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Microsoft Installs New Software Without Permission

Posted by kdawson on from the slipperiest-of-slopes dept.

Futurepower(R) writes "Even though I have Automatic Updates turned off, on August 28, 2007, between 3:49 and 3:51 AM PDT, Microsoft installed new files on my Windows XP computer." Nine files are updated on Vista and on XP SP1, a different set of on each, relating to Windows Update itself. Microsoft-watch.com's Joe Wilcox and ZDnet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes confirm the stealth update.

5 of 760 comments (clear)

  1. To see if you are affected under Cygwin by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 5, Informative

    Under cygwin, you can type:

    strings /cygdrive/c/windows/system32/wuapi.dll | grep 7\.0\.6

    If you get back something like:


    7.0.6000.381
    7.0.6000.381 (winmain(wmbla).070730-1740)
    7.0.6000.381


    then Microsoft has secretly updated you.

    --
    My blog
  2. Is it only happening to XP and Vista? by Mark_in_Brazil · · Score: 5, Informative

    TFAs only mention XP and Vista, but I have Windows 2000 (it will be the last Windows I ever own, and I'm just keeping it running until my end-of-year trip to the USA, when I'll buy a Macbook) and was surprised when I woke up one day this week (either the 11th or 12th of September) and found my computer showing the "got restarted and waiting for somebody to log in" screen. Before I had a UPS, that happened now and then, but since getting a UPS, that shouldn't happen unless we get a major power failure that lasts longer than the several minutes my UPS's battery gives me. That hasn't happened since I got my UPS, and I noticed that other things around the house showed no signs of power loss, despite my computer having been restarted.
    When I logged in, Windows Update informed me that it had installed updates. That's hard to understand, since I've had Windows Update configured for a long time now to ask me before installing anything. When I saw the item on /., I thought I might have discovered what happens, but TFAs only talk about XP and Vista.

    So was what happened to my computer (running Win2K) the same thing? Did others with old versions of Windows have the same experience?

    --
    "It is nice to know that the computer understands the problem. But I would like to understand it too." --Eugene Wigner
  3. Re: Ubuntu monitoring by Dolda2000 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ubuntu installs the package "popularity-contest" by default, which reports every package you're using and how often. That's large scale stealth spying, but it's not proprietary so it should be ok... Yeah, it is installed by default, but during the installation procedure you do get the question of whether you actually want to enable it. It is worth noting that it defaults to "no" if you just click past it.
  4. My Windows XP SP2 computer was updated... by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 5, Informative
    My hardware and software firewalled Windows XP SP2 computer was updated, and Automatic Updates is turned off. This is the list copied from the Event Viewer:

    Information 8/27/2007 3:54:58 PM Windows Update Agent Installation 19 N/A MT
    Information 8/27/2007 3:54:23 PM Windows Update Agent Installation 19 N/A MT
    Information 8/27/2007 3:54:17 PM NtServicePack None 4377 MichaelJ MT
    Information 8/27/2007 3:54:10 PM Windows Update Agent Installation 19 N/A MT
    Information 8/27/2007 3:54:05 PM NtServicePack None 4377 MichaelJ MT
    Information 8/27/2007 3:53:57 PM Windows Update Agent Installation 19 N/A MT
    Information 8/27/2007 3:53:49 PM Windows Update Agent Installation 19 N/A MT
    Information 8/27/2007 3:53:47 PM Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A MT
    Information 8/27/2007 3:53:47 PM Service Control Manager None 7035 SYSTEM MT
    Information 8/27/2007 3:53:44 PM WindowsMedia None 4377 MichaelJ MT
    Information 8/27/2007 3:51:50 PM Windows Update Agent Installation 19 N/A MT
    Information 8/27/2007 3:51:45 PM NtServicePack None 4377 MichaelJ MT
    Information 8/27/2007 3:51:26 PM Windows Update Agent Installation 19 N/A MT
    Information 8/27/2007 3:51:21 PM NtServicePack None 4377 MichaelJ MT
    Information 8/27/2007 3:51:15 PM Windows Update Agent Installation 19 N/A MT
    Information 8/27/2007 3:51:10 PM NtServicePack None 4377 MichaelJ MT
    Information 8/27/2007 3:51:02 PM Windows Update Agent Installation 19 N/A MT
    Information 8/27/2007 3:49:19 PM Windows Update Agent Installation 19 N/A MT
    (I submitted the Slashdot story, and mistakenly said the time was AM.)

    This was definitely without my permission, and raises the question about who has control over my computer, me or Microsoft. If Microsoft can put files on my computer without my knowledge, then it is really Microsoft's computer, which is control that I find extremely objectionable.
  5. Re:Why? Re:Block it by Nomaxxx · · Score: 5, Informative

    If automatic updates is turned off, and the service is disabled, just how did MS know to send an update to the machine in the first place? The trick is that in Windows XP, even if "Automatic Updates" are turned off, the "windows update" service is still launched at startup. You have to manually disable it in msconfig.