Slashdot Mirror


Microsoft Releases Big 'Convenience Rollup' Update For Windows 7

Microsoft has released a "convenience rollup" update for Windows 7 computers. The update to the nearly seven-year-old operating system brings with it a number of security fixes and patches that Microsoft labels as "recommended." Mary Jo Foley, reporting for ZDNet: The convenience rollup -- officially known as Windows 7 SP1 convenience rollup -- isn't Service Pack 2 for Windows 7, but it's the next best thing. The new Windows 7 convenience rollup is cumulative back to Service Pack 1, which Microsoft released in 2011. (Editor's note, the convenience rollup consists of all security and non-security fixes all through April 2016.) It doesn't include updates to IE 11 (which are released separately) or updates to .NET releases. But it does include core Windows fixes, security fixes and hot fixes.Microsoft says that convenience rollup package is completely optional. "Install this one update, and then you only need new updates released after April 2016."

28 of 159 comments (clear)

  1. Does it bundle.. by sirber · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Does it bundle Windows 10 and telemetry?

    --
    Be or ben't
    1. Re:Does it bundle.. by GuB-42 · · Score: 4, Funny

      How about KB971033?

    2. Re:Does it bundle.. by forgottenusername · · Score: 2

      I'd like to know too. I only use windows for gaming at this point but I've not updated my gaming rig since they started with all the invasive pointless tracking crap.

      I'd rather just run without updates than wade through the mess of BS that is their updates to figure out what is actually going to be applied.

    3. Re:Does it bundle.. by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'll 3rd that too. What _exact_ updates are and are not included?

      Courtesy of aurgathor, here is a list of updates to avoid. Doe anyone have a more up-to-date list? TIA

      KB2505438 - Slow performance in applications that use the DirectWrite API on a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 = It often breaks fonts (see also KB454826)
      KB2670838 - Platform update for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 = breaks AERO functionality and gives you blurry fonts on some websites
      KB2922324 - (reportedly pulled, uninstall it anyway if already installed)
      KB2952664 - Compatibility update for upgrading Windows 7 = Windows 7 nagware patch that touts the Windows 10 upgrade
      KB2976978 - prepares system for upgrade to Windows 10
      KB2977759 - Compatibility update for Windows 7 RTM = W10 Diagnostics Compatibility telemetry
      KB2990214 - Update that enables you to upgrade from Windows 7 to a later version of Windows

      KB3014460 - affects windows 8 only
      KB3015249 - adds more damn telemetry
      KB3021917 - Update to Windows 7 SP1 for performance improvements (telemetry)
      KB3022345 - Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry -> Replaced by KB3080149
      KB3035583 - pitches the free Windows 10 upgrade
      KB3044374 - prepares system for upgrade to Windows 10
      KB3050265 - Windows Update Client for Windows 7: June 2015 = WU service updated to accept upgrade to W10 + other fixes
      KB3068707 - Customer experience telemetry points (update appears to be nuked from microsoft.com)
      KB3068708 - Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry
      KB3075249 - Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7
      KB3080149 - Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry

    4. Re:Does it bundle.. by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 4, Informative

      I would add to that:

      KB3075851 prepares system for upgrade to Windows 10, Windows Update Client Update Allows Windows 10 install Win7, Svr2008r2

      New Nonsense, updated 3/10/2016 - KB3123862 "Updates capabilities to upgrade Win8.1 and Win7".

      If you have IE11 - KB3139929 and KB3146449 try to patch IE11 for Win7 and Win8 with ads for win10.

      --
      -- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
    5. Re:Does it bundle.. by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 5, Informative

      YES THEY ARE. After careful analysis of the KB's included in the rollup, I have found three turds in the punchbowl. They are:

      Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3068708) -- KB3068708 installs telemetry service, prepares for upgrade to Windows 10, CEIP Win7, Win8.1, Svr2008R2, Svr2012R2
      Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3075249) -- KB3075249 Adds Telemetry points to consent.exe (UAC tracking bullshit) Win7 Win8.1 RT8.1, Svr2008R2, Svr2012R2
      Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3080149) -- KB3080149 Timezone fixes, may add yet more telemetry, posible CEIP bullshit Win7 SP1, 8.1, Svr2008R2, Svr2012R2

