Star Microsoft Updates Windows Without Users' Consent
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 14th Sep 2007 14:02 UTC, submitted by tux68
Windows Microsoft has begun patching files on Windows XP and Vista without users' knowledge, even when the users have turned off auto-updates. Many companies require testing of patches before they are widely installed, and businesses in this situation are objecting to the stealth patching. "Normal behaviour," according to Microsoft.
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RE[3]: Hmm...
by KenJackson on Fri 14th Sep 2007 18:56 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: Hmm..."
KenJackson
Member since:
2005-07-18

Do you have any evidence or at least sources for that claim?

The article itself makes that claim:

The Automatic Updates dialog box in the Control Panel can be set to prevent updates from being installed automatically. However, with Microsoft's latest stealth move, updates to the WU executables seem to be installed regardless of the settings — without notifying users.

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 2

RE[4]: Hmm...
by dylansmrjones on Fri 14th Sep 2007 19:11 in reply to "RE[3]: Hmm..."
dylansmrjones Member since:
2005-10-02

It only says "seem". It has not been confirmed to be true for all four settings, and it is a fact that the WU-client cannot connect to WU-servers when running without Administrator rights.

I know from my experiences with my firewall that WU does not attempt to do anything when turned off. And I know that because my firewall freaks out when I run WU and forget to un-restrict WU ;)

Edited 2007-09-14 19:12 UTC

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 4