Comments for Are automatic updates a good thing?

Comment from Bill Nelson on 2008-11-18

2008-11-19T06:57:23Z

I have Automatic Updates enabled and like the feature, except for one irritating behavior. Some updates require a restart to take effect. I understand that, but I don't understand why Microsoft insists on doing the restart without permission. They give a brief notice and then do the restart. Several times, I've been working on something and have been called away from the computer momentarily. I know I should save before leaving, but I don't always remember. I hate it when I return to discover that the computer has automatically rebooted and I've lost what I was working on. Is there any way to disable this behavior and give me the notice so I can initiate the reboot when I'm ready for it?

The way to deal with this is to have Automatic Updates set to notify you but NOT install automatically. That way you can choose when to install the updates that are available and handle any possibly required reboots.

- Leo
20-Nov-2008

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A comment on: Are automatic updates a good thing?

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Comment from abdelrahimsagr on 2008-07-18

2008-07-19T06:47:59Z

automatic updates in our point of vew are not good things to us it means giving way to Genuin programs to intrude in our machines informing us
that we are using malicious soft ware that why keep automatic updates closed

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A comment on: Are automatic updates a good thing?

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Comment from Simon on 2008-05-02

2008-05-02T16:16:11Z

Apologies to others if this is a bit technical...

I'm a developer and I like the idea of automatic updates - it certainly helps to make sure users have problems fixed before they know about them, as well as making sure they have all the latest functionality.

My major gripe is that when automatic updates DO cause problems, they're usually whoppers. Added to which, not all companies use an overly secure mechanism - it's not that difficult to redirect a http (web) request to a different webserver - eg editing the hosts file (and yes, I know that's not easy on someone else's Pc but you can spoof DNS entries, poison routers/ARP caches, etc...).

Then, there's nothing to stop Mr. Malicious just substituting the genuine update with their own code. Admittedly, Microsoft and some others use secure HTTP (same as banks) and MD5 hashing (for the non-technical think of it as a short list of letters and numbers that sum up the contents of a file - any change to the file means a different MD5 hash, so you can check that what you've downloaded matches what you expected to download - at least the software should do this internally) but there are still a large number of companies that do NOT use MD5 hashing, secure conenctions or anything else - which I personally find to be a HUGE security hole.

To make things worse, there's already hundreds of programs that let you see what information is being passed back and forth between your computer and , which means anyone malicious can monitor the (legitimate) traffic on their own PC, deduce how it works and then substitute their own.

So I let anything notify me of new updates but if possible, I install them myself unless I trust the security used by the software company as well as the company itself - They may not be malicious but it doesn't always mean they're competent.

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Comment from Leo A. Notenboom on 2005-12-19

2005-12-19T20:36:02Z

I do use them. The only exception is Windows Update, and it's because I'm a geek and need to know what's going on - as much for here on Ask Leo! as well as for myself. "Normal" people should have it auto-install. I love that too :-).

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A comment on: Are automatic updates a good thing?

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Comment from pwb on 2005-12-19

2005-12-19T20:29:07Z

Why do you "love" automatic updates when you don't use them yourself? Personally, I much prefer be notified of updates, even though I, like you, always say Yes.

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Comment from David Heym on 2005-12-17

2005-12-18T03:03:05Z

In IE 6, under tools, there is "Windows Update". I have mine set to check for updates every morning at 3 a.m. (when hopefully I am sound asleep).

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A comment on: Are automatic updates a good thing?

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Comment from Doug K. on 2005-12-16

2005-12-16T23:12:04Z

Thank you Leo, I have read the article and found it very helpful.

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A comment on: Are automatic updates a good thing?

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