      Nice try, fuckers. I believe these can be removed after the rollup is installed by the command line (Replacing the "kbxxxxxxx" with the appropriate number):

      wusa.exe /kb:3080149 /uninstall /quiet /norestart

      --
      -- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
    6. Re:Does it bundle.. by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 5, Interesting

      how can you know? MS has gone off the deep end, buried bad code in 'patches' and won't level with us what they do.

      a year ago, I turned off updates. I locked down my win7 installs.

      nothing is going to make me accept another MS patch. from now until windows ceases to exist, I will never install another MS patch.

      I do most of my work on linux and I very rarely use windows for network things. if I get owned, I'll restore from backups.

      MS has lied too many times; I just cannot trust them. I'll take my chances on my own, thank you very much.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    7. Re:Does it bundle.. by cfalcon · · Score: 2

      Why would there be any internet connections on one that doesn't participate?

      Anyway, this unsurprisingly has the trojan horse tracking guys that they added last year. Given that it is a roll-up of all their updates, and the tracking ones are in there, that is no surprise.

  2. Nelson "Ha Ha" pointed at me by OzPeter · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I click on the first link using Safari from my Macbook hoping to see some details. And why not? I run various MS VMs on my Macbook so I want to see whats on offer for me. Note that the link is simply "http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Search.aspx?q=3125574" That seems reasonable.

    The website comes back at me with:

    Thank you for visiting the Microsoft Update Catalog

    This website does not offer updates for the operating system on this computer.

    This website only provides updates for computers running Windows 2000 Sp3, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 and later. If you prefer to use a different Windows operating system, you can obtain updates from the Microsoft Download Center.

    Thanks MS.

    --
    I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    1. Re:Nelson "Ha Ha" pointed at me by omnichad · · Score: 4, Informative

      Chrome on Windows is almost as bad - "To use this Web site's full functionality, you must be running Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later."

      Here's the direct download links: x86 x64

    2. Re:Nelson "Ha Ha" pointed at me by OzPeter · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Really? It makes sense to you to try to patch your guest OSes by connecting to the update site with a completely different host OS?

      No, it makes sense to look at data on a website using a application that communicates in an agnostic protocol called HTTP

      But yes .. if I can pull down an install file once to local storage and locally distribute it to the needed systems what does it matter what the intermediate OS is?

      --
      I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    3. Re:Nelson "Ha Ha" pointed at me by Nunya666 · · Score: 2

      Really? It makes sense to you to try to patch your guest OSes by connecting to the update site with a completely different host OS?

      No, it makes sense to look at data on a website using a application that communicates in an agnostic protocol called HTTP

      But yes .. if I can pull down an install file once to local storage and locally distribute it to the needed systems what does it matter what the intermediate OS is?

      It is good security practice to open questionable links in a completely different host OS. Thanks to the malware known as Windows 10, all links that point to Microsoft should be tested with a non-Windows OS.

  3. Re:I betcha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    I just checked the update catalog. It does not include KB3035583.

  4. If it weighs the same as a duck... by omnichad · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So why can't they just call it a Service Pack? Because their support policy would require them to extend mainstream support for 24 months.

    1. Re:If it weighs the same as a duck... by flatt · · Score: 2

      Also, traditionally Service Packs have included previously unreleased fixes/features and are fully regression tested.

    2. Re:If it weighs the same as a duck... by Kjella · · Score: 2

      Microsoft has never released a service pack so late in their product cycle, from their perspective there's now three significant Windows versions (8, 8.1 and 10) since 7. If you've ever had to install a fresh Windows machine you'd know installing all the updates is a pain in the ass, it doesn't do them all in one go it's updates then more new updates then even more new updates. I've wanted them to either fix that or do post-service pack rollups at least as far back as Windows 2000, so at face value it'd be an improvement. But I don't see Microsoft going back to redo a patching system they've thrown out in Win10 to do us a favor, it seems far more likely they want to bundle it all from security patching to ads to telemetry to nagware. By the way, I noticed the 583 update has been enabled in my update center again, I've hidden it many times and run the GWX Control Panel to disable all that shit but Microsoft keeps re-enabling things. Hopefully they're serious about the end of free upgrades because hopefully I'll then be free of this shit.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  5. Yeah right by mea2214 · · Score: 2

    I'd rather contact that Nigerian Prince who keeps emailing me than fall for this.

