Windows Update update rolling out slowly

Several of you have written with observations that Windows Update is getting updated on your machine.

It’s part of the fallout of the Flame botnet – a good improvement, if it works.

Not everyone is getting it just yet. Good description by PA Bear here.

Reader AB wrote in with this worrisome report. It may be a coincidence – or it may be a harbinger of problems to come. It’s still too early to tell.

Yesterday, June 20, 2012, when I booted my laptop I found that it automatically downloaded and installed a newer version of Windows Update Agent. This was explained as an attempt to overcome vulnerabilities created by false certificates ala Flamer. So far so good. All was well yesterday.

Today I booted up the little demon and it gagged at ‘loading windows’. Stop. No go. Nada. After 5 minutes of Zen contemplation, I pulled the battery.

After reinserting the battery and hitting the power button, my screen informed me that Windows had a problem starting and did I want to restart in some diagnostic mode. Fair enough. Try it. The little beast worked for a minute and then informed me that I now have the choice of restoring to an earlier configuration. Niiiiiiice. I capitulated and it worked for a while and then restarted. A bit slower than usual, but here I am.

I don’t know how many others are in this boat but I am not happy.

If you encounter similar problems with Windows Update Agent, please reply to this post and give me the details.