Microsoft: We Didn’t Change Automatic Updates
section: windows, for your questions: KezNews forum, 20.10.2007
Software giant says users are responsible for the modifications that generated claims of unauthorized patch installs.
Microsoft Corp. Wednesday denied that its software had arbitrarily changed Windows Vista’s update settings, saying that users were responsible for the modifications that generated claims of unauthorized patch installs.
Reacting to reports that first surfaced last Friday, a program manager for Windows Update said today that an investigation had turned up no evidence the Oct. 9 security fixes had switched settings in Vista’s Automatic Updates (AU).
“From the customer logs that we received, we found that none of the updates released as part of the October security release have made any changes to users’ AU settings,” said Nate Clinton in a post to a company blog. “In fact, in the logs we reviewed, AU in all cases was set to ‘install updates automatically’ prior to the October security release.”
Vista allows users to turn off AU entirely; tell the operating system to check for, but neither download or install, any fixes; instruct the mechanism to download files but not install them; or accept all patches without any additional approval.
The claims that AU settings had mysteriously reverted to the “install automatically” setting began to trickle into a message forum on the AeroXperience Web site soon after the release last Tuesday of six security updates. Several users said that AU downloaded and installed patches even though they had specifically instructed Vista not to do so.
But unlike last month, when a Windows newsletter revealed that Microsoft had updated users’ PCs contrary to their instructions, the newest charges were limited to AeroXperience members. No similar reports, for example, were posted to the Windows Update support newsgroup hosted by Microsoft. During September’s brouhaha, that newsgroup was thick with messages about the stealth updating.
Certain that AU had not run amok and changed its own settings, Clinton fingered users for the altered state of AU. “I want to stress that the Windows Update client does not change AU settings without users’ consent. However, AU settings can be set or changed in the following scenarios,” he said, and then listed five; all require the user to take action or accept one option from several offered.
“During the installation of Windows Vista, the user chooses one of the first two recommended options in the ‘Out of Box Experience’ and elects to get updates automatically from Windows,” Clinton said was one possibility. Another: “The user chooses to opt in to Microsoft Update during the installation or the first run experience of another Microsoft application such as Office 2007.”
Earlier, a Microsoft spokeswoman had been more blunt. “It may be more a case of someone clicking to change their AU settings but not realizing /remembering doing so,” she said in an e-mail sent Tuesday.
Users on AeroXperience writing to the forum after Microsoft wrapped up its investigation accepted Clinton’s explanation. “The disparity between the Windows Update control panel applet and the OOBE [Out of Box Experience] update settings page (when first running Windows Vista) seems to be what’s causing the confusion,” said a member identified as Bryant.
source: computerworld.com
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Comments(11)
i noticed the setting had changed to fully automatic on both my desktop and notebook
systems when i was running through my configuration one day (what can i say? i'm anal).
i know absolutely that i had them set to notify but not download and never changed them.
something is amiss with au and ms is passing the buck. i'm neither an ms fanboy nor a
hater, but ms really needs to get their act together - vista can't even remember window
positions/sized, icon settings, group/sort settings - it's a mess...and those are all
setting having to do with the namesake of the o/s (windows) - those features should work
perfectly, but sadly they haven't since windows 3.1...the last windows that truly
remembered window/icon positions/sizes/etc. i really like vista, but ms' extreme
laziness and complete lack of attention to the forest (much less the detail of the trees)
becomes more evident with each new version. enough with the fading menus, transparency,
etc - make the windows themselves work right, then get fancy...for that matter, make au,
or any other feature work right and be completely reliable before getting fancy. anyone
remember the au problem with vista when updates wouldn't show up and you had to turn it
all of then back on, then run a check?
what's with all the text in the comments being automatically shifted to all lower case?
i;ve been hearing this time and time again, my settings have not changed, but i have a
valid serial so maybe that's why.
either way i'm all good and i have had no
intrusion.
both my installs are valid, so that's not it. i'm not sure how it could be something
related to aeroexperience unless they're surreptitiously testing a browser jack of some
sort (i seriously doubt that, though). desktop is home-built, notebook is hp, so whatever
is going on seems to affect both retail and oem packages.
have avast!, windows
defender, threatfire, spyware blaster, spybot, and adaware on both systems. avast! and
windows defender realtime protection, and spybot ie helper (but not teatime). if it is a
browser jack it's the first to get me...it had to happen sometime - if that's what it is
i'm kind of surprised it didn't happen sooner, even with reasonably safe browsing
habits, real-time protection, and regular scans i've been blissfully lucky.
once i set them back they haven't changed again...yet. keeping a closer eye on things,
although i doubt there'll be any further changes in the near future, regardless of the
source. i can definitely say the source was not me and it was not an intended or notified
change. i am using ie7pro on ie7, but i had it uninstalled on the notebook for awhile, so
that's a dubious guess at best. no i don't use firefox or any other browser - i've
tried 'em all and they're fine, but i prefer ie - personal choice.
i've gotta admit, i'm using pirated vista and i have had no changes, i think the people
who are having these changes are either idiots or don't know how to password protect
their computer.
sure sure,and im sure you havent stole mac source code of macs back in the 80's too,have
you!?
nothing from that company surprises me anymore!
beware of the destroyers!
peace \/
after updating, my setting had changed on their own, back to "automatically download and
install", waaay back when. this was only a short time after the retail vista release.
i've reproduced this occurence on many occasions on a variety of systems.
so
in closing, hidfj has no idea what he's talking about, and apparently neither does
microscam.
every account i use has a password. i've been working with computers for over 25 years
now and have been consulting for over 10 years - with a strong focus on
network/server/client and physical building security. hidfj - sorry you're so
grumpy...maybe you'll feel better tomorrow - unless the only way you can feel good about
yourself is to attack anonymous people just because you haven't had a particular issue.
thanks, though - i'm sure i've probably made good money fixing something you broke at
some point - keep thinking you're the end-all be-all of computer users - i appreciate the
job security.
rucamx pt - that's only half right - pretty much every
technology company on the planet steals ideas and even (sometimes) source code/other ip
from their competitors. i've been working with pcs since the xt and apples since the ][
- i used a lisa and used a mac before the public ever knew they existed (a friend was one
of the original developers). take a look as osx and you'll see plenty of ideas stolen
from windows. it goes both ways. having used both oss since their beginnings, i'd take
windows over macos any day - it has a far superior gui and is much more intuitive - at
least clicking on a popout submenu entry in windows opens the submenu instead of *only*
closing it.
i was hoping someone might offer something insightful or
intelligent, but it seems that i set might sights too high - too bad.
flame
away...
here here, "not some else"! two thumbs up to that.
"someone" changed my update settings to "automatically download and install"- i
changed back to "notify"- now norton av tells me "1 item affecting status"- complains
about update set to "notify"- never did before- do you thing m$ changed my norton
coding, or maybe norton and m$ have teamed up?
also, now norton has become sluggish and takes 10 minutes to clear system
when i d/l entire web page, seems to be going back to sender to check entire coding of
orig. page--any ideas?
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MS needs to take another look
By Not Someone Else on 21.10.2007 - 05:10