    1. Re:Yeah right by Tablizer · · Score: 2

      I'd rather contact that Nigerian Prince...

      He's now an H1B working for MS

  6. "Convenience"? by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    As in "convenience store"? Costs and arm and a leg and 10 times what it should, and in the end you don't get what you really need anyway?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  7. Re:I betcha! by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 2

    Where did you find this?

    I found a list of KB's _NOT_ included, and a .XLS list of the files in the update, but those were the actual files of the updates, not the KB-update packages listed here: https://support.microsoft.com/...

    --
    -- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
  8. Does this mean by taustin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    that when I reinstall Windows 7 SP 1 I won't have to wait 24 hours for automatic Windows Updates to run the first round of patches, because the list of updates is so big the manual update system chokes on it?

    Seriously, Microsoft, this should have been done a year ago for that reason alone.

    1. Re:Does this mean by taustin · · Score: 2

      Sure they can. Windows 10 will have updates that actively remove functionality. For instance, by adding more and more (and more and more and more) ads, they remove the functionality of actually being able to use the computer.

      (Plus, you left out 8.1, which was the SP for 8.)

  9. Monthly rollups are the real news, and its bad. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    We are going to get the non-security updates force-fed to us. It is all or nothing. You don't want Windows 10, but you will get the bad practices of it anyway.

    https://blogs.technet.microsof...

    " Also today we are announcing that non-security updates for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 (as well as Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2) will be available as a monthly rollup (fixes rolled up together into a single update). Each month, we will release a single update containing all of the non-security fixes for that month. We are making this change â" shifting to rollup updates, to improve the reliability and quality of our updates.

    These fixes will be available through Windows Update, WSUS, and SCCM as well as the Microsoft Update catalog. We hope this monthly rollup update simplifies your process of keeping Windows 7, and 8.1 up-to-date."

    Also note the part (not quoted above) where Microsoft states that updates will no longer be available from the Download Center, but only from the Microsoft Update Catalog. The Internet Explorer / Active-X only abomination.

  10. Re:I betcha! by pezpunk · · Score: 3, Funny

    not force. hound, trick, annoy, mislead, badger, pester, cajole, deceive, manipulate, and confuse, yes, but not force.

    --
    i could live a little longer in this prison
  11. Re:I betcha! by WheezyJoe · · Score: 2

    Exactly right. See here for a tool to disable it: GWX_control_panel. Been using it for months, nag-free.

    --
    Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
  12. Re:Haters are WRONG! by WheezyJoe · · Score: 2

    Doesn't GWX Control Panel solve the problem? I installed this little app months ago to prevent unintended upgrades to 10 and just plain naggery, and I haven't seen anything since. But I also avoid "optional" updates from Microsoft, and only install those labeled "critical" or "security". Has anyone run this tool and still gotten nagged by Microsoft to update, like some "optional" update that defeats this tool?

    --
    Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
  13. Microsoft sockpuppet alert! by blind+biker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I've noticed many times before that Microsoft paid shills swirl the Slashdot forum posting lies and thinly veiled FUD - and usually there are a few sockpuppet accounts ready to mod them up. Please folks, don't fall for this paid propaganda machine.

    These sockpuppets will possibly mod this post down, but no matter, I'll repost again.

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
  14. Re:Haters are WRONG! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Everyone posting is saying "OMG, it's full of spyware! I'm NEVER going to install this...."

    That would be a mistake.

    Since the introduction of Windows 10, the windows update servers that are serving the patches for Windows 7 have become unbearably slow. It now takes almost a whole day to download and install the 200+ updates.

    Instead, you can just install this rollup package, and save yourself several hours of wating to install updates. This is a **GOOD** thing, people!

    This post is retarded. There are a couple of updates that are included that I *don't* want. Do you really think that the convenience of getting updates faster by using this rollup changes my position on whether or not I want the unwanted updates?