While Microsoft recommends that you set the “Automatic Update” settings to automatically download, some users prefer to set them to “Notify” and then the user CHOOSES which updates to download (and I have it set that way).
There are two reasons to do this:
1. Now and then Microsoft releases a buggy update (example in a second), so if you visit sites like dslReports (http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/security) or AskWoody (http://www.askwoody.com/), you can get information on updates which may be buggy. If there are known issues with a new releases, you should wait a few days until Microsoft works out the bugs and releases a new update that’s bug free.
You have to scan the dslReports site a bit. About a year ago, the DSL site lit up with many posts on a buggy update that MS released that conflicted ZoneAlarm. Many users that were affected could not even get online.
That particular update problem was remedied by ZoneAlarm within 24 hours, but there was a lot of finger pointing, as you would expect, between Microsoft and ZoneAlarm . . . each claiming it was the other’s fault.
But it was ZoneAlarm that stepped up to the plate and addressed the situation. I give ZA good points for doing that (though I don’t use their software because it can be a resource hog).
The AskWoody site is more focused on patch releases, so you may want to go their first on “patch Tuesday” every month before you download an update.
2. The second reason that you may want to review and decline downloading patches is because Microsoft “DECIDES” what is critical and what is not. IE8 is a perfect example of this. (So is Windows Genuine Advantage, but that’s another topic for another time). IE8 was pushed out by Microsoft in their automatic “critical” updates. So if you didn’t want IE8 and you had updates set to automatically download, you got it anyway.
I discovered this myself in my “Notify” setting. I was scrolling through the updates and noticed IE8 listed. I didn’t want it, so fortunately I was able to uncheck the box and tell Microsoft not to notify me of that particular update again (that is, slip it past me when I wasn’t looking).
I may upgrade to IE8 (I use FF as my default browser anyway), but I want to do it on my terms and in my time.
This is not meant to be a bashing session on Microsoft, but they’re less than user friendly at times.
At TechnoKOZ we agree totally with this article. Too often we receive calls from customer’s who have opted for the latest update, unknowingly get “bulldozed” by Microsoft’s great wisdom. Perfect example was SP3, many HP user’s were affected by this update, unable to boot. We posted many articles on our blog: http://computerrepairservice.net/blog regarding this issue as well as options to help resolve. Kudos to reminding the masses about this awful situation.
Robert,
We appreciate the comment and reference to your blog.
For my entire professional career this has always been the case with Microsoft updates. I used to work with NT4 servers and after the memory leak in the tcp/ip stack was fixed in SP3 I never updated the system further because all my servers were predictably stable. This included the “critical” SP5 that supposedly fixed all M$ “Y2K” problems. I refused to deploy the service pack citing that I didn’t want 3am phone calls about system instability; and my company made me sign an affidavit that my systems would pass all “Y2K” tests after Jan 1, 2000. I just smiled and signed it, and, of course, no “Y2K” problems ensued as the SP5 service pack fixed Y2K problems found mostly in M$ Office products of which I wasn’t using on my servers.
So even to this day when my IT guys want to “fix” stable servers by deploying a “critical” service pack sent by Microsoft, I make them tell me exactly what systems are to be fixed and why the “fix” is necessary. “Because M$ said so” isn’t a good enough reason.
Developers have problems with Microsoft updates, especially when they work with software built buy smaller businesses instead of Adobe or other Microsoft software. Also, if you have automatic updates installed, you inevitably find yourself in the position of booting up your machine, starting something that you want to finish quickly, and then interrupted by the “restart to install your updates” message every ten minutes. Very frustrating.
~ Kristi