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Windows Update updates itself; people shocked
Author: Phil CogarPublished: 14th September 2007
Secretly downloading updates when it's disabled? Nope, just have the wrong box ticked.
Reports had come in earlier from some eagle-eyed forum poster so Windows Secrets decided to check its machines. On machines that had the Automatic Updates setting set to not do anything, WU updates were downloaded and installed anyways. A search was done on Microsoft's Knowledge Base but there was no reference to the update to be found.
A reply on a Microsoft Communities forum stated, "Windows Update Software 7.0.6000.381 is an update to Windows Update itself. It is an update for both Windows XP and Windows Vista. Unless the update is installed, Windows Update won't work, at least in terms of searching for further updates. Normal use of Windows Update, in other words, is blocked until this update is installed."
As it turns out though, you can stop WU from downloading the files automatically and Microsoft has made a blog post to help clear up some of the confusion.
On all the the systems that were reported to have downloaded the updates without any notification, the Automatic Updates options was set to "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them." That however, is only one out of a total of four options that are given to a user. "Install updates automatically," "Download updates but let me choose whether to install them," and "Never check for updates" round out the rest of the list.
On all of these options except "Never check for updates," Windows Update will automatically download and install files that are crucial to keeping the updater working properly if Microsoft changes something on their end of the system. So if you're wanting none of your system files altered without your consent, that would be the route to go.
So there we have it. Microsoft is not attempting to install files on your computer without your consent, but rather just trying to keep everything working properly. No harm, no foul but perhaps the company could have been a little clearer on how WU operates in the background from the get go.
Discuss this over in the forums or in the comment section below.
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Comments (23)
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I don't care if it auto updates itself just as long as i don't have to go through those annoying " You must restart your PC for the changes to take effect" messages. Hell.... I'd rather have a silent auto-update so as long as i don't have to look at that annoying yellow shield and have to restart my PC 5 times for 1 update.
The files that make up the "Automatic Updates" feature need to be kept up-to-date so it can tell you what updates you need, unless you've turned it off entirely. Big deal.
Handy tip #1: Type net stop wuauserv into Start/Run to stop Windows trying to get you to reboot after updating, but don't forget to reboot later!
I challenge anyone to disagree with that comment on the blog. I question the motives of any organisation, who feels the need to put in place a system where things can be automatically, without consent, even after requests that this SHOULD NOT HAPPEN. I am happy with the outrage, I feel a little safer knowing people really are happy to get excited about my privacy (something I hold dearly).
2600 post heh
any way as long as WGA is not auto updated in vista then Dell oem disks will still work
You're absolutely right. People could use a "fake" Anti-Virus program that looks like its a real security application to stealthily insert dangerous programs. So can video games, dvd movies, or anything else that auto-runs or needs to be installed to work.
The difference is we're talking about an operating system, not a piece of software. When the malicious scripts are limited to particular programs, people can find ways to combat them. However, when these kinds of scripts are rolled out over an operating system, one of which (regardless of whether you love or hate Microsoft) is still the most popular one for administrating and networking in most businesses and schools, you are facing ENORMOUS security risks that could infect and destroy entire infrastructures.
It has nothing to do with this particular update, nor do I seriously believe that Automatic Update will be compromised anytime soon if at all. Its that like with history classes where civil rights are stripped from a country before a malicious government takes over power. Basically: If you let one company do a stealth update now, sure it might be a .dll and .exe and a .txt file or whatever that IS to update an Updater. But what happens if someone pushes that? And then that? And so on? Yeah, its paranoia to a degree, but its also your computer and your privacy, so maybe this time paranoia is justifiable and prudent.
My 2c. *shrug*
A lot of people are making a big issue about this but it seems a lot of people are too damned stupid to choose the "Never check for updates" option if they don't want anything downloaded at all. Maybe people need to employ a little more common sense when looking at the available options without having to have a manual spell everything out for them.
Th WU thing is ok though. If you do not want it to do anything, just switch it off completely. And if you don't switch it off completely, then don't expect it to not do something!!
Some people here should also realize that it does NOT make the system more secure when they have to manually agree to install stuff, if they install the stuff anyways. If the security gets compromised, you will get the crap onto your PC no matter what.
cheers,
-btb-
People being "too damned stupid" isn't the issue at all. If you choose the option to "notify me but don't automatically download or install them" then you would reasonably expect it to do just that. Not for it to notify you about most of the updates, but automatically install some without so much as a notification balloon.
How do you expect WU to notify you of new updates if the damn thing doesn't work because the files that make it work are out of date? Sorry if Microsoft didn't tell you, "Hey, we're gonna go ahead and download and install the files that are critical to WU to run properly in order for it to check the update server for you." Bit of common sense there, really it is.
WU has automatically updated itself several times before but you didn't see half of the internet bitching and moaning then.
That's exactly what I would expect it to do, it notifies you of other updates, why not this one?
So if that's the case, windows update only needs to update if its telling you about updates, otherwise, it doesn't
Because if you decide later you do want to know about them, then windows update can update itself, as those updates must be available for new installs in the future
I hope your understand what I'm on about, i don't really care either way and lets face it, everything these days is getting hyped to death, whatever ms do it will be twisted to fit an anti MS argument
Same. People are always trying to prove that Microsoft are the Evil Empire, and its all ********.
I think Microsoft not that bad.. The windows is bad ;)
Thanks for this news.. Take care.
Why is it silly? I don't see that it's any different from notifying you about security patches, Windows Installer updates and the like.
an OS is a very difficult thing, its not easy supporting 15 years of hardware and bad programming, but MS do it
However, its the other things MS do, WGA for one, and all their "standards compliance" that isn't at all
MS has lost its way in recent years, hopefully it will find its way back, but i would still like to have the choice of other OS's rather then the current windows lock in