Slashdot Mirror
Samsung Cripples Windows Update To Prevent Incompatible Drivers
jones_supa writes: A file called Disable_Windowsupdate.exe — probably malware, right? It's actually a "helper" utility from Samsung, for which their reasoning is: "When you enable Windows updates, it will install the Default Drivers for all the hardware no laptop which may or may not work. For example if there is USB 3.0 on laptop, the ports may not work with the installation of updates. So to prevent this, SW Update tool will prevent the Windows updates." Too bad that the solution means disabling all critical security updates as well. This isn't the first time an OEM has compromised the security of its users. From earlier this year, we remember the Superfish adware from Lenovo, and system security being compromised by the LG split screen software.
You've got to be fucking shitting me?
- Dan
Samsung: You're terrible programmers!
Microsoft: No, you are terrible programmers!
Kids, kids, you'really both terrible.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
So, basically they have shit hardware or shit drivers, and the only way they can think of to fix this is to prevent your operating system from trying to apply updates?
This sounds like incompetence all the way around, and is on-going proof of why I hate OEM laptops. Because they fill them with so much garbage.
It seems like every time I hear anything about Samsung, I find myself thinking "nope, I would never buy their crap".
And, once again, corporations put their own crappy "innovation" ahead of the needs of their customers.
Pathetic.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
If true then I guess I won't be buying any Samsung computers anytime soon. A company that stupid simply isn't worth doing business with. Add this to the Samsung TVs that listen to your living room and the bloatware on their Android devices and I pretty much can't see any reason to buy from Samsung these days.
*cough*
I've lost track of how many times I've been burned by a driver update from Microsoft that turned out to be incompatible with my hardware, likely because Windows Update misidentified my hardware as compatible with the driver. I no longer install any drivers through Windows Update, but instead go to the vendors sites and get them straight from the source.
Fortunately, the drivers are always optional updates, so you can just flag them as hidden and ignore them.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
I can think of two solutions on how to solve this problem.
1) Pin the installed OEM drivers, so that Windows understands that no other drivers should be installed for these device IDs.
or
2) In the PCI device ID, add extra information that this device is a special Samsung variant, and then Windows knows that the generic driver for that device is not compatible.
I'm not sure if these solutions are possible, if someone knows more then please let me know.
I'm trying to calculate just how much Kool-Aid you have to drink until "the OS decided to reboot all on its own" becomes acceptable behavior.
It would've been far simpler and less controversial for Samsung to just turn off the Windows 8/10 equivalent of Windows 7's "[right click on your computer's icon]->Device Installation settings->Do you want Windows to download driver software and realistic icons for your devices" option in the "Devices and Drivers" control panel and provide their own "driver update" program. I don't have a Samsung, for all I know, they may already have a "driver update" program. I know at least 2 major Windows-PC vendors do have their own "update" programs that include alerting users when their drivers are out of date, and it wouldn't surprise me if Samsung was doing the same.
Given what Samsung is doing, if Samsung provides its own "Samsung Update" that (by default) automatically takes all critical Microsoft Updates and which at least gives the user the option of taking vetted non-critical updates (or even better all Windows updates EXCEPT conflicting driver updates) AND keeps this running as long as Microsoft continues to allow access to its "Windows Update" functionality (which is presumably longer than the "10 years" it promises to keep fixing security holes) then I can see this being "not all that dangerous." However, if they do this they need to make it VERY clear to the buyer that Samsung, not Microsoft, is taking responsibility for keeping the operating system up to date.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Unfortunately, not all driver updates fall under the optional updates. I agree that most are, but I had a client come to me saying his wireless driver was "missing". It was installed, but non-functional. Oddly, it didn't show a "failed to start" yellow triangle or any other anomalies in the device manager. I rolled back the driver and checked Windows Update to find an "Intel Centrino Wireless-N" critical update. It kept installing automatically until I hid the update. It is rare that this happens, but does from time-to-time.
I bought a Samsung laptop. i5, 6gb ram, Hybrid NVIDIA and Intel graphics, 750gb HDD, DVD burner. It is light, well powered and cost efficient back in 2011. Windows 7-64 bit. Problem is: Even the keyboard hotkeys such as screen brightness, WiFi, etc. work only through a "Control panel" that takes ages to load. Volume keys don't work within a game and sometimes the trackpad stops working after sleeping. And also I don't dare installing Linux on it because I read about severe cases of linux bricking the UEFI and rendering the laptop completerly useless.
Alas, after you start it up (either from off or sleeping) and wait the 10-15 minutes for the HDD to calm down (after stripping down the startup, defragmenting, ccleaner and the such) it runs really well.
This is not malicious. It is stupid and ignorant, but not malicious.
--Clark's corollary to Hanlon's Razor after Clarke's 3rd Law
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
If I allow Windows Update to "update" the driver for my Bluetooth stick, it doesn't work any longer.
I've seen that problem before on a Bluetooth stick. The real issue was that I had purchased some Chinese ripoff clone of another product (I didn't know at the time that's what I was doing. We learn.); and the original company had released updated drivers to Microsoft. These new drivers worked just fine with the oem product, but something in the ripoff product didn't work with the new drivers, and the stick stopped working. I had to back the drivers out, re-install the original drivers and mark that particular update as "do not install".
I've no idea if the original company (who had their gear ripped off) spiked the driver deliberately or simple broke it by accident.
Linux might have some slight incompatiblity with an ever shrinking list of now obscure hardware. But when it works, it works. There is nothing this fucked up about linux drives. At worst, a few of them simply don't have the features we'd like, but nothing catastrophic.
I could have sworn MS had some way for OEMs to get drivers certified, and provided by Windows Update directly...
- chrish
Surely there must be a way to have avoided this.
Maybe Microsoft should set up some kind of... Lab. To certify the Quality of Hardware for Windows. And maybe they could make it really simple for vendors like Samsung to send them copies of drivers for certification so that Windows Update would be aware that they existed.
And maybe, instead of demanding millions of dollars in fees for this service, they could charge something simple up front like just $250 and then not cause any more problems. Then Samsung would have been able to run through a quick certification process and avoided all of this trouble.
Man, why does Microsoft make it so hard for vendors to get their devices supported?
This is not malicious. It is stupid and ignorant, but not malicious.
Sufficiently large values of stupidity asymptotically approach maliciousness. In other words if the action is dumb enough there is no effective difference.
Look at the Vista fiasco. OEMs had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to the privilege model (which has been in the UNIX world for decades, and was in the Mac world for at least five years) where they don't have all their stuff run with admin rights. Then, when MS added some fundamental security features like ASLR, forcing drivers to be rewritten, OEMs shipped alpha-quality code, then blamed the crashes on MS.
I'm trying to calculate just how much cheap moonshine you have to drink until a prompt where the computer asks if you want to reboot now, or not counts as "the OS decided to reboot all on its own".
Microsoft update WILL reboot on its own. It'll pester you for a few days then it literally reboots your computer without giving you a choice.
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.