updates cause pc to restart

I was given a pc by a friend who emigrates to the States. He hadn't
used windows updates, or a firewall, or sp1 or sp2 or even a virus
checker!! I cleared the pc of viruses and spyware. I installed sp1 and
sp2 (i'm running xp) and used the firewall. the trouble is that when I
use windows updates the pc restarts or crashes and goes to the "blue
screen" with various error messages. I'm running two virus checkers
still and both turn up nothing. the two spyware programs turn up
nothing nasty, so why do i get the problem?

The reason i mentioned how i got the pc is because it's a legit copy
of xp, but i've no way of formatting the pc and reinstalling xp as i
don't have the xp disks.

the pc works just fine without the updates, but i'd prefer to have
them on.

does anybody have any ideas short of wiping the pc and starting again?

many thanks
Peter

Hi there,

It sounds like you are installing a driver update from WU which is not a
good idea at all, so skip them.

Best regards,
Michel Denie

"peter" <> wrote in message
news: ups.com...
>I was given a pc by a friend who emigrates to the States. He hadn't
> used windows updates, or a firewall, or sp1 or sp2 or even a virus
> checker!! I cleared the pc of viruses and spyware. I installed sp1 and
> sp2 (i'm running xp) and used the firewall. the trouble is that when I
> use windows updates the pc restarts or crashes and goes to the "blue
> screen" with various error messages. I'm running two virus checkers
> still and both turn up nothing. the two spyware programs turn up
> nothing nasty, so why do i get the problem?
>
> The reason i mentioned how i got the pc is because it's a legit copy
> of xp, but i've no way of formatting the pc and reinstalling xp as i
> don't have the xp disks.
>
> the pc works just fine without the updates, but i'd prefer to have
> them on.
>
> does anybody have any ideas short of wiping the pc and starting again?
>
> many thanks
> Peter
>