7 responses to “Automatic Update Hall of Shame, 2012 Edition”

1. 

   Pasha January 22nd, 2013 at 08:56

   Hey Woody,

   You write “sooner or later you need to aply the MS patches , some immediately” .
   I still use XP and haven’t patched or updated for serveral years. No problems and I surf a lot of the time to “dirty” sites.
   Of course I don’t used IE !
   Other people in my family have vista or w7 and don’t update , again no problems , so why take the risks of bad patches ?

2. 

   woody January 22nd, 2013 at 19:39

   @Pasha -

   You’re one lucky guy. Realize that XP is a ticking security time bomb – and if you get infected, you may never know.

   It’s good that you don’t use IE. But you should also get patched! Right now, in spite of my setting on the MS-DEFCON level, you should go to Windows Update (in XP, Start, All Programs, and either Windows Update or Microsoft Update) and install all of the outstanding patches. Every one of them. Once you’ve installed them and re-booted go back to Windows Update and install anything that remains. And repeat until you’ve got them all installed.

   Then you should run Windows Defender Offline – http://windowssecrets.com/top-story/windows-defender-offline-old-name-new-use/

   If that, and a thorough scan by whatever antivirus product you use, produces a clean bill of health, you’re even luckier than I thought!

   Your friends with Vista and Win7 need to do exactly the same thing. Now.

   Many people don’t realize that they’re infected until they’ve brought their systems up to speed…

3. 

   Pasha January 22nd, 2013 at 20:40

   @Woody.

   I’ve just checked , 3,5 years without updates and even before , I did not install all the patches.
   I have , win-defender, Avira free, spywareblaster, Malwarebytes, spybot S & D and
   MRT but not updated because MS wants to install
   another program on it to update and I don’t allow it. McAffee firewall , or winXP firewall when I use torrents. I don’t want SP3 , XP SP2 is more that enough.
   I scan every week , and nothing found.
   I don’t trust MS anymore. They want us out of XP and may put garbage on it so that your XP breaks and you are pushed to buy new with W7 or W8.
   Updating is not necesairy if you have good security.
   I do not agree with you , updating causes changes and problems.My machine runs like new
   not slow and I download a lot !
   Like you I live in thailand but in the north.
   2GB a day torrents , flash porn if the gov doesn’t block it and a lot of dirty sites.
   I have 3 back ups , 2 here and 1 in Europe.
   Updating browser and flash , don’t use java and you don’t need to worry about win updating.
   50 % still work with XP and a lot of them are prirate copies with no update and they don’t get into trouble if they have propper security.
   And no I ‘m not lucky. Murphy’s law was written for me….

4. 

   rc primak January 24th, 2013 at 02:26

   In other words, the take home lesson is this:

   Holding off for a couple of weeks or a month to make sure patches aren’t revised or withdrawn is prudent. But never patching for fear of one or two bad updates experiences per year is sheer foolishness.

   I get asked in the Windows Secrets Lounge from time to time why I follow Woody’s advice instead of patching automatically and immediately on Patch Tuesday. The reason is simple — I have had some bad patching experiences I would not want to repeat.

   But why patch at all then? Because Microsoft only revises patches within a few weeks of issuing them. The patches just don’t get any safer or more stable after about a month in the vast majority of cases. Waiting longer is just an invitation to something bad and avoidable happening from not patching.

   I like to keep security programs very current, and I patch ALL my software within a month or two of mainstream (not beta) patches coming out. Sooner if there’s a critical and widely exploited security issue with a particular program or plugin.

   These days, updating with any updates checker is not difficult or time consuming. I use the sponsor-free version of SUMo from KC Softwares, but Filehippo and CNet Downloads have perfectly good updates checkers of their own, to name just two. Point is, less than an afternoon per month and everything is up to date and secure.

   Back in the days of DOS, there was a real issue that ANY update could destabilize the entire operating system. So folks would just set up a configuration with hardware and software and never, never update for fear of crashing the OS. Windows since around Windows 95 has not had many of these issues, and it is quite safe to patch Windows — once the initial bugs are shaken out of the patches.

   With hacking being as prevalent as it is now, NOT updating is more of a risk by far than updating. The same applies to Service Packs — the risks of not applying them outweigh the slight risks of issues when applying them — once the initial bugs are shaken out.

   Again, I don’t jump on beta releases, but I do update when mainstream updates become available and folks have tested the updates to make sure they don’t break anything. And I would suggest that others do likewise.

   On the other hand, drivers should be left alone for the most part. There, as with hardware, the BIOS and firmware, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

5. 

   woody January 24th, 2013 at 21:50

   @Pasha -

   More power to ya! But be sure you run Windows Defender Offline, too, to catch any rootkits…

6. 

   rc primak January 27th, 2013 at 10:33

   If Windows XP lacks SP3, you can’t patch it.

   Many third-party programs also won’t update without SP3.

   Even some free security programs don’t run correctly without SP3.

   If you don’t trust Microsoft and suspect them of a conspiracy to kill Windows XP, now is the time to switch to Linux and put on your tinfoil hat.

7. 

   Octogeranium January 30th, 2013 at 05:02

   My favorite screenprinter, Screenprint for Windows 7 by Sofware Systems, died after doing the December 012 & January 013 MS updates. My Spyware Dr. absolutely refused new SP redownloads, until I finally restored system to old November backup before the MS updates. Now I do a system backup before making ANY changes.