Win XP updates downloading again and again?

[#1]

I thought it was a bit odd that mscorsvw.exe (the process that chugs away "optimizing" .NET things after a .NET update is installed) was running on an XP machine today - since there shouldn't have been any .NET updates installed recently.
Then I saw this on The Register:
Windows XP update fails in infinite .NET patch loop
I'll have to check if it's been downloading or installing those updates over and over again. Something XP users might want to watch out for, especially if it wastes bandwidth downloading them repeatedly.

[#2]

Thanks for highlighting this issue, as I had exactly this problem yesterday on an XP machine that I repaired for a friend.
The machine was fully updated after a clean reinstall last week, but knowing that I had to return it this evening,I ran a full 'custom' Windows update and discovered these three .NET security updates which I installed apparently successfully.  As Windows often has an annoying habit of requiring further updates, I rebooted the machine and re-ran "Windows Update", only to discover the same three updates wanting to be installed.  I then checked the update history, which as expected said that the patches had been successfully installed.  From experience I cleared the IE cache and removed all temporary files, rebooted the machine, and ran "Windows Update" again, but it still wanted to install the same three updates.  I installed the updates for a second time, and now the update history shows all three updates to be successfully installed twice !.
As I couldn't find a solution to resolve this problem, and to avoid awkward questions from the owner of the machine, I used "Windows Update" to hide the notification these updates, so that I wasn't apparently handing back a machine with outstanding problems.  I hope that Microsoft will release an update shortly.
It is exactly this sort of problem with Windows that make me really appreciate how amazing the equivalent update process in Ubuntu is.

[#3]

It's debatable whether you need .Net at all and the updates go wrong very frequently, not just recently.  What you need is the .Net Cleanup (i.e. removal) tool http://blogs.msdn.com/b/astebner/archive/2008/08/28/8904493.aspx  so you can scrub the whole thing and then, if necessary, start again.  It has got me out of .Net update problems many times.

[#4]

Common things that need .NET: Catalyst Control Centre for AMD / ATi graphics drivers, Paint.NET, Seagate Seatools (latest version needs .NET 4).
And those Microsoft Fix It programs require .NET.

[#5]

I reckon about one in one hundred people with an ATI graphics adaptor actually use the Catalyst Control Centre.  Likewise, hopefully you won't need to use Seatools or a Microsoft Fix It.  And even if the .Net updates install correctly they can take a helluva long time.  I still think .Net is best avoided if you can get away with it. 

[#6]

Well, there was nothing to fix when I looked today - the updates appeared to have been automatically installed twice yesterday, but either they installed successfully the second time or Microsoft have stopped offering them by now, or have fixed the problem.

[#7]

My work PC showed these updates yesterday and kept saying the needed to be installed when they had just been installed but after a reboot it was happy.

[#8]

Mine did update twice yesterday as well, 1-3 updates, but all has now gone quiet I do not think that I use .NET for anything. Will look into the ref. for more info.
Thanks.
C.