How do I update Office 2003 in Windows Vista?

[lgmayka]

I just installed Office 2003 on Windows Vista, but there is no way to update
it, or even to check for updates. The MS Office web site claims that Windows
Update automatically includes updates for Office 2003, but this is a lie!
Windows Update knows nothing, and says nothing, about Office 2003.

How am I supposed to update Office 2003 now?

 

[Peter Foldes]

It is not Windows Update(WU) but Microsoft Updates(MU)

You can switch to MU by going to the WU site and selecting MU

Or

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/default.aspx
And on the left side select your poison

 

[lgmayka]

No, that is automatic and has nothing to do with it.

I did figure out the problem. Incredibly, Windows Vista does NOT update the
list of updates automatically! On Windows XP, whenever I would go to the
Windows Update page, it would recalculate the updates so as to always show a
complete list. On Windows Vista, Update apparently doesn't update at all--it
simply continues to show the old stale list until the user explicitly clicks
a Check For Updates.

This is totally unexpected and extremely user-unfriendly, especially since
Update does not give a clear warning that its behavior has changed so
radically.

So, once I clicked on Check For Updates, Update did finally find all the
Office updates properly. <Sigh.>

 

[lgmayka]

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/default.aspx
And on the left side select your poison

By the way, the suggestion above will definitely NOT work. Although the
left side has a selection for Office Update, clicking on it leads essentially
to an error message, telling the user that he MUST go through Microsoft
Update. Tough luck!

Also by the way, another source of confusion has to do with attempts to
update Office manually. I found a way to get a list of Office downloads, and
saw a general Service Pack 1 and Service Pack 2. But oddly, there are very
specific patches that are nevertheless labeled Service Pack 3 and Service
Pack 4, even though I think they are not for everyone but only for very
specific customers and purposes. The bottom line is that without an
automatic updating mechanism, attempting to figure out which patches to
download and install, and in what order, is almost hopeless.

 

[Peter Foldes]

HUH ?? Whatever are you talking about. Makes no sense.

 

[lgmayka]

HUH ?? Whatever are you talking about. Makes no sense.

You gave me this hyperlink:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/default.aspx

And encouraged me to use the "Office Update" hyperlink on the left side of
that page. If you had actually tried it on Windows Vista, you would have
found that the "Office Update" link merely goes to an error message telling
the customer to use Microsoft Update.

 

[Peter Foldes]

On the left side and right on top it says Office Updates. Did you try that

 

[lgmayka]

On the left side and right on top it says Office Updates. Did you try that

Yes, that was exactly what I tried. On Windows Vista, that simply goes to
an error page telling the customer to use Microsoft Update.

We don't need to belabor this further. The real problem is that Microsoft
radically changed the behavior of its Update mechanism--from automatic
refresh to manual refresh--without any clear indication that customers now
have to click on Check For Updates manually, otherwise they will see an
outdated list.