FYI - Windows Update agent (client) infrastructure update coming soon

Crossposted to Windows Update, Security, and Security HomeUsers newsgroups.
Follow-up set to Windows Update newsgroup.
=================================

Microsoft Update Product Team Blog: Upcoming Update to Windows Update
[I'd like to let you know that, beginning at the end of this month and
continuing over the next few months, we’ll be rolling out an infrastructure
update to the Windows Update agent (client). I wanted to take this
opportunity to provide some background on the update and discuss the value
these updates bring to you...]
http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/...ws-update.aspx
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience

PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:
> Crossposted to Windows Update, Security, and Security HomeUsers newsgroups.
> Follow-up set to Windows Update newsgroup.
> =================================
>
> Microsoft Update Product Team Blog: Upcoming Update to Windows Update
> [I'd like to let you know that, beginning at the end of this month and
> continuing over the next few months, we’ll be rolling out an
> infrastructure update to the Windows Update agent (client). I wanted to
> take this opportunity to provide some background on the update and
> discuss the value these updates bring to you...]
> http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/...ws-update.aspx
>

Time to turn off Auto Updates except on the second Wednesday of every month.

P

p wrote:
> PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:
>> Crossposted to Windows Update, Security, and Security HomeUsers
>> newsgroups.
>> Follow-up set to Windows Update newsgroup.
>> =================================
>>
>> Microsoft Update Product Team Blog: Upcoming Update to Windows Update
>> [I'd like to let you know that, beginning at the end of this month and
>> continuing over the next few months, we’ll be rolling out an
>> infrastructure update to the Windows Update agent (client). I wanted
>> to take this opportunity to provide some background on the update and
>> discuss the value these updates bring to you...]
>> http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/...ws-update.aspx
>>
>
> Time to turn off Auto Updates except on the second Wednesday of every
> month.
>
> P
Why?

You want WU to work right?

Susan Bradley wrote:
> p wrote:
>> PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:
>>> Crossposted to Windows Update, Security, and Security HomeUsers
>>> newsgroups.
>>> Follow-up set to Windows Update newsgroup.
>>> =================================
>>>
>>> Microsoft Update Product Team Blog: Upcoming Update to Windows Update
>>> [I'd like to let you know that, beginning at the end of this month
>>> and continuing over the next few months, we’ll be rolling out an
>>> infrastructure update to the Windows Update agent (client). I wanted
>>> to take this opportunity to provide some background on the update and
>>> discuss the value these updates bring to you...]
>>> http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/...ws-update.aspx
>>>
>>
>> Time to turn off Auto Updates except on the second Wednesday of every
>> month.
>>
>> P
> Why?
>
> You want WU to work right?

Hi Susan,

I don't want it to work at all until I tell it to start to work ;-) I
prefer to see what happens to others before I let WU do its thing and I
am not very keen on it doing *anything* without my knowing about it.
When I tell it to not download or install updates and to only inform, I,
for some strange reason, expect that to be the case without any
exceptions. But that's just me and I religiously update my XP machines.
Having said that, I can understand why MS pushes auto updates because I
have seen so many machines that, without it, would go unpatched.

P

p wrote:
>> Crossposted to Windows Update, Security, and Security HomeUsers
>> newsgroups.
>> Follow-up set to Windows Update newsgroup.
>> =================================
>>
>> Microsoft Update Product Team Blog: Upcoming Update to Windows Update
>> [I'd like to let you know that, beginning at the end of this month and
>> continuing over the next few months, we’ll be rolling out an
>> infrastructure update to the Windows Update agent (client). I wanted to
>> take this opportunity to provide some background on the update and
>> discuss the value these updates bring to you...]
>> http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/...ws-update.aspx
>>
>
> Time to turn off Auto Updates except on the second Wednesday of every
> month.

Why? As soon as you enable (turn on) Automatic Updates and WUA syncs with
the server, the infrastructure update will be installed automatically
anyway, and before ANYTHING else happens. Did you read the blog entry?

PS: Updates aren't necessarily released only on Patch Tuesday.
--
~PA Bear

p wrote:
> Susan Bradley wrote:
>> p wrote:
>>> PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:
>>>> Crossposted to Windows Update, Security, and Security HomeUsers
>>>> newsgroups.
>>>> Follow-up set to Windows Update newsgroup.
>>>> =================================
>>>>
>>>> Microsoft Update Product Team Blog: Upcoming Update to Windows Update
>>>> [I'd like to let you know that, beginning at the end of this month
>>>> and continuing over the next few months, we’ll be rolling out an
>>>> infrastructure update to the Windows Update agent (client). I wanted
>>>> to take this opportunity to provide some background on the update and
>>>> discuss the value these updates bring to you...]
>>>> http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/...ws-update.aspx
>>>>
>>>
>>> Time to turn off Auto Updates except on the second Wednesday of every
>>> month.
>>>
>> Why?
>>
>> You want WU to work right?
>
> I don't want it to work at all until I tell it to start to work ;-) I
> prefer to see what happens to others before I let WU do its thing and I
> am not very keen on it doing *anything* without my knowing about it.
> When I tell it to not download or install updates and to only inform, I,
> for some strange reason, expect that to be the case without any
> exceptions. But that's just me and I religiously update my XP machines.
> Having said that, I can understand why MS pushes auto updates because I
> have seen so many machines that, without it, would go unpatched.

