MS-DEFCON 2: Turn off automatic updates, adjust Win10 Pro if you have it, and let’s see what surprise this month’s patching will bring

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Tomorrow’s Patch Tuesday, and you know what joy that will bring. I have a full description of my new recommendations for Win10 Pro update deferrals, a
[See the full post at: MS-DEFCON 2: Turn off automatic updates, adjust Win10 Pro if you have it, and let’s see what surprise this month’s patching will bring]

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GreatAndPowerfulTech, Elly, Microfix

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There is NO indication that this will definitely happen but, on a note of caution, are you a W10 Home user?
As a step further to Woody’s Article , it might be an idea to switch off WU for the next couple of days. Backup your files as soon as you can if you’re not ready for a ‘Feature Upgrade’ to v1809 yet.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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woody wrote:

If you leave Automatic Updates turned off in the aftermath of what we’ve seen in the past month, I salute you.

On? (Sigh)

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Elly, woody

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I most likely will not install November updates, or any other update in the foreseeable future. It would have to be a big vulnerability or fix to convince me, and I won’t proceed without a .wim image so I can roll back. I have zero confidence in Microsoft’s ability to keep our users operating.

I pulled the trigger on the 1803 October update last week for my own computer. I’ll spare the details and just say that OneDrive for Business, Sophos Endpoint Protection, and our accounting software are all broken now. I’ve spent a day trying to get any of them fixed, including removing the update.

We (internally) have already decided that anyone who wants to use a Mac is welcome to. Considering two thirds of our user base is already on a Mac, it wouldn’t be a stretch. Not to say that Macs are perfect, but …

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“Rumors swirling all over the blogosphere have Microsoft re-releasing the ill-fated Win10 version 1809 on Patch Tuesday this month. …”

Looks to me like it’s more than just rumors.  Registry entry in my W10.1809 test installation under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WaaSAssessment has just now changed from “CURRENT”=”10.0.17763.55” to “CURRENT”=”10.0.17763.134”.

I’m debating whether to become a “seeker” just to see what happens next. :^)

Asus ROG Maximus XI Code board; Intel i9-9900K CPU; 32 GB DDR4-3600 RAM; Nvidia GTX1080 GPU; 2x512 GB Samsung 970 Pro M.2 NVMe; 2x2 TB Samsung 860 Pro SSDs; Windows 10.1809; Linux Mint 19.1; Terabyte Backup & Recovery

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Microfix, ch100, woody, BobbyB, GreatAndPowerfulTech

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Same here on my personal laptop. Nice catch! I set our other Win 10 machines to 15 day deferrals, so as not to get caught having to restore images.

GreatAndPowerfulTech

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@arvy ditto here on a 1809 VHD thx for the heads up learned something new today 🙂

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I see this on my machine too.
When did this value change?
I am on .107, but the registry value is like on yours at .134.

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@ch100 — For my W10.1809 test setup (installed with the initial release SSU and LCU updates as build 17763.55) the change to “CURRENT”=”10.0.17763.134” under the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WaaSAssessment registry key occurred just prior to my OP above at about 13:30 (1:30 p.m.) EST yesterday (2018-11-12). Or at least that’s when I first saw it during one of my frequent full registry comparisons using Scooter BeyondCompare. I suppose it might actually have occurred at any time after the previous comparison at 10:00 a.m. Since then (overnight) the values under that same registry key for LATESTBUILDS and LATESTSECURITYBUILDS have also changed so that both of them are now “=10.0.17763.134” as well.

I haven’t yet hit the “seeker” button but probably will later today. Nothing to lose as, even for my test setup, its backup images have backups. 🙂

__
P.S.: The ISO download tool is still at W10.1803 last time I checked. It will be interesting to see what the re-release ISO contains and what it’s called when it becomes available. They’d be doing themselves and everyone else a big favor if they just called it W10.2019 and then moved on to 2020, 2021, etc., and try to forget that W10.1809 ever existed. They just don’t have the “agility” for major updates twice yearly. Neither do I for that matter. I’d really like to know where that demand came from in the first place. Certainly not from me nor from any other users with whom I’m personally acquainted.

