(imported topic written by fastfood91)
Not sure what forum to post this in. If this is the wrong forum for this I’m sure some one will let me know.
Problems first started when I had to reload XP Home SP2. Right after I reloaded XP I went to MS Update, but it wouldn’t download any Updates, not even SP 3. I made sure that MS Update was in Trusted sites and had full permissions in the firewall, but I could not download Updates. And MS would not feed me any other updates with out first SP3. I tried an SP 3 download from http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/windows-xp-service-pack-3.html thogh it was 5-10 times larger than the one I tried to download from Windows Update. But it made my machine go hay wire and all I could do was reinstall the OS. And since Bigfix was was strongly recommended to me, I dicided to give it a try.
Perhaps I’m just not understanding how to use Bigfix. I tried the version that Emachines added to my XP Home SP 2 and now the version from Tucows. The only thing both have done is advise me to install a Fixlet to make Bigfix work with IE 7. I don’t use IE 7, and don’t plan to. I use IE 6 and only for Window Update. With both versions of Bigfix I told Bigfix not to show me this again. And though I do not have any MS critical or Windows updates installed and anti-virus is out of date, Bigfix would not Gather any Fixlets. So I tried installing the IE 7 fixlet thinking that perhaps then it would Gather. But instead the machine went totally haywire and I wound up having to reload XP Home SP 2 again
I’m not exactly a nubee. I have been using Desktops and PC’s since Windows 3.0 And have been helping friends, family and many other’s with software and occasionally hardware problems. This is the first time I have experienced serious trouble that I couln’t work my way out of, and usually reformating and reloading the OS as a very last resort, and this go-round I’ve reloaded the OS twice in two days. 
But I’m about to start pulling out what little is left of my hair. I hope someone here in the forum can help me out be for I decide to turn to Linux after having gotten to so used to Windows.