Microsoft is changing their Windows Update policy on the 11th to include files that prepare for an upgrade and try to reinstall the telemetry data gathering "patches", and also change how and when patches are delivered. I ran across a few articles that are quite apprehensive about both the telemetry update and the new update process, and have a few excerpts from the ones that produced some steps you can take to prepare.
Detested snooping patch KB 2952664 reappears
By Woody Leonhard
InfoWorld | Oct 5, 2016
Perhaps the world has gone truly mad. Or maybe Microsoft's trying to pull the wool over our eyes prior to its major shift in patching strategy -- the patchocalypse -- widely anticipated this month. It's even possible Microsoft wants to bring back the "Get Windows 10" campaign, to drive Windows' reputation even deeper into the dirt.
A Microsoft spokesman says it isn't bringing back the "Get Windows 10" campaign, but our old nemesis KB 2952664 reappeared suddenly yesterday afternoon, and Windows users are livid -- and scared.
For those of you who don't recall, KB 2952664 (and its Windows 8.1 companion KB 2976978) are officially described as:
Compatibility update for upgrading Windows 7 - This update performs diagnostics on the Windows systems that participate in the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program. These diagnostics help determine whether compatibility issues may be encountered when the latest Windows operating system is installed. This update will help Microsoft and its partners ensure compatibility for customers who want to install the latest Windows operating system.
There's a lot of sugarcoating around that description, but the bottom line is that KB 2952664, a prerequisite for the KB 3035583 "Get Windows 10" nagware patch, is specifically designed to provide telemetry (that is, snoop) to see if a direct upgrade to Windows 10 will perform correctly.
The article continues and explains why the upgrade files are not wanted, and links to the KB patch notes. Read the rest here: http://www.infoworld.com/article/3127809/microsoft-windows/detested-get-windows-10-snooping-patch-kb-2952664-reappears.html
On top of that, they are changing the way updates are delivered too. There will now be a Monthly Roll up of all patches, and a Security Update. No more individual patches, you take the whole thing or leave it. This will be a major change for lots of system administrators, and most are probably backing up everything in sight right now. The problem with bundling these patches is their history of either breaking things or including spyware since Windows 10 came out. This Infoworld article details those fears perfectly in a chapter titled Trust Issues:
How to prepare for the Windows 7/8.1 ‘patchocalypse’
By Woody Leonhard Follow
InfoWorld | Oct 10, 2016
Trust issues
The problem, of course, is that many individuals and organizations don’t trust the “install all of Microsoft’s patches” approach. Hard to blame them -- the Get Windows 10 lessons run deep, and many dislike and distrust Microsoft’s enhanced telemetry capabilities, which they equate with snooping.
The following simple approach to patching Windows 7 and 8.1, starting in October, is directed at individuals, but admins may find the demarcation helpful, too. Win7/8.1 users fall into one of two camps: Those who trust Microsoft’s updates and those that only want security patches. Let’s call them Group A and Group B, respectively:
- Group A are willing to take all of Microsoft’s new telemetry systems, along with potentially useful nonsecurity updates.
- Group B doesn’t want any more snooping than absolutely necessary, and they don’t care about improvements like daylight saving time zone changes, but want to keep applying security patches.
A third group, Group W, doesn’t want anything from Microsoft -- no patches, no security updates, nada. I don’t recommend that you sit on the Group W bench, but it can be understood given changes Microsoft has made to Win7 and 8.1 machines, without our permission, in the past.
For Group A, patching is much easier: Set it once and forget it, unless there’s a big bug. For Group B, the snooping should be less -- but there’s no guarantee -- and the patching method is entirely manual. You can move from Group B to Group A, but as far as I can tell there’s no way to move from Group A to Group B without completely reinstalling Win7 or 8.1.
Microsoft has a history of mixing security and nonsecurity patches in arbitrary ways. That’s going to trip users and admins up alike if it continues to release buggy security updates, then fix the security update bugs in nonsecurity updates (see, for example, KB 3179573 in August and KB 3172605 in July). For now, let’s assume Microsoft will fix Security-only Update bugs with Security-only Update patches. If they don’t, we’re going be in a world of hurt.
The rest of the article focuses on preparing for the patch changes, has instructions on how to turn Windows Update on and off, and how to disable the windows CEIP tracking update if it is already installed. http://www.infoworld.com/article/3128983/microsoft-windows/how-to-prepare-for-the-windows-781-patchocalypse.html
After reading about those changes I think it's time to make a system backup and turn those updates off until they prove their new system works. This last article by Michael Horowitz explains how serious many people are taking these changes.
Taking a break from Windows Update
By Michael Horowitz
Computerworld | Oct 9, 2016
Now would be a great time for windows 7 and 8.1 users to run Windows Update. By "now" I mean before Microsoft releases the October 2016 bug fixes on the 11th.
Run it, and run it again, to make sure your computer has all the currently available fixes. Or, maybe, all but the telemetry/spying patch that Microsoft released on October 4th.
I say this because Microsoft is rolling out a new procedure for Windows Update, one that mimics the scheme used by Windows 10, and I don't trust them. Microsoft has shown themselves to be incompetent, both at deciding what to do (think Windows 10 rollout) and in implementing things (think Windows Update taking hours to run on Windows 7).
After installing the currently available bug fixes, I suggest turning off Windows Update.
He sounds serious. Read the rest here: Taking a break from Windows Update
His article continues with recent examples of the update process going wrong, and explaining why he is backing up and shutting it off. It was convincing enough that I thought it should be shared. And if it's all worry for nothing, it is still a good excuse to make a few backups!