BITS Error 1290: 0x50a following updates

Microsoft customer support linking windows update troubleshooting instructions to the faulty Fix it was similar to shouting to a drowning man,  "Microsoft can help, so here catch this" and throwing him an anchor.

Microsoft customer support linking windows update troubleshooting instructions to the faulty Fix it was similar to shouting to a drowning man,  "Microsoft can help, so here catch this" and throwing him an anchor.

Slightly off topic here - but it is Christmas after all -

Someone wrote the following to illustrate the type of help you can expect from Microsoft:

A helicopter is flying over a city blanketed in fog - and they can't locate their position.

They see some tall office buildings sticking up above the layer of fog and fly over.

They approach one of these offices and see people inside - they indicate they need assistance.

Someone in the offices opens a window (those were the days - try that now days) -

The pilot shouts across "Where are we?"

The response comes back "You are in a Helicopter!"

The passenger says to the pilot "That's ridiculous - and no help at all!"

The pilot responds "It's alright I know exactly where we are now"

The passenger says "I don't understand - why was that answer of any help?

The pilot responds "There is only one place in this city that offers that level of help - Microsoft"

No offense to any Microsoft helpdesk staff who stumble on this.

But try reading the Help screens of some older Microsoft programs.

Talk about stating the bl**ding obvious - they just tell you what you already know from the menu title.

Example - Wordpad

=================

To undo your last action

On the Edit menu, click Undo.

That's it no explanation no extra details

• To undo something click on Undo
• Yeah I kind of figured that out already

A summary of common windows update issues and fixes has been done which may be helpful

See this thread my reply

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows\_xp-windows\_update/error-message-trying-to-update-windows-xp-sp3/0c7f9b23-a258-48c7-8940-dc81a94426fd#LastReply

Doug,

UPDATE  Another user is reporting that on a clean install of XP SP3 with IE8 that installation of MSE or subsequent update to MSE definitions trashed BITS.  This tends to support our expectation that the bad code in the Fix it tool has been incorporated into other software supplied by Microsoft.  What a fiasco.  More incidental "human error" by a tired programmer?  In MSE which is supposed to be a system security software?  It stretches credulity that this would be another coding "accident".

Here is the post made just today

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_xp-windows_update/background-intelligent-transfer-service-is-missing/2afb9676-933b-4b4b-aa26-ada58dd6a014?page=6&msgId=0d49745f-47e7-416d-8e52-9f6fb36eca21