The Check for Updates command on the Help menu is not hidden as expected in Office 2003 (829362)

SYMPTOMS

When you prepare a custom installation by using the Custom Installation Wizard, you may notice that there is an entry labeled Block updates from the Office Update Site from applying. The Block updates from the Office Update Site from applying entry is located in the 10 of 24 dialog box in the Miscellaneous folder under Microsoft Office 2003 (User) of the Custom Installation Wizard. You receive the following message in the 10 of 24 dialog box : Setting this policy also disables the Check for Updates menu and task pane items.This setting is created as the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Common\OfficeUpdate\BlockUpdates = 1

However, after the installation, you may notice that on the Help menu of the Microsoft Office 2003 program that you are using, the Check for Updates option has not been turned off (disabled) and that the Downloads link in the Help task pane is not hidden.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs because the the entry was incorrectly added to the Custom Insallation Wizard. The registry key that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section does not cause the expected changes because these settings can only be set with a group policy. The Custom Installation Wizard is used to set the user preferences, not group policies. Policies are set by the administrator with a policy template (*.adm).

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, the Administrator must create a policy template (*.adm) and include the appropriate settings. The Office 2003 policy templates are installed from the Office 2003 Resource Kit and are available for download on the following Microsoft Web site:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011513601033.aspx

For more information about how to disable automatic updates that you obtained from the Office Update Web site in Office 2003 products, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011401671033.aspx

MORE INFORMATION

The user will not be able to use the Microsoft Office Update Web site if the following key is set:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Office\Common\OfficeUpdate Name = BlockUpdates (DWord); Value = 1

For more information about how to manage users' configurations by policy, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011402401033.aspx

For more information about how to add an Office 2003 Policy Template to a Group Policy, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

826170 Administrators can use Office policy templates with the Group Policy