Control Panel Automatic Updates Doesn't Add Registry Keys

Greetings,

Has anyone else found that using the Control Panel applet for
Automatic Updates in XP Professional doesn't do anything?

We have our PCs set to Download and Install automatically, but a check
of the registry shows that

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Win dows\WindowsUpdate\AU

was absent.

Using gpedit.msc, or editing the registry directly and adding the key
manually solved the problem.

Am I missing something here? If the Control Panel applet is
unreliable, isn't that a Bad Thing?

And the above key DOES have to be in the registry for Automatic
Updates to work, doesn't it?

Many Thanks For Your Collective Wisdom,

Jeff