WindizUpdate is a plug-in for non-Microsoft browsers that allows you run and scan Updates for Windows, Office and other Microsoft products through Mozilla Firefox, Opera or Netscape web browsers. Unlike other addons that emulate Internet Explorer webpage, this addin actuallly allows you to download updates without installing the Microsoft Windows Update Services or Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Active X controls. It also features an integrated download manager with error correction to resume downloads from where it was cancelled or re-download corrupted parts of the files.

Key features of WindizUpdate include:

- Download and install Windows, Office and other Microsoft Updates through Firefox, Opera or Netscape
- No need to install the Windows Genuine advantage Active X control
- No personally identifiable information is collected from your computer.
- It lists just the updates you need. If an update has been superceded by a newer one, it will not ask you to install the older one.
- If there is an update for a component that is not yet installed, it will not ask you to update it. For example, if you don’t have IIS installed, it wll not even list the updates for that product
- Integrated download manager with error detection - you can cancel downloads at any time, and the next time you wish to install the cancelled update, it will continue from where it left off. Only corrupted sections of the file are redownloaded.

As a precautionary measure against spyware/adware, I downloaded the executable [link] for WindizUpdate, extracted the contents of the EXE with WinRar and placed npupd62.dll manually in the plugin folder of Opera which can be found under “Drive:\Program Files\Opera 9\program\plugins” or if you are using Firefox, under “Drive:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins”. After that, I chose to scan for updates and it indeed found all the critical updates available for Windows. After the scan is complete, you can also choose to view products, service packs and hardware detected by the updater on your computer.

A complete list of supported products that WindizUpdate can scan can be found here. Unfortunately, there is no update catalog for newer Microsoft products such as Windows Vista, Longhorn, Exchange 2007, MOSS 2007 or Office 2007.