Windows 7 / Getting Started

BITS Behavior

BITS (and thus Windows Update) does not initiate a demand-dial network connection at times when it normally downloads updates. BITS will instead wait for the user or another application to initiate a network connection. If a computer stays disconnected or is otherwise unable to reach its update server for weeks or months at a time, the computer will not have recent updates and might be vulnerable to attack. To mitigate the risk of an unprotected computer spreading worms or viruses on your local network, use NAP.

Note For more information about Network Access Protection, see http://www.microsoft.com/nap/.

BITS stores the partially downloaded files in the destination folder under a temporary name; these files are marked as hidden. When the job is complete, BITS renames the file with its final name and removes the file's hidden attribute. BITS impersonates the job owner before writing these files to preserve the file system security and quotas for the user.

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In this tutorial:

  1. Managing Software Updates
  2. Methods for Deploying Updates
  3. Windows Update Client
  4. Windows Server Update Services
  5. System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2
  6. Manually Installing, Scripting, and Removing Updates
  7. Overview of Windows 7 Update Files
  8. How to Script Update Installations
  9. How to Remove Updates
  10. Deploying Updates to New Computers
  11. Other Reasons to Use a Private Network for New Computers
  12. Managing BITS
  13. BITS Behavior
  14. BITS Group Policy Settings
  15. Configuring the Maximum Bandwidth Served For Peer Client Requests Policy
  16. Managing BITS with Windows PowerShell
  17. Windows Update Group Policy Settings
  18. Configuring Windows Update to Use a Proxy Server
  19. Tools for Auditing Software Updates
  20. The MBSA Console
  21. MBSACLI
  22. Scheduling MBSA
  23. Troubleshooting the Windows Update Client
  24. The Process of Updating Network Software
  25. Assembling the Update Team
  26. Inventorying Software
  27. Creating an Update Process
  28. Discovering Updates
  29. Evaluating Updates
  30. Speeding the Update Process
  31. Retrieving Updates
  32. Testing Updates
  33. Installing Updates
  34. Removing Updates
  35. Auditing Updates
  36. How Microsoft Distributes Updates
  37. Security Updates
  38. Update Rollups
  39. Service Packs
  40. Microsoft Product Life Cycles