• How Automatic Update gets unintentionally switched

    Posted on January 16, 2016 at 07:55 CST by • Comment in the Forums

    An interesting note from PKCano, about ways people accidentally turn on Automatic Update, in Windows Update:

    One, Users set Win Update to “Download updates and let me decide when to install’ They think they are on manual. Win Update installs the downloaded updates when they reboot their PC because they didn’t uncheck. We know this scenario.

    Second scenario: Win Updates are on Automatic. The User goes to Update Settings and pulls down the menu to “Search but let me choose…” They hit the back arrow instead of “OK.” The changed settings are not saved, although the user will swear they were. And next month they find it on automatic again. MS (didn’t) reset it.

    Third scenario: The User goes to Update Settings and it says “Search but let me choose…” The User pulls down the menu to check the choices and when he lets go it goes back to the top choice (automatic). Then he hits “OK” saving the choice he didn’t know he changed. And next month he find it on automatic again. MS (didn’t) reset it.

    Fourth Scenario: IE installation, even before IE11, has had the “option Box” with “Use default settings” and “Keep Current Settings” (or something similar) on first run. And maybe Microsoft Office (before 2016 – I haven’t installed it) and maybe changing from Windows Update to Microsoft Update. If YOU CHOOSE “Default,” YOU are choosing to reset the settings. MS (didn’t) reset it. ALWAYS use the option that gives you the choice, not MS’s default.

    The same goes for installing ANY software. ALWAYS choose the “Custom” install over the “Express” install so you can see (some of) what you are getting and opt out. If you install Win10 using the Express Install (recommended, of course) instead of Custom, you get all the privacy settings wide open by default.

    Changes to your automatic update settings are registered in the file C:\Windows\windowsupdate.log. Unfortunately, in Windows 10, that .log file is a bear to read. But in Win7 and 8.1 it’s plain text – if lengthy. If you get switched over to Automatic Update and can’t figure out why, that’s the place to look.

    UPDATE: Owburp sent along this screen capture of the IE installation screen, see attached. Step 2 — the green one — clearly says “Turn on Windows Update.”

    IE11WelcomePage

    Windows Patches/Security
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