Newsletter Archives

• 17 epic Windows Auto Update meltdowns

  Posted on August 19, 2013 at 18:51 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Whatta mess.

  If you can go through my new InfoWorld slide show, and leave Windows Automatic Update turned ON, you’re a much more trusting soul than I.

  (Thanks for the shout-out! Sheesh. Trying to do too many things at once. 🙂

  Windows Patches/Security Automatic Update

• Microsoft re-releases botched KB 2823324 as KB 2840149

  Posted on April 24, 2013 at 23:25 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  But there’s more to the story…

   

  InfoWorld Tech Watch. 

  Windows Patches/Security April 2013 Black Tuesday, Automatic Update, Botched patch, KB 2823324, KB 2840149

• Automatic Update Hall of Shame, 2012 Edition

  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 23:42 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Five Microsoft Windows automatic updates from hell.

  InfoWorld.

  Windows News Automatic Update

• False alarm!

  Posted on March 23, 2011 at 16:32 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Microsoft is NOT pushing Internet Explorer 9 through Windows Update – yet. Full story in my InfoWorld Tech Watch blog.

  Windows Patches/Security Automatic Update, IE 9, Internet Explorer 9

• The ugly underbelly of automatic updates

  Posted on January 7, 2011 at 13:14 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  My latest Windows Secrets Newsletter column just hit.

  Think of it as a Manual Update Manifesto – with lots of good reasons to turn off automatic updating, and full instructions on how to do it.

  Yes, it’s paid content – but remember that you can subscribe to Windows Secrets Newsletter, and pay whatever you think it’s worth…

  Windows Patches/Security Automatic Update

• Microsoft Security Essentials installer changes your Automatic Update settings

  Posted on June 3, 2010 at 07:01 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Sad but true…

  When you install MSE, the installer changes your Automatic Update setting – if you have Windows set up to “Notify but don’t download,” for example, the installer switches it to “Update automatically.”

  Details on my InfoWorld Tech Watch blog.

  Thanks to EP for the heads-up….

  Windows Patches/Security Automatic Update, Microsoft Security Essentials

• Install Windows 7 updates

  Posted on March 9, 2009 at 04:58 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Reader CK wrote with an interesting question:

  I always check your website when I need to update my computer, but I recently installed Windows 7 and I’m not sure which updates to install. Should I always install all of them, because it is a beta and there might be problems? Or should I just wait and see? I’m not even sure if the updates you post are the same as the ones for Windows 7, so I really don’t know what I should do.

  Yes, absolutely, install all Windows 7 updates as they come down the pike. At the beginning of the beta there was one “critical” update (critical to me anyway) that prevented Windows Media Player 12 from lopping off part of your music files. Since then, Microsoft has issued a handful of test patches, just to make sure the wheels are greased.

  You can do Microsoft a favor – and yourself a favor – if you treat Windows 7 just like any other version of Windows, and have Auto Update “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them.”

  We’re waaaaay beyond the point of having any influence on the behavior of Windows 7, but if there’s a show-stopper bug in “Check for updates,” the more people who have that setting enabled, the more likely it is that the Windows 7 dev team will notice.

  Windows Patches/Security Automatic Update, Windows 7
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