates came in two different flavors:
Core releases – these are the main releases which contain the bulk of the patches. These are rather large in size (normally several hundred megabytes), and are often only downloaded by first-time users.
Update releases – these allow you to update a Core release with additional patches as new ones are created.
AutoPatcher does require that you install the app first, but after that you can pick and choose which updates you want installed. The program even gives you a brief description of what each update does:
Unfortunately Microsoft saw this application in a different light, and decided to shut it down. As of right now the AutoPatcher site remains available, but the links to the downloads have since been removed. From the looks of it Microsoft hasn’t been able to reach the mirrors yet to have the files removed:
Download AutoPatcher Cores (most recent versions):
- AutoPatcher August 2007 for Windows 2000 [249MB]
- AutoPatcher August 2007 for Windows 2003 [242MB]
- AutoPatcher August 2007 for Windows XP [333MB]
- AutoPatcher July 2007 for Windows Vista [211MB]
- AutoPatcher August 2007 for Office 2003 [56MB]
- AutoPatcher August 2007 for Office 2007 [121MB]
Alternatively the downloads are readily available from several sites, or you can download AutoPatcher via Torrents. The only bad part is that the software probably won’t be updated anymore. 
Maybe this wouldn’t be such a big deal if Microsoft made it easier to install these updates offline. Honestly they should be offering a tool themselves that does the same thing as AutoPatcher.
Of course the only thing that AutoPatcher is doing wrong is redistributing the patches that Microsoft provides. They could possibly get around this by having users download a small application that will retrieve all of the updates from Microsoft. I’m sure there has to be a workaround, and hopefully the AutoPatcher team will find it!
Source: AutoPatcher [via Neowin]
I can’t say how good autopatcher was as i never used it but i always use nLite along with updates packs which come with all the updates so it means it pre-updated from the get go no need for any software.
I stopped using AutoPatcher a while ago when I found WindizUpdate.
[windizupdate.com]
Here’s a little snipped from their about page:
“About WindizUpdate
This free website allows users of Mozilla Firefox 0.9.3, Netscape 4.0, Mozilla Firebird 0.7, Opera 5, or K-Meleon 0.9 to keep their copy of Windows up-to-date. Newer releases of these browsers are also suitable.
To use this site, you’ll need to install the free plugin.
Established in Jan 2005, there has been sufficient opportunity for the plugin to be added to the database of your favorite antivirus or adware scanner (if it was dangerous) — so make sure your definitions are up-to-date before continuing.”
I’ve been using the German security news site “heise Security”’s Offline Updater system for quite a while.
[heise-security.co.uk]
It is very slick.
Download the application and install it.
When you run it, you can select to download the patches for either XP, 2000, or 2003 Server operating systems.
You can select which language localizations you want.
You can select to have the update packages rolled into individual ISO files for burning to their own removable media disks, or roll them all together (probably want to use a DVD media for this one) into a single one.
It uses a “wget” DOS app to download the current update catalog(s) for the platforms selected, then uses that to download the patches/updates directly from the Microsoft Update servers.
The first download/run/build takes a while as you are getting them all at one time. However you can re-run it when you want and then only any new or updated patches are downloaded so those are rolled up much faster.
It’s a great, tiny and slick system.
Worth checking out since Autopatcher might be retired now.
Link to download most current version of heise Security Offline Update (page in German)
[heise.de]
Link to the overview of the program and its features (English-four pages)
[heise-security.co.uk]
Cheers!
Damn, and I was using AutoPatcher for years too…oh well. Looks like I am going to have to use the official Windows Update or not update my Win XP Pro box since I hardly boot into it.
@Richard – I’ve used that before as well, but this prevents you from having to reburn another CD.
@Ian – That’s pretty much the same thing as the standard Windows Update though.
@Claus – Look perfect…unfortunately I don’t think they support Vista yet.
@Mohan – Jumping on to the Linux side of the fence is one way to throw this back in Microsoft face.
These people (referring to Microsoft) are idiots. A few years ago, someone stepped in and voluntarily developed software that would make Windows more admin-friendly. Then what did Microsoft do? They shut it down because “ooh, we’re scared that they’re going to steal our patches”. Come on, Microsoft! Stop suing and start thinking!