What exactly are pending Microsoft automatic updates

I have a XP Pro SP 3 and it runs perfectly fine. In that I have kept the automatic updates on to automatically download and then alert me to install them. But few days back when I was turning off the system I was reminded that there were some important updates to be install and had the option to install them on the shutdown or shutdown without installing the updates. I just want to know that what these important automatic updates. How can I know what important updates are pending and ready to be installed? What are the important updates so I can look at them?

According to me you have to visit the Microsoft update website. What you can do is you need to visit the Microsoft update website and then click on the review your update history. This will help you to know what your updates are. Over here you will find the already downloaded files that are present. Also the download should be accepted otherwise if it’s not then there will be some problem with certain updates. So you can check out with this solution and I am sure this will help you to get away with your problem.

Thank you for your reply. I had a look at your solution and I will work on it. But today what happened is when I was shutting down my system I saw that I am being notified through some kind of a shield which was indicating that there are some updates to be installed. When I clicked on the shield icon in the notification area, I got to see a list of updates and was confused on what to do. I don't know if those updates just came in today, or if they are the updates that have been pending updates for the past few days.

There is one more way in which you can get away with this problem. And this probably is a better solution. What you can do is click the link which is for the Microsoft updates and then click on the express links. This will show the ones that are going to be the next ones to be installed. Also it will show the custom items list which are the optional updates that you can install if you wish .You can even try out this solution and I am sure that this one will also work for you.