Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Forces Desktop Search On Windows Update
An anonymous reader writes "The Register is reporting that the blogosphere is alight with accusations of Microsoft forcing Windows Desktop Search on networks via the 'automatic install' feature of Windows Update — even if they had configured their systems not to use the program. Once installed, the search program began diligently indexing C drives and entire networks slowed to a crawl."
This only happens on Windows XP, when you have either Office 2007 or Windows Live Photo gallery installed.
Not saying it's OK, just mentioning the facts.
8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
However to say that by default it was indexing the entire C: drive is erroneous. The default behavior is to index user files in "doc and settings" and then your outlook files after you open that program.
there are a few misleading points in the article.
1. it doesnt AUTOMATICALY install with auto updates, or windows updates, it is in the optional software section of windows updates, thus does not come via automatic updates at all, and in windows updates you have to manualy select it.
2. you are prompted before install
3. once installed, it does not automaticaly start indexing everything in C, it promts you and asks what you would like to be indexed, and when/how.
portfolio
Unfortunately, this one apparently affects admins who were doing what they were supposed to and using WSUS. Commenters on the Register article were complaining that they'd set up WSUS to require them to approve patches, but it had taken it upon itself to auto-approve Windows Search to be installed on all systems anyway...
This applies to WSUS only, not the consumer Windows Update as everyone has mistaken it for. WSUS is the corporate, large-network version of managing and deploying product patches & upgrades to Windows machines (even if it's useful networks of any size really).
What I find bizarre is that this system, not Windows Update (which I stress again, is different) has been subjected to a patch that seems to auto-approve itself!
Under normal circumstances, each patch has to be approved (if set this way) by a network-admin before it will trickle out to workstations. This is the first time it would appear an update has approved itself.
throw new NoSignatureException();
The problem here is in fact that the search has come as an update for Windows, rather than a separate product. Looks like the people that are affected are auto-approving updates as they come, which more or less half the reason you'd use WSUS in the first place - to test patch deployments before releasing onto the network at large.
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2315860&SiteID=1
throw new NoSignatureException();
Well on my computer the update downloaded and installed itself - even though I made a point NOT to click on the install updates button. The good news is that all you need to do is go to Add/Remove programs to get rid of the thing: http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=301681&SiteID=1
I declined this for my network via WSUS. It never set itself to "auto-install" as some of the comments I'm reading say it did, at least not in my network environment.
Saw it in WSUS, declined it, end of issue.
End of lesson. You may press the button.
If you have your PC set to notify before downloading updates, you can simply uncheck it when the yellow shield pops up. When you close the window a box will pop up asking if you want to install it later. Just uncheck the box again and it will never ask again.. Worked for me!
If the update was mandatory, then it would be listed under "critical" updates instead of "optional" updates at the Microsoft Update site. It's not, because it isn't.
WRONG. mod parent down.
My wsus downloaded and marked them as INSTALL tuesday night, they were rolled out at 3am just as any update I would have approved. EXCEPT I DID NOT APPROVE IT. Why the fuck would I 1) approve a patch the same day it was released with NO testing and 2) EVER APPROVE WINDOWS DESKTOP SEARCH.
People like you piss me the fuck off. I run a tight ship. WSUS has NEVER done this before. EVER. It was 100% their fucking fault. Just because it didnt happen to you doesnt mean it didnt happen.
I'll just use my special getting high powers one more time...
That's because MP3 isn't a free codec. You're supposed to pay the patent holder for the right to use it - since most Linux distros are free-as-in-beer, you can see why this would be a problem.
I had the same problem. As it turns out, I had an auto-approval setup for updates that supersede previous updates. I look, and, sure enough, there was an update in there for "Windows Desktop Search 2.6.5 (KB911993)" and "Windows Desktop Search 2.6.6 (KB926356)". So when the new version came down the pipe, it was automatically approved, and sent out to all my workstations. What confuses me is that the previous versions never installed and came up on my taskbar. I have installed all the updates on my workstation (sans WDS 3.0.1) and I don't see any trace of WDS.
What really gets me is that that isn't truly an "update" as I think of it, it's new software. Perhaps an "upgrade", but not an "update".
"That which does not kill us makes us stranger." -Trevor Goodchild