Asus ROG Maximus XI Code board; Intel i9-9900K CPU; 32 GB DDR4-3600 RAM; Nvidia GTX1080 GPU; 2x512 GB Samsung 970 Pro M.2 NVMe; 2x2 TB Samsung 860 Pro SSDs; Windows 10.1809; Linux Mint 19.1; Terabyte Backup & Recovery

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BobbyB

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Responsible individuals would raise the alert to the highest level.

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I’m debating whether to become a “seeker” just to see what happens next. :^)

I would hold off. The new current 1809 still has the delete files bug. I update my Insider test machine to current build a few hours ago and all my files were deleted. The bug still has a problem with it.

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radosuaf

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We are dealing here with (mostly) adult people. Something that Microsoft doesn’t seem to understand at all. It’s not like with little children that you can ‘tease’ them with a ‘surprise’. In this case an (unwanted!) upgrade. To me, it all sounds so unprofessional. No communication to users, unexepected updates and upgrades, stupid texts straight for primary school targets within Windows etc. And – like a child itself – they think they can keep getting away with it by hiding behind the curtain and – ssshhhh – being very silent. Professional (and even Home) users of Windows 10 have enough of it, they leaving the sinking ship.

Hundreds of millions ‘active’ users? I am quite sure that a surprising large percentage only dares to switch on their Windows laptop now and then, just to keep it working. But not to work WITH anymore. Same as here. Production is done on none-Windows systems since some time now. The Windows systems – still rather new – are just kept alive. Because too new and expensive to throw away and nowadays not easy to sell either.

Windows is not the future. That’s what became painfully clear. 10 for sure IS the final Windows version. But it was finished off in  a very childish way. Like a child having a stampfeeding tantrum out of frustration. Yes we know the makers of Windows are frustrated that their toy is left behind in evolution, that they are not the hottest kid in town anymore. But does the rest of its surroundings have to be punished for that?

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I have W10 1803 on a Linovo laptop but when I click Start/Settings there is no Update & Security (anywhere, I tried looking for it several times recently as many suggest turning it off). looked in system, control panel, security and main. and many more. Why do I not have it? I have in the past always set it to let me know but dont install. That is not present any more for me except my old Win7 machines.

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Did you scroll down? It is the last of 13 items under Settings.

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I believe you are looking in the wrong place. In Win10 Windows Update is no longer in the Control Panel.

Settings is a Win10 app that looks like a gear.cog. The icon shows in my taskbar and this is what the app looks like open,

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PK, info on your Settings screen shot in this post pls!

What did you do to keep Cortana from showing on the Setting screen? Was it on purpose? Can you get Cortana back as you want?

My Settings screen looks just like yours with version 1803, because somewhere along the line I simply lost Cortana.  Cant figure out when or why, just gone from the Settings screen(instead have the magnifying glass), Taskbar, other areas.  Cortana still shows icons and setting options on many of the other settings areas, on the Start menu, Task Manager as Background Process (status – suspend).  But nothing activates or makes her available.

Originally had turned her off as much as possible via set up and normal windows controls (not via any Win Pro Group Policy settings).  Since not used, never noticed but at some point she disappeared and became disabled.

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Cortana is turned on in Settings\Privacy\Speech, inking & typing. You have to turn on the service.

But I don’t want Cortana/Bing on my machines. so I have not turned it on.

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Cortana is turned on in Settings\Privacy\Speech, inking & typing. You have to turn on the service.

Turned this setting ON to see,  still no Cortana on Settings Menu or access via normal points such as Start Menu, Taskbar, etc.

Any other ideas?  Settings to wake her up?

