determining whether updates have been applied?

Looking at
\\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\W indows\WindowsUpdate, I
don't see any key which determines whether the system has installed any new
updates. Looking at Control Panel | Add or Remove Programs, I do see where
individual updates are listed. Is there a way to programmatically access
this list, as I could make a copy of this list, & compare what can be found
within the Control Panel applet. If my copy is the same, then no updates
have been applied; if the lists differ, then I know that some new updates
have been installed.

How ever I can determine whether updates have been applied, I need something
that will work on Win9x/WinNT4.x/Win2K/WinXP. Will this method work on
Vista, & if not, is there another method in which I can determine updates
have been applied?

Thanks.

I have been experiencing similar problems with the following failing to
install no matter what I do, is this same for you?
Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1
Update for Windows XP (KB898461)
Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool (KB892130)

"Jim" wrote:

> Looking at
> \\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\W indows\WindowsUpdate, I
> don't see any key which determines whether the system has installed any new
> updates. Looking at Control Panel | Add or Remove Programs, I do see where
> individual updates are listed. Is there a way to programmatically access
> this list, as I could make a copy of this list, & compare what can be found
> within the Control Panel applet. If my copy is the same, then no updates
> have been applied; if the lists differ, then I know that some new updates
> have been installed.
>
> How ever I can determine whether updates have been applied, I need something
> that will work on Win9x/WinNT4.x/Win2K/WinXP. Will this method work on
> Vista, & if not, is there another method in which I can determine updates
> have been applied?
>
> Thanks.

"johng49" wrote:

> I have been experiencing similar problems with the following failing to
> install no matter what I do, is this same for you?

No, sorry. These two KnowledgeBase articles describe changes Microsoft has
made in their update application on both the server & client sides. I'm not
having problems updating; I'm developing an application which needs to be
able to determine if any new updates have been installed on the system. Is
there something Microsoft exposes which I can query?