Did you read the blog entry??

p wrote:
> Susan Bradley wrote:
>> p wrote:
>>> PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:
>>>> Crossposted to Windows Update, Security, and Security HomeUsers
>>>> newsgroups.
>>>> Follow-up set to Windows Update newsgroup.
>>>> =================================
>>>>
>>>> Microsoft Update Product Team Blog: Upcoming Update to Windows Update
>>>> [I'd like to let you know that, beginning at the end of this month
>>>> and continuing over the next few months, we’ll be rolling out an
>>>> infrastructure update to the Windows Update agent (client). I
>>>> wanted to take this opportunity to provide some background on the
>>>> update and discuss the value these updates bring to you...]
>>>> http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/...ws-update.aspx
>>>>
>>>
>>> Time to turn off Auto Updates except on the second Wednesday of every
>>> month.
>>>
>>> P
>> Why?
>>
>> You want WU to work right?
>
> Hi Susan,
>
> I don't want it to work at all until I tell it to start to work ;-) I
> prefer to see what happens to others before I let WU do its thing and I
> am not very keen on it doing *anything* without my knowing about it.
> When I tell it to not download or install updates and to only inform, I,
> for some strange reason, expect that to be the case without any
> exceptions. But that's just me and I religiously update my XP machines.
> Having said that, I can understand why MS pushes auto updates because I
> have seen so many machines that, without it, would go unpatched.
>
> P

Read the blog post, they are telling you that the mechanism that ensures
that patches will be downloaded when YOU want them to work will continue
to work.

They are not pushing auto updates, they are merely telling us that the
base core foundation is getting it's normal fix so that YOU can
successfully install exactly when you want and how you want them.

Susan Bradley wrote:

> They are not pushing auto updates, they are merely telling us that the
> base core foundation is getting it's normal fix so that YOU can
> successfully install exactly when you want and how you want them.

Granted self-updates use a special mechanism, they are still updates. OS files
are still being modified (albeit only those files that form part of WUA) so,
strictly speaking, WUA is indeed doing an automatic update without permission
despite being configured not to do so.

There isn't any fundamental technical reason why WUA couldn't ask for permission
to do a self-update in much the same way it can ask for permission for ordinary
updates. But of course this would require extra code, and I understand why they
didn't think it was necessary ... in hindsight, I think this was an unfortunate
decision.

Harry.

PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:
> p wrote:
>> Susan Bradley wrote:
>>> p wrote:
>>>> PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:
>>>>> Crossposted to Windows Update, Security, and Security HomeUsers
>>>>> newsgroups.
>>>>> Follow-up set to Windows Update newsgroup.
>>>>> =================================
>>>>>
>>>>> Microsoft Update Product Team Blog: Upcoming Update to Windows Update
>>>>> [I'd like to let you know that, beginning at the end of this month
>>>>> and continuing over the next few months, we’ll be rolling out an
>>>>> infrastructure update to the Windows Update agent (client). I wanted
>>>>> to take this opportunity to provide some background on the update and
>>>>> discuss the value these updates bring to you...]
>>>>> http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/...ws-update.aspx
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Time to turn off Auto Updates except on the second Wednesday of every
>>>> month.
>>>>
>>> Why?
>>>
>>> You want WU to work right?
>>
>> I don't want it to work at all until I tell it to start to work ;-) I
>> prefer to see what happens to others before I let WU do its thing and I
>> am not very keen on it doing *anything* without my knowing about it.
>> When I tell it to not download or install updates and to only inform, I,
>> for some strange reason, expect that to be the case without any
>> exceptions. But that's just me and I religiously update my XP machines.
>> Having said that, I can understand why MS pushes auto updates because I
>> have seen so many machines that, without it, would go unpatched.
>
> Did you read the blog entry??

Yes and it says that even if you set it to inform but not download or
install, the update to the Update program will download and install
updates to the update program without user input.

P

Susan Bradley wrote:
> p wrote:
>> Susan Bradley wrote:
>>> p wrote:
>>>> PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:
>>>>> Crossposted to Windows Update, Security, and Security HomeUsers
>>>>> newsgroups.
>>>>> Follow-up set to Windows Update newsgroup.
>>>>> =================================
>>>>>
>>>>> Microsoft Update Product Team Blog: Upcoming Update to Windows Update
>>>>> [I'd like to let you know that, beginning at the end of this month
>>>>> and continuing over the next few months, we’ll be rolling out an
>>>>> infrastructure update to the Windows Update agent (client). I
>>>>> wanted to take this opportunity to provide some background on the
>>>>> update and discuss the value these updates bring to you...]
>>>>> http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/...ws-update.aspx
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Time to turn off Auto Updates except on the second Wednesday of
>>>> every month.
>>>>
>>>> P
>>> Why?
>>>
>>> You want WU to work right?
>>
>> Hi Susan,
>>
>> I don't want it to work at all until I tell it to start to work ;-) I
>> prefer to see what happens to others before I let WU do its thing and
>> I am not very keen on it doing *anything* without my knowing about it.
>> When I tell it to not download or install updates and to only inform,
>> I, for some strange reason, expect that to be the case without any
>> exceptions. But that's just me and I religiously update my XP
>> machines. Having said that, I can understand why MS pushes auto
>> updates because I have seen so many machines that, without it, would
>> go unpatched.
>>
>> P
>
> Read the blog post,

I did.

> they are telling you that the mechanism that ensures
> that patches will be downloaded when YOU want them to work will continue
> to work.

They are updating the update program which is, well, an update, even
though it is instructed to ask first.

>
> They are not pushing auto updates, they are merely telling us that the
> base core foundation is getting it's normal fix so that YOU can
> successfully install exactly when you want and how you want them.

It's not a "normal fix"; it's an update.

P