Directly from Neowin website:

I had a call from Microsoft Legal this morning and they have told me that we are no longer allowed to endorse AutoPatcher on Neowin. Microsoft will only allow updates to be downloaded from its own servers.

AutoPatcher started in 2003 and has been redistributed in some of the worlds best computer magazine cover CD/DVD's. I have no explanation for why Microsoft allowed it to continue unchecked for 4 years before making this decision.

I asked the representative if Windows Genuine Advantage had anything to do with it and he categorically told me this was not the case, he added that Windows Update for pre-Vista versions of Windows can now be accessed using Firefox and that the concern at Microsoft had more to do with the possible malicious code that could be redistributed with certified Microsoft updates.

We have no grounds to challenge the decision by Microsoft. I'd like to thank the whole AutoPatcher team for their continued work, unfortunately none of the team is online, but they have been contacted via the AutoPatcher.com website by Microsoft Legal. The AutoPatcher forums on Neowin have been disabled for guests and members.

Good luck downloading 666 updates for every PC you own, every time you reinstall Windows XP :-(

Who needs autopacher when you have free tool from MS? granted you'd have to have a standalone machine but if you have more than one machine and you constantly reimage surely you can get a spare to be your WSUS server - I download updates only once - i have around 250 workstations to put updates that I want on. What's all this fus is about is beyound me. :)

Who give a f£$% about M$ legal when everything like that can still be distributed without any problems via Torrent or Usenet?

I hope the AutoPatcher team carry on with their work under a different name.