Avoid yesterday’s “preview” patches, including KB 3197869 and 3197875

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A reminder about “preview” patches – and why you don’t want them. InfoWorld Woody on Windows
[See the full post at: Avoid yesterday’s “preview” patches, including KB 3197869 and 3197875]

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@Woody,

From you InfoWorld article…

“You’ll be forced into the telemetry-friendly Group A, if only to fix the problems created by patches in Group B.”

Or, they can move to group C/W….I predict, the group C/W (no more updates/patches at all for W7 & W8.1) will become more and more viable as we move along.

I can see it coming as this whole update process is bordering on bothersome, tedious, annoying, opaque, frustrating, exasperating, convoluted, NOT efficient by any means and just plain BS.
Where’s the Windows 7 update History page? What’s a preview? Do I need the preview if it’s Optional? What’s a Quality Rollup? What’s the difference between a .NET Rollup versus a .NET Security Only? Does a Security bug get fixed in the rollups or in the following months Security Only update? Do we need to wait a month before a security bug gets fixed? How do we get a hot fix? Will there be hot fixes? When does…my head stop spinning??

Really? Are these people kidding us? Keeping W7 & 8 machines “up to date” is becoming a second job. And if users asked MSFT to do what MSFT is asking users to do,…MSFT would put the caller on hold and never pick up.

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Lucky I didn’t see those on my windows update last night so I’m safe. Anyway last month’s speed up fix keeps working It took 7 minutes for my laptop which is good. Good thing that WU’s scan speed is now fast and normal again thanks to the fix.

Anyway the only other updates I had was for my microsoft office with the monthly patch.

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“Avoid” is a strong word to describe the patches

but i do agree that Microsoft choosen a very bad label for these optional patches
they could simply named it “Optional Monthly Quality Rollup”
instead the notorious word “Preview” which freaked out a lot of users and mistakenly made them think that the patches are in beta-testing stage, whereas they are production-ready and suitable for general consumption

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I think Microsoft should have two “Insider” programs (although I hate the name).

One is the Insider Program that most people know – where you’re a beta tester for the next version of Windows.

The other is a Preview Program, where you test the next updates to Win10 (cumulative update), 8.1 and 7.

Microsoft now has a hodge-podge, where the “Preview” name is applied in different ways to different products – and there’s only one branch of Win10 that’s given the “preview” treatment.

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Very true

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You don’t need to wait a month to get a fix for a bad security patch. If you do a backup immediately before doing an update, and the update hoses your machine in some way, you can restore the backup, to reverse the bug; then wait a month till the fix comes; then install the previous update (the one with the bug) and then the current update (the one with the fix).

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Listen folks….don’t install any updates, patches, whatever until Woody says so and you will not have a problem.

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IN almost all cases, you can uninstall the patch using Windows (7, 8.1 or 10) tools.

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@Jim,

You’re right, that’s one method. But that’s not the point.
Microsoft has made updating/patching a huge annoyance, a semi-nightmare and a time eating encumbrance. How soon we forget the months of enduring long patch searches, 100% CPU usage, “magic patches” that had to be searched out. Sorry, that’s not how maintaining a home machine should be. That’s not what a “leading edge” tech company should be doing to its users.

Much like this election, we have begun to normalize, and accept, bad and sometimes rotten behavior.

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@Jim

P.S.

And, how could I forget, microsoft turning the decades old X from “Close” into “Yes, update me now” during their terror attack on users with the GWX campaign.

Yup….let’s just normalize all of MS’s terrible, previously unthinkable behavior over the past many, many months…and just be thankful they let us purchase, and use, their software…

Good grief….

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This looks very much like the Windows 10 release schedule where they have bi-monthly releases, although technically speaking, only one release, the regular one on the main Patch Tuesday would suffice.

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Just a couple of highlights from the article that caught my eye…

“When they’re fully baked next month,” Like the whole long list of other MS updates that have been “Fully Baked”, sheesh…

And then there’s this one…

“Microsoft’s intentions here are noble” Microsoft is a lot of things… but noble. (punctuation is correct, not a question)

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“You can see details of the patch on the Win7 update history page, where you can learn, for example, that this patch updates Belarus’ ISO 4217 code from BYN to BYR. Positively riveting.”

What’s especially strange is that BYR (Ruble) is the *outgoing* code while BYN (New Ruble) is the *incoming* code.

Microsoft’s documentation is as wonderful as ever!

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It’s similar, but not quite the same. Mostly, Win10 bundles Security and non-security patches… and there’s nuthin’ you can do about it.

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Megan, don’t fool yourself, you’re never safe.

