Turning on "Automatic Updates" programatically?

Hi,

I help maintain several computers that are "locked down" and cannot be
changed at all because they are publicly accessible. Therefore, Automatic
Updates is turned off because the changes wouldn't be permanent, anyway.

From time to time, we unlock the machines and manually perform updates via
the Windows Update Web site.

I know a little Visual Basic.NET, and I was just wondering if there was some
program or service within Windows that I could call upon to have the updates
start immediately.

If I knew what program/service to call, I could create a simple Visual Basic
program that each computer would have, and my program could call this
updating service or program. I could broadcast a notice through the network,
notifying my program that it's time to update.

Thanks!

Jason