The Computer Corner
By Charles Miller,  Oct 6, 2006

Monthly window washing

It comes around once a month—next week is Patch Tuesday. Many people who work in IT, information technology, call it Black Tuesday.

Starting in the late 1990s with the release of Windows Me, Microsoft included a “Windows Update” feature. This was tied to Microsoft’s website and would check for patches and security updates to Windows. The concept was soon upgraded to include other Microsoft products, such as their Office suite.

The Windows Update system soon was found to have two glaring deficiencies affecting users at opposite ends of the spectrum.

The not-so-computer-literate users did not use the Windows Update because they were unaware it even existed. Professional IT support people who did use it soon became frustrated by the absence of a planned schedule that would make it easier to deploy the updates on dozens or hundreds of computers at a time. In the beginning, Microsoft would make updates available on an intermittent basis without much thought to scheduling.

Microsoft's solution was to introduce the “Automatic Update” feature and to informally schedule all the updates and patches to be released on the second Tuesday of each month. On occasion, an important update is deemed too critical to wait until the next month and is released immediately, but most patches are released on the schedule.

IT people are generally pleased to have Microsoft accumulate patches over a period of one month and then release them all at once on a scheduled basis. This day was set not too close to the beginning of the week, and far enough from the end of the week to allow any problems to be fixed before the weekend. That is the way it was supposed to work.

Yet some of the Microsoft updates have not gone as planned. It is a cruel coincidence that one of the worst was in the month of October, the same month as the anniversary of the original Black Tuesday, the stock market crash of October 29, 1929.

Windows XP comes out of the box with the Microsoft Update feature enabled, and so some users automatically receive all the critical updates. The problem, though, is that the program default is to carry out this update at 3am, and that only works if the computer is left running all night.

Many users of Windows XP, being fearful of the Windows Genuine Advantage program and the possibility of having their use of pirated software exposed, have disabled the Microsoft Update feature. This is not a good idea.

Even the users of pirated copies of Windows XP can continue to receive the most important security updates if they leave the Windows Update feature enabled.

The configuration of the Automatic Updates is accessed through the Control Panel. Click on Start/Settings/Control Panel. Look for the System icon and double-click on it. Click on the “Automatic Updates” tab.

I recommend setting to “Automatic” and choosing a time of day when the computer is likely to be turned on.

For laptop users, I recommend choosing “Notify me…” so that you will receive a notification of the needed updates. This will prevent your laptop from starting to download 15 minutes’ worth of updates every time you stop in the Jardín to check your email. You can then download and install the updates at a convenient time.


Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant, a frequent visitor to San Miguel since 1981 and now practically a full-time resident. He may be contacted at 044-415-153-8528 or email FAQ@SMAguru.com