A. In How can I check which hotfixes a remote system has installed?, I discussed CmdInfo, a freeware utility (available at http://www.savilltech.com/cmdinfo.html) that you can use to test whether a hotfix is installed on local and remote machines. Recently, Microsoft released a new tool, hfnetchk, that communicates with a constantly updated list of hotfixes stored on the Microsoft Web site and can determine whether your system is missing any critical fixes. You can use hfnetchk to scan one computer, a group of computers, or a whole domain. See Microsoft article Q303215 for further information.
You can download hfnetchk from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?releaseid=31154.
Here is a sample execution:
D:\temp>hfnetchk -i 200.200.200.1 Microsoft Network Security Hotfix Checker, 3.1 Developed for Microsoft by Shavlik Technologies, LLC [email protected] (www.shavlik.com) ** Attempting to download the XML from http://download.microsoft.com/download/x ml/security/1.0/NT5/EN-US/mssecure.cab. ** ** File was successfully downloaded. ** ** Attempting to load D:\temp\mssecure.xml. ** Using XML data version = 1.0.1.137 Last modified on 8/21/2001. Scanning 200.200.200.1 Done scanning 200.200.200.1 ---------------------------- 200.200.200.1 ---------------------------- WINDOWS 2000 ADVANCED SERVER SP2 Patch NOT Found MS00-077 Q299796 Patch NOT Found MS00-079 Q276471 Patch NOT Found MS01-007 Q285851 Patch NOT Found MS01-013 Q285156 WARNING MS01-022 Q296441 Patch NOT Found MS01-025 Q296185 Patch NOT Found MS01-031 Q299553 Patch NOT Found MS01-036 Q299687 Patch NOT Found MS01-037 Q302755 Patch NOT Found MS01-040 Q292435 Patch NOT Found MS01-041 Q298012 Patch NOT Found MS01-043 Q303984 Patch NOT Found MS01-046 Q252795 Internet Information Services 5.0 Patch NOT Found MS01-025 Q296185 Patch NOT Found MS01-044 Q301625 Internet Explorer 5.5 SP1 Patch NOT Found MS00-093 Q279328 Patch NOT Found MS01-015 Q286043 SQL Server 2000 Gold WARNING MS00-092 Q280380 WARNING MS01-032 Q299717 WARNING MS01-041 Q298012
It's important to note that Microsoft now offers several utilities to analyze your machine, including
- Windows Update - http://www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
- Microsoft Personal Security Advisor - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/mpsa/start.asp
- The hfnetchk utility
