Manual Windows Update

This how-to is more for Windows XP, where your only options for Windows Update are:

• automatic update on a specific day at a specific time
• download updates, but do not install
• notify, but do not download or install
• no automatic updates

No option to "Check for updates" on demand like in Vista or Windows 7.

To get around this, you can run 'wuauclt /detectnow' on the command line to force an update check.
Another option is to restart the Windows Update client by turning off Automatic Updates from Control Panel, then turning it on again. This also forces interrupted update downloads to restart.