Windows Update to update Windows Update
By John Lister
In one of those slightly-confusing situations produced by the unshakeable logic of computer systems, Windows Update is about to update itself.
Microsoft sends out these updates now and again, but this time they are making great steps to avoid a minor furore which erupted last September. The fuss then was over the fact Windows Update updated itself without any warning and without taking any notice of whether people had automatic updates switched on.
Conspiracy theorists started speculating that Microsoft was up to no good, but the company argued there was no funny business going on. They said it was solely a change to the Update software itself rather than affecting users’ computers or Windows experience.
And they pointed out it was necessary to keep everyone’s Update software, well, up to date so that if people who had it switched off ever did decide to use it, it would still be working.
This time round Microsoft is publicising the update in advance. They’ve also changed their policy so that users who’ve specifically set Automatic Updates to be turned off won’t get the update (unless they manually install it). Users who’ve selected ‘Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them’ and ‘Notify me but don’t automatically download or install them’ will still get this particular ‘infrastructure update’ automatically downloaded and installed.
According to Microsoft, the update doesn’t make any changes to the way Windows Update looks or feels. However, it should decrease the time it takes to scan for updates by as much as 20% and make it quicker to download any updates.
It’s pretty understandable that some users are suspicious about their computers ‘phoning home’ and distrust any Microsoft software tweaks. But it’s a shame that suspicion has led to Microsoft having to make such a big deal about what should be a straightforward and perfectly sensible process.
Related:
Entry was posted
on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 11:34 am
under 
Print This Post
Read more entries by John Lister.
Stumble It!
July 6th, 2008
Whats that saying?
Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on you,,,,,,,,
July 7th, 2008
Uh, no, it’s
“Fool me once, shame on YOU. Fool me twice, shame on ME…”
July 7th, 2008
Regarding your statement - They’ve also changed their policy so that users who’ve specifically set Automatic Updates to be turned off won’t get the update (unless they manually install it).
This is incorrect. The policy was the same during the previous Windows Update update as well. There has been no change in the policies regarding who gets this update automatically or not based on their Windows Update settings.
The difference this time is the pre=release communication so that people are prepared for it.
July 8th, 2008
According to Microsoft’s announcement:
“The Windows Update client does not download or install infrastructure updates if the user has selected setting 4 (“Off”). In other words, if a Windows Vista user selects “Never check for updates,”( or if a Windows XP user selects “Turn off Automatic Updates”), the user will not receive Windows Update client infrastructure updates unless they choose to manually install it from Windows Update.”