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There are isolated problems with current patches, but they are well-known and documented on this site. |
Hey Y’all,
I was in cleaning up my Apps list getting rid of the accumulated junk that I don’t use any more.
I came across this one KB4023057 and I’m wondering why a Windows Update is in the Apps list and whether or not I need to keep this or can I safely uninstall it?
It was installed 1/5/2019 and I’m now on W10 Pro 22H2.
KB4023057 is Microsoft’s infamous health tool which is used to determine if your computer is ready for the next feature update.
Some recommend uninstalling this update; some recommend keeping it. Update is a misnomer as it’s actually a program.
I have no idea why it’s in your Microsoft Store apps, if it’s there. If it’s just in the Apps list, well, it’s an app.
(Things your computer does while you’re not looking: The Secret Life of Computers)
Hey Y’all,
Here’s the results of my testing.
Message in last picture is accurate as I have Group Policy set to keep me on Win 10!
I’ll report back if anything funny happens in the near future, especially after the temporary pause on March updates expires.
KB4023057 is Microsoft’s infamous health tool which is used to determine if your computer is ready for the next feature update.
IMO KB4023057 is Microsoft’s continuing attempts to knock out third-party ‘tweaker’ tools that try to work around Microsoft’s overly heavy-handed ‘our way or the highway’ approach to Windows Updates. YMMV.
IMO it has nothing to do with ‘determining whether your computer is ready for the next feature update’.
(I’ve been preventing/uninstalling every iteration of KB4023057 since they first appeared… yet here my Windows 10 devices are – still working, still updating… when I choose to allow them to.)
Do I look fat in my latest tinfoil hat? 🙂
I see that Microsoft keeps re-releasing KB4023057 but the document on the KB https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/kb4023057-update-health-tools-windows-update-service-components-fccad0ca-dc10-2e46-9ed1-7e392450fb3a no longer mentions doing things like changing network settings or compressing user profile contents. It seems to be (from the corporate side) more focused on preparing the computer to take updates from Microsoft InTune. Regardless, it does install a service on corporate computers.
I am still not sold on this update being benign, especially because I work for an MSP and we have to support our clients’ computers – and when Microsoft messes with our ability to manage patches and updates, and especially if they mess with networking components and registry entries so we have to figure out why things no longer work, only to find it’s something Microsoft did, that’s not being benign.
If they have removed what many like me have considered malware-like behavior from this update and refocused it on a new-ish patch management method (intune) then why not issue it as a different KB number – why reuse KB4023057? Especially when it has such a poor reputation?
I am still not sold on this update being benign
KB4023057 IS benign… provided you don’t attempt to make changes to Windows Update (or Windows Update Medic Service) either in the registry or using non-approved third-party tools.
As you work for an MSP (and have enterprise tools for this not available to home users) then I cannot see how KB4023057 is going to affect you either way.
Hope this helps…
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