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As long as you’re willing to accept Microsoft is pushing (flashback to “Get Windows 10”), the patching mechanism is pretty simple.

The next-easiest way is to turn off updating completely.

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@abbodi86: I disagree. These optional “preview” patches are what are intended to be released as “important” patches the following month. They are intended for IT users to test and whilst the intention may be to release them “as is” the reality is that if they prove to be badly flawed they are likely to be fixed before being imposed on the great unwashed.

That is the only reasonable interpretation of the title “Preview” in my opinion, and it is the basis on which non-IT users should avoid them like the plague – or, if you prefer, like the beta patches that they are!

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HA! I didn’t know that…

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I think the Security updates for Windows 10 are normally bundled only on the second Patch Tuesday, while the so-called quality updates (previously named Updates – Important/Critical and Recommended) are normally first released on the 4th Patch Tuesday. This is somehow similar with the Windows 7 concept of Preview patches. The main difference is that it is made hard for Windows 10 end-users to select patches based on let’s say only the second Patch Tuesday which should be the normal schedule for anyone with a bit of interest and knowledge.
I think I read it in one of the Technet articles, but this URL should show very much the same thing.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12387/windows-10-update-history

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Sorry, I completely forgot about Security-only patches. The Windows 10 comparison is made in relation to the Monthly rollups.

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abbodi86 is not your regular “non-IT” user though

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Hopefully the patch implementation is more accurate than the documentation.

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The cumulative update previews for the most recent version of Win10 are released to Windows Insiders on the Preview Ring.

It’s very confusing.

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Hmm, I was not aware of that…

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I know the porpose of “early release” of optional fixes is to evaluate them, but that doesn’t mean that Microsoft don’t test and validate them in production environmemt

these optional patches existed for years, without being considered as preview

as for the flaws, most bugs occurs in security updates

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I know-Microsoft updates are a battle ground and you gotta be sure to keep your eyes peeleed for anything. That’s why I come here to get the 411 on the 911

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And turning off updating completely is what I have just finished doing. I installed Parallels on my new MacBook Pro yesterday, then installed Windows 7 Pro and updated it up to date through September, with the exception of the telemetry and nag patches. After next installing Spybot and my one program that is available only in Windows, I turned off the internet for my Windows environment.

So I am now a full-fledged member of Group “M” (for Mac), and will patronize Micro$oft no more.

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Sorry to see you go! But don’t get complacent – the Mac has problems too. This, I know first hand!

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+1

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Oh, I realize the Mac has problems! But it is not the nightmare that keeping Windows up to date has become, thank goodness. After using my new Mac a week, I wish I had done this when I bought my last Windows laptop in 2010. And I have been a Microsoft user since DOS 2.0 days.

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+1

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Does the Mac world have a “Woody” type of journalist/investigator?

Where would a Mac person go to get the sort of Windows information we get from Woody?

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+1

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Don’t need it. I just works!

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I haven’t a clue. Many people cover Mac. It takes a particularly masochistic type to repeatedly bite the hand that feeds….

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As Tuesday’s .NET lot = same problem

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So for those of us with a WSUS, we now have these preview updates in the approval queue. I have no intention of using my companies network as a Q&A team for Microsoft, although I do see the merit in testing certain updates ahead of time…. But my question is this. If I decline these, does that mean I decline the future production versions? Or are we just stuck looking at unapproved updates until they become superseded ? I have OCD with the WSUS approval queue. This is making me crazy looking at them. lol

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No. If you decline the previews, they’ll be re-offered as the official Monthly rollup next month.

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I briefly read through all the comments. However, is anyone have BSOD on Windows Startup? It has happened to several my computers after installing this “Rollup Update”

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With the preview patches?

If you’re having BSOD problems, get on the Microsoft Answers forum.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7

You should get a lot of interest quickly. I hope.

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Right. I have several sites where it’s happening. Only common denominator is this Rollup from yesterday.

Thanks I’ll check there.

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What about those who are in the A group. Are the Preview patches still optional? I didnt see any labelled Preview with the October patches

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Easy rule of thumb: Do NOT install Preview patches. Ever.

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Just out of curiosity. Have you ran into anything similar since I asked last? I can’t find anything on it. Its happened to over 25 computers of different types.

Many Thanks

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I don’t test the Preview patches. If you’re working with Preview patches, you’re beta testing. That’s why it’s so important for you to contact Microsoft. They need to fix the rollup before it goes out next month.

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Yes, still optional.
“Preview” is descriptive enough I think.

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Do you happen to have a list of the telemetry and nag patches? I had a short list when the telemetry was first spotted but don’t know which updates to avoid since a year ago. Thanks!

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