Intel – Extension

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Just hid this in WUSH from Microsoft.  I’m not happy for MS to shove other companies updates onto to my computer – especially Intel and drivers.  Can anyone shed any light on this “offering” – Intel-Extension-1/12/2019 12:08:00 AM- 1904.12.0.1208?  Many thanks.

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I wish I could shed some light on that Intel Extension but research hasn’t been helpful.

However if you go to that update can you click on it so it takes you to a site of what it is and what its about?
— I can do that on my installed updates.

Another idea to consider is Intel’s auto detect products
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/detect.html?iid=dc_iduu

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Sorry that my research may not be to helpful: There are 126 catalog updates for different system manufacturers, many appear to be for an Intel Management Engine interface driver dated 1/21/2019 using the version number you have provided as a reference.

I thought this could be a Software Guard Extension or some other type extension/interface driver but the release dates and versions numbers do not match on the Microsoft Update Catalog site.

“Intel – Extension – 1/21/2019 12:00:00AM – 1904.12.0.1208” appears on a Finland based IT company site that has a list of weekly updates without further description.

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Thanks for your replies.  You got as far as the same bogged down spot as I did searching this.  I fail to see why MS insist in offering updates for products other than their own.  If another company offered MS updates there would be all h**l to pay.  Their AI update system of one size fits all is an abject failure.   This update will stay hidden.

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Cee Arr wrote:

I fail to see why MS insist in offering updates for products other than their own.

Windows ships with a large number of drivers for all kinds of hardware, and those drivers are usually written by hardware OEMs and repackaged by Microsoft for inclusion into Windows.  These drivers become part of the Windows package, so to speak, so when there is an update for some of these drivers, they’re made available by Windows update, as they are updates of the driver package that is already part of Windows.

The problem here, as I see it, is not that Microsoft distributes drivers for third parties, but that it takes the user out of the equation when deciding what to install.  If the driver it finds in Windows update is newer than what you have installed, Microsoft considers the newer one to be better, even though it often isn’t.  The drivers already installed may have more features or be modified by the computer manufacturer to better suit the PC in question, but Windows update isn’t concerned about that.

Generally, if a driver is working well, you don’t need to update it.  There are exceptions, like when a security issue is found with a driver,  but most of the time, I would suggest not updating drivers unless there is some problem with the old one.  If there is some kind of issue happening that may be related to a driver issue, then certainly I would suggest trying a newer driver to see if it helps, and with drivers where the feature set is always evolving (like video drivers), it is often good to go to the newest driver to make use of the new features and shims for modern games (nearly all games ship broken, leaving it to video card OEMs to work around the problems with shims for those games built into the driver).  Otherwise, if it works, keep it!

Windows 10 has been criticized for simply doing whatever it wants with the drivers (and everything else).  I had thought there was some setting that MS introduced to limit this, though I am not sure as I don’t use Windows 10.  Maybe it was the WUShowHide program.

This is a general problem that exists with automation capable of overriding the hardware user.  The user is often aware of things the automation is not, but a computer program can only consider what it was programmed to consider.

The pilots of those 737 Max jets that crashed knew the planes had not pitched up to a dangerous angle, but the software thought they had, based on less information than the pilots had.  The pilots have eyes that can look out of the window and see the horizon when conditions are clear, which the AI was not able to do.  The pilots could see the ADI (artificial horizon) and see that there was no pitch-up, but the AI wasn’t programmed to consider that.  It wasn’t even programmed to look at the other AOA (angle of attack) sensor and make sure they were in agreement before taking action!

The 737 Max software was written to consider the reading generated by only one sensor and to take action to override the pilot based on that, which it did.  This is an appalling situation in aviation, where things that make the plane act on its own are never supposed to be based on a single sensor output.  If the plane had considered the output from the other AOA sensor and found that the two were in disagreement, the automation would have known that neither sensor can be trusted (when you have only two and one is malfunctioning, you can know that one of them is wrong, but not which one), then to sound an alarm and let the pilot straighten it out.  Had that happened, it is likely neither crash would have occurred.

While the consequences are obviously never that disastrous with most computers running Windows 10, the general principle remains, and that’s that the automation program may often have less information available than the user of the hardware.

At least now you can hide the updates, but a return to the user having full update control would be better.

Cee Arr wrote:

If another company offered MS updates there would be all hell to pay.

These OEMs are not having their rights violated by Microsoft’s choice to include drivers for their hardware in Windows/Windows update.  They want them to be distributed in that way… they submit drivers to Microsoft for that reason specifically.

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Cee Arr wrote:

Thanks for your replies.  You got as far as the same bogged down spot as I did searching this.  I fail to see why MS insist in offering updates for products other than their own.  If another company offered MS updates there would be all h**l to pay.  Their AI update system of one size fits all is an abject failure.   This update will stay hidden.

I still get what you mean but it isn’t unusual for Internet searches to get us bogged down. With that said I usually go to the source, Intel in this case and find out what it’s for as I do not like it if I do not know what an update is for. If it’s a legitimate update how are you supposed to know? I haven’t seen a situation yet in which Intel will notify me that a legitimate update is recommended unless I had an Intel application that would normally let such an update or notify me to come through.

I’ve had a couple of instances in which a user had an Intel application in their system and did not know how it got there. Doing research within their recommendations and also going to the source, it was determined the application in place wasn’t necessary (actually not applicable) for their computer so I uninstalled it. The user never got any more notifications etc. anymore.

You can also complain to Microsoft through their Feedback Hub.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4021566/windows-10-send-feedback-to-microsoft-with-feedback-hub

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@ Cee Arr, I’ve tried to find in my notes what Intel Management download that I cannot remember the exact name on 2 computers similar to what you bring. But I do recall that each one of those users had an entry in Programs & Features, one of them had theirs also in Startup, the other one I don’t recall.

After Ascaris excellent explanation #1876748 I wanted to bring back up as I said in my previous post #1876696 “I do not like it if I do not know what an update is for”

OK maybe I’m not as well versed on explaining some things but the fact of the matter in both of my experiences it was easy to determine neither one of those 2 computers applicable of what had been downloaded and installed by going to the source of what they were all about. Uninstalling them worked.

That might not apply in your case but finding out what you are addressing might be worth looking into.
Hiding that driver is ok but I still like to know “I do not like it if I do not know what an update is for”

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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