MS-DEFCON 2: December Patch Tuesday arrives tomorrow; get your machine locked down

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My usual monthly admonition applies: Make sure your computer is locked down, to avoid surprises on Patch Tuesday. I don’t expect a very big Patch Tues
[See the full post at: MS-DEFCON 2: December Patch Tuesday arrives tomorrow; get your machine locked down]

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Fred, geekdom, Pepsiboy, abbodi86

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Backups are scheduled prior to the big day.

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender

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1. If you disable Windows Update (wuauserv) in Services, can you still download updates from the Update Catalog and install them manually?

2. Can you download updates from the Update Catalog and install them with your connection set to “metered?”

I typically follow the standard updating advice on this site, but I’m curious about those two questions.

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anonymous wrote:

1. If you disable Windows Update (wuauserv) in Services, can you still download updates from the Update Catalog and install them manually?

You can download from the Catalog with Windows Update Service disabled. You CAN NOT install the updates manually with the Windows Update Service disabled.
But, after you download the updates, you can disconnect from the Internet and turn on the Windows Update Service so you can install the updates manually. That way you will not get any downloads from Microsoft while you do it.

anonymous wrote:

2. Can you download updates from the Update Catalog and install them with your connection set to “metered?”

You can download updates with your connections set to Metered. But it would be better to do the manual installation with the Internet disconnected.

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woody

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An interesting observation from rpodric:

https://twitter.com/rpodric/status/1072213185128583174

I’ve noticed with the last two 1809 CUs that all of the date/timestamps for the updated files in System32 reflect when you installed the CU, not when the files were made.

This unfortunate break from ancient tradition, I assume, is because of Express Updates.

 

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It’s quite funny that ‘experts’ suggest to install optional preview updates, but when it comes to official Windows Updates shipped on the 2nd Tuesday (since 2003!), they run in circles and scream sky is falling.

See https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2018/12/10/windows-monthly-security-and-quality-updates-overview/ for details about Windows Updates.

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Sheldon88

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Windows 7 Pro, SPP1 x64 here: I just installed (around Monday midnight): (1) the Office and MSRT November updates. After that, I installed: (2) the Security Only and IE11 from the Catalog.

Something odd happened: after (1) I restarted the PC. Normally, there is a period when the shut down is halted with a message “preparing to install” and not to shut down the computer. And when the restart gets going, another pause happens with a similar message. But, unusually enough, this time the restart was normal: fast and with no pauses or messages. When I looked in the “Update history”, all the updates appeared as “successfully installed”.  On the other hand, after (2) the machine restarted with the usual pauses and messages “not to shut down your computer” both before and after the actual restart.

Just in case, I did another restart after the installation was complete, but it was, again, a normal restart, as the one after (1).

So far, everything I have checked seems to be working normally. But the unusual event I’ve described here has me a bit spooked, to tell the truth.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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columbia2011

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The “odd” restart happened to me as well after installing KB3114565. That was the only Office patch that required a restart. But, that’s happened to me before with a few of the Office updates. All of my MS Office programs are working just fine. (I’m using ‘Office Updates’ in a generic sense to include those for Excel, Word, and Outlook.)

The other 2 patches (SO and IE 11) installed normally with no issues.

I don’t think you have anything to worry about.

Win 7 sp1 x64

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OscarCP

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