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ahh, I did not read far enough. I have W10 HOME and that is why I can not cut off Update. I have been activlyconverting to Linux for a year or so and this makes it for sure. It is too hard to put W7 on my laptop so I have to suffer what ever but all my old computers will be W7 dual boot with Linux until I get the feel of it. Linux is now easy for mainstream work (spreadsheet, Office, maybe Gimp, etc) but out of the ordinary and big block wall for me. But at least it is not steady BS and raised costs.

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Win 10 home metered connection – Learn from my mistake and don’t manually “seek” to update virus definitions. Always upload definitions from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/definitions if you want to remain a “non-seeker”.

 

 

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I am sick and tired of fighting Windows 10’s unending nonsense and failure. The current state of affairs is untenable.

I’m currently using a highly disabled 1709 Home installation, which will run out of support in, I think, six months. That means I have about six months to decide between a couple options: Acquiesce to the installation of a newer Win10; revert to Win8.1 (I already have a license for it); Go without patches to a notoriously insecure OS; or go to Linux. Linux is the endgame, but I don’t want to do it yet.

Since there’s a number of Windows-only programs I’d rather not give up, within 6 months I’ve decided that I will revert to Windows 8.1 until its support dries up or I find adequate replacements for the software I am using. At that point, I’m going Linux. “Upgrading” to Pro is not an option. I will not give Microsoft another $100 to get Pro. They will not get another cent from me unless huge changes to their operation occur. They have lost me as a customer.

So here’s the question: Is there a list of the various Windows 8.1 KBs to avoid? I found this one: https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/how-to-get-windows-8-1-up-to-date-and-keep-it-that-way/ but the list of to-be-avoided KBs seems shorter than it probably should be.

I will not install any telemetry, CEIP, GWX, or any other trash of that sort.

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anonymous wrote:

So here’s the question: Is there a list of the various Windows 8.1 KBs to avoid? I found this one: https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/how-to-get-windows-8-1-up-to-date-and-keep-it-that-way/ but the list of to-be-avoided KBs seems shorter than it probably should be. I will not install any telemetry, CEIP, GWX, or any other trash of that sort.

Here are a couple more AKB’s that will help you:
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/2000010-windows-8-1-tips/
and if in Group A (cumulative roll-ups from WU) this invaluable link will also keep telemetry at bay:
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/2000012-neutralize-telemetry-sustain-win-7-8-1-monthly-rollup-model/

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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I noticed yesterday that my installation has not updated the virus definitions since 21 October.  Defender seems perfectly happy and Update reports that it has checked and is up to date. I have decided not to fiddle…

Win10 Home x64 installation running a media centre.

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hmm, might be an idea for you to update Defender manually. See the above post: anon-232505

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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Hundreds of millions ‘active’ users? I am quite sure that a surprising large percentage only dares to switch on their Windows laptop now and then, just to keep it working.

I know of several active users that only work offline and only go online for a bit to prevent headaches with MS updates. They use IPAD, Androird, etc to go online and keep their computer offline for weeks or months.

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I think I have a way to check for updates without clicking directly on Check for updates.  For the October Updates after changing the 35 days to zero, Windows did not check for the updates. I used the Windows Update Troubleshooter and on its completion ‘fixing’ Windows  Update, I closed it. Windows Update promptly began downloading and installing the October Updates.

I usually block the updates using the Group Policy Editor. There is a message on the Windows Update Settings page that some of my settings are managed by my organization. I am a private person, but I home this scares Microsoft off a bit. Maybe they don’t want to start with an organization.

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That message appears when you use Group Policy settings that differ from the default.

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Microfix, thank you for those links you posted in response to post #232525. That’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. I had done much of that when I had 8.1; it’s just been so long I forgot which KBs to block. Those links will help immensely.

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Microfix

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A re-assuring read prior to your upgrade to W8.1 perhaps 😉 Enjoy!
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/windows-8-1-is-an-excellent-choice/

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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