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In the last episode, the Windows Update Product team stated on its blog on October 12 that neither Automatic Update (AU) nor the bunch of patches that Microsoft rolled out on October 9, Patch Tuesday, were responsible for reports from Windows users earlier this month that their machines were automatically updating without their approval.

The Product Update team continued to investigate. At some point (I’m not sure exactly when, as the time stamp does not reflect the post update time/date) the team updated its blog again, suggesting a few possible causes for the reports by certain Windows users of their machines updating automatically. On the team’s list of possible reasons that AU settings can be (re)set or changed:

* “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
* “The user goes to the Windows Update Control Panel and changes the AU setting manually
* “The user goes to Security Center in Windows Vista and changes the AU setting
* “The user chooses to opt in to Microsoft Update from the Microsoft Update web site
* “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.”

In short, Microsoft’s explanation was that users were knowingly or unknowingly changing their own Automatic Update settings and complaining about the results.

I went back and asked some of the many readers who complained in the comments on my blog post, as well as the additional ones who sent me e-mail, about both Vista and XP automatically updating even after they had indicated they did not want automatic updates to take effect automatically. I showed them Microsoft’s explanation. To put it politely, many did not feel Microsoft’s explanation was adequate. Here’s one reader response from a user who said that his XP machine rebooted itself this month, despite his AU settings being set to off:

“I’m not buying their explanation. I — for several years — have always shut off Windows update. I don’t want anything installed on my computer unless I know about it. If something is done on my computer, installations or whatever, I want to control it. I don’t allow any software vendor to update my software unless I’m aware of it. This includes Sun, Firefox, Thunderbird and others. I’m a computer tech and am keenly aware of how software changes can have adverse effects on a computer. I especially don’t trust Microsoft. Why and how Microsoft made changes to my computer very much concerns me and makes me more wary of MS than ever.”

Another reader astutely replied that he thought that the users might be experiencing the problem noted my ZDNet blogging colleague David Berlind back in August. Berlind documented how Vista could force unwanted and immediate reboots on users. Microsoft’s explanation, at that time, was that users running in non-admin mode might be subject (knowingly or unknowingly) to the whims of their administrators. Microsoft’s explanation to Berlind:

“Because an administrative user had configured the machine to automatically stay up to date, the reboot is not postpone-able by a non-admin. Allowing a non-admin to override an admin’s wish is not the right default for security sake. This behavior is also controllable by policy to allow a non-admin user to interact with Windows Update. So yes, what [you] experienced is by design and justifiable as it does not allow a non-admin to go against the wishes of the administrative user. And again if running as a non-admin is his normal mode of operation, then there are policies which can be set to tweak behaviors more to his liking.”