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M$ Tangled in Own WU Confusion

They're still too greedy to do the right thing.



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Like a bees to honey malware flies to Windows. Obstinately refusing to gut their endemically insecure system, Microsoft choose instead to force unconditional updates on their users all in an effort not to avoid a new outbreak Armageddon but to salvage some of their irretrievably crumbling PR image. But now the increasingly confused pinheads in Redmond have outdone themselves again.

The stealth update M$ recently applied to Windows 'computers' - overriding user settings to not accept further downloads and further incurring the scorn of the computing community - have led to yet more entanglements.

As things turn out the update conflicts with the 'repair' facility used intermittently by Windows lusers when their systems, despite all the automatic updates, turn to shit and they're forced to reinstall everything all over again. [Either that or toss the shite in the skip and go back to PC World. Ed.]

When Windows lusers attempt to reinstall system files - something that's absolutely necessary because Windows can't prevent malware from overwriting them - the system proper is 'rolled back' to a 'pristine' state - in itself a good thing.

But this also wipes out the never ending story of additional security updates Windows lusers need to pretend they're safe. And for the unfortunate klutzes still using IE it rolls that back too.

Scott Dunn of Windows Secrets was able to reproduce this mess on a test machine: when Windows Update attempts to download the most recent patches Microsoft's all-knowing website merely states the following.

'A problem on your computer is preventing the updates from being downloaded or installed.'

Scott erroneously assumes most Windows lusers will never attempt a repair install; he's overlooking the fact most Windows lusers never attempt anything - but instead pay PC repairmen to do it for them. And said repairmen will find themselves in this situation instead. But Scott does point out that isolating the issue - given the typically unhelpful diagnostic offered by the M$ web page - is not a simple matter.

IT GETS WORSE

And beginning last July it is no longer possible for Windows lusers to accept automatic updates without first applying the stealth patch. If user settings allow automatic updates then the stealth patch is applied - in stealth. Otherwise no.

It's down to the DLLs: things are so loose and chaotic today on Windows that all the shared libraries have to be 'registered'. [Note this still doesn't stop malware from just overwriting them willy-nilly. Some security system. Ed.]

DLLs from this year, DLLs from that year: it's never ending confusion. Brought upon the Windows luser community by a corporation consumed by greed who absolutely refuse to do the right thing: gut the current architecture and start all over again. It's not technology Microsoft are purveying now - it's junk.

You Can Save Yourself

It is possible to fix all these issues manually. Today at any rate. For more information see the links below. For a knock on the head that really cures your ills, visit the nearest Linux or OS X site and get a clue to change your online life.

See Also
TMO: XP Stealth Update Worse Than Believed
Windows Secrets: Stealth Windows update prevents XP repair
Michael Stevens Tech: How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install

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