Regular updates to the operating system or components of it are a necessary evil for anyone running Windows on their computer. Some are essential, many are not, but Microsoft really wants you to download and install them to your system. So much so that it will sometimes make you do so whether you want to or not.
The problem of stealth updates, bug fixes or improvements that are installed to your system without prior notice and whether permission has been given or not, has been with us for some time. But the issue hadn’t reared its ugly head for awhile. Until now, when it’s seemingly back with a vengeance.
The problem is affecting users of Windows XP and Windows Vista. There are four options for Windows updates on these operating systems: automatic, download but don’t install, notification of availability but don’t download or install, and off altogether. The stealth updates issue is affecting those users who choose either of the two middle options.
What happens is that updates will be installed at shutdown or restart. The user will only realize what is happening if they are watching their screen when the machine begins the process. By which time it’s too late to stop it happening. Instead, a rollback to the last restore point would be required.
This is a problem because some updates can cause issues or conflict with other software. Or, they may be updates a user has no interest in acquiring, such as Internet Explorer 8 bug fixes, or the latest build of the .Net Framework. Whatever the reason, installing an unwanted update without the permission of the PC user is clearly wrong.
Windows Secrets, which has received several reports of the issue occurring but cannot recreate it, discusses the problem in great detail, offering a possible explanation for why it’s occurring again all of a sudden, and possible workarounds to avoid it happening on your system. Meanwhile, Microsoft states there isn’t a problem and it hasn’t changed its process for Windows updates recently.
Source: Blorge
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