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Microsoft Admits It Updated Some Windows 10 Computers To Newest Build Despite Users Telling It Not To Do That (bleepingcomputer.com)
Catalin Cimpanu, writing for BleepingComputer: The admission came in a knowledge base article updated last week. Not all users of older Windows versions were forcibly updated, but only those whose machines were running Windows 10 v1703 (Creators Update). This is the version where Microsoft added special controls to the Windows Update setting section that allow users to pause OS updates in case they have driver or other hardware issues with the latest OS version. But according to reports, a Microsoft snafu ignored these settings and forcibly updated some users to Windows 10 v1709 (Fall Creators Update).
I've been using a Mac for a long time now. The main reason I switched at the time, is that Windows security updates were fickle like this - they would just drop in unannounced and start modifying things. It's depressing to see this is basically still the case.
On a Mac, you can just let an update sit essentially forever and truly upgrade on your own schedule. Don't want to take in patches or software updates until you've finished some critical work? Well that's fine. Or maybe wait two years to update a secondary laptop that's working perfectly well for light use? Sure why not. Maybe you like to wait a while for user reviews of an update to come in for some less common hardware you are using? Good idea!
On Windows systems I used to own, every time I connected to the internet felt like a gamble, would I be able to use this system this morning? Or indeed for the whole day at all if an update went sideways? I literally sometimes would use the system offline specifically to avoid the risk of updating.
I firmly believe the main reason Windows have stayed as primary systems in so many companies, is that in a corporate environment updates are managed by IT and so come in at generally convenient times (though even there I was stuffed a few times when I came in on the weekend to do some programming and an update would drop).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
but I wanted to run without the latest security patches!!!
With Windows It's not always that simple. Sometimes you just want to reboot quickly or access your machine in a hurry and find yourself stuck installing a lengthy patch cluster so if you are in a hurry and the damn "Try Later" button is not working it can be very annoying.
I'm pretty sure that was the Spectre/Meltdown update and not the 1709 update the caused this. Something similar happened with BIOS-booting PCs too. I've come across 4 or 5 and the fix has been to manually uninstall the update package in the preboot environment after fixing the bootloader. Sometimes reinstalling the update worked fine.
I used/supported Windows for 20 years as a sysadmin. When I retired in 2010, I decided I was done with anything MS, and switched my home systems from dualboot Win7/Linux to JUST Linux. Since I'd been using Linux off/on since 1994, starting with Slackware, it was a particularly easy "switch".. Now I laugh my ass off at the abuse MS heaps on those who, for whatever reason, STILL us MS products, especially Windows 10. Being retired, I have copious "playtime" and I tried Windows 10 when it first came out and was astounded at the lengths MS went to to get their product on every possible machine. They took a LOT of tricks out the malware writers playbook to shovel their shit everywhere they could.
These endless reports of Windows doing whatEVER the hell it wants on computers *should* tell all you need to know about *your* computer, if you still use Windows.. hint: *YOUR* computer has become MS's computer, and they just let you use it, except when they want to use it.. As I said, ENDLESS ENTERTAINMENT....
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
I can confirm what the others are saying - disabling the Windows Update service doesn't work to stop this. I've disabled it for months due to an incompatibility with the graphics drivers it kept trying to install. A few weeks ago, the same time I started getting messages saying I *had* to update to 1709, the Update service started re-enabling itself without my authorization.
I couldn't use 1709 because for some reason it broke about a third of my installed apps, but the damn thing kept installing itself. It caused me all kinds of headaches, including almost causing me to go over my ISP's quota because it kept downloading the 1709 update again (5 GB) every time I rolled it back so I could use my computer. Eventually I gave up, blocked off an evening so I could reinstall all the apps it broke. That's when I discovered not only were the apps broken, they couldn't be uninstalled nor reinstalled. I ended up having to roll back the 1709 update, uninstall the affected apps (which uninstalled fine in the previous version), do the 1709 update, then reinstall the broken (now uninstalled) apps. Didn't finish until well past 3 am.
I'm seriously thinking of going to go back to Windows 7.
Goldfinger's Rule, as chronicled by I. Fleming, tells us that "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action."
From the article: "This incident marks the third time in the past year when Microsoft has mistakenly updated v1703 users to v1709. It happened before in November 2017 and January 2018 when Patch Tuesday security updates accidentally upgraded some users."
The rule would seem to apply.
It was a bug the FIRST time they did it.
It was a screwup the SECOND time they did it.
This is the THIRD time they've done it. From the article: "This incident marks the third time in the past year when Microsoft has mistakenly updated v1703 users to v1709. It happened before in November 2017 and January 2018 when Patch Tuesday security updates accidentally upgraded some users."
Goldfinger's Rule: "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action."
Claiming that this is just another bug... Sorry, Elmo, that dog just won't hunt.