Editing Windows Update (section)

===Windows Update web app===
[[File:Win Update ME.png|thumb|left|The Windows Update web app, version 4, in [[Windows Me]]]]
Windows Update was introduced as a [[web app]] with the launch of [[Windows 98]] and offered additional [[Theme (computing)|desktop themes]], [[Video game|games]], [[device driver]] updates, and optional components such as [[NetMeeting]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/win98/TWB19980625S0017|title=Taking Windows 98 For A Test-Drive|last=Gartner|first=John|date=24 August 1995|website=TechWeb|publisher=CMP Net|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19981203021627/http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/win98/TWB19980625S0017|archive-date=3 December 1998
}}</ref> [[Windows 95]] and [[Windows NT 4.0]] were retroactively given the ability to access the Windows Update website and download updates designed for those operating systems, starting with the release of [[Internet Explorer 4]]. The initial focus of Windows Update was free add-ons and new technologies for Windows. Security fixes for [[Outlook Express]], Internet Explorer and other programs appeared later, as did access to beta versions of upcoming Microsoft software, e.g. [[Internet Explorer 5]]. Fixes to Windows 98 to resolve the [[Year 2000 problem]] were distributed using Windows Update in December 1998. Microsoft attributed the sales success of Windows 98 in part to Windows Update.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1999/feb99/holislpr.mspx|title=Strong Holiday Sales Make Windows 98 Best-Selling Software of 1998|date=9 February 1999|access-date=2008-07-29|work=PressPass|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|archive-date=6 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306183421/http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1999/feb99/holislpr.mspx|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Windows Update web app requires either [[Internet Explorer]] or a third-party [[web browser]] that supports the [[ActiveX]] technology. The earliest version of the web app, version 3, does not send any personally identifiable information to Microsoft. Instead, the app downloads a full list of every available update and chooses which one to download and install. But the list grew so large that the performance impact of processing became a concern. Arie Slob, writing for the Windows-help.net newsletter in March 2003, noted that the size of the update list had exceeded {{Nowrap|400 [[Kilobyte|KB]]}}, which caused delays of more than a minute for [[dial-up Internet access|dial-up]] users.<ref name="arieslob">{{cite web|url=http://www.windowsnewsletter.com/html-archive/2003/22mar2003.html|title=Windows Update is Spying on You!|last=Slob|first=Arie|date=March 22, 2003|website=Windows-Help.NET|publisher=InfiniSource|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180114020429/http://www.windowsnewsletter.com/html-archive/2003/22mar2003.html|archive-date=January 14, 2018|access-date=September 12, 2019}}</ref> Windows Update v4, released in 2001 in conjunction with [[Windows XP]], changed this. This version of the app makes an inventory of the system's hardware and Microsoft software and sends them to the service, thus offloading the processing burden to Microsoft [[Server (computing)|servers]].<ref name="arieslob" />{{Clear}}