[squid-users] windowsupdate: repeated web requests

> I'm using squid-2.3.STABLE4 on a linux box. I'm seeing a large
> amount of repeated requests from the same nodes for the same file...
>
> 999121802.978 5 152.13.122.111 TCP_HIT/200 4165 GET
> http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/R778/v31content/90716/90716.cab
> - NONE/- application/x-compressed
> 999121803.072 8 152.13.130.91 TCP_HIT/200 4165 GET
> http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/R778/v31content/90716/90716.cab
> - NONE/- application/x-compressed

If a lack of any responses is indicative that I suffer this malady alone
then this follow up post to my own problem will not serve you too well
(so I'll be brief and I still quietly hope I'm not alone and will get
some insight to a similarly afflicted soul).

I transparently redirect web requests through the proxy from the router.
No browser/client configuration is involved.

Yesterday (a full 24 hour period) I had about six nodes generate 477,925
requests for this one cab file (90716.cab) from windowsupdate.

Obviously, they didn't stop on their own. So, I pulled the router rules
out and let web traffic go direct to the internet (totally bypassing squid).
About 5 minutes later, I put the router rules back in and clients were
directed back through the squid proxy.

This brief period of direct access seems to have "solved" the problem.
The logs don't show any more requests or this file since and it has been
about an hour and a half.

I expect the problem will come back as nothing was really solved. I don't
really understand what the file is and why directly fetching it satisfied
the client. Any insight from the list here would be useful.

- John

ps - The only other time I had a "loop" of this type was a Windows ME
machine a few months ago, but I don't remember the file it was stuck on.
I also don't know which windows flavor is doing it now (but this could be
found out).

-- 
It doesn't much signify whom one marries, for one is sure to find out
next morning it was someone else.
                -- Will Rogers