The Computer Corner
Take advantage of Windows automatic updates
By Charles Miller

To update or not to update, that is the question. This week an Atención reader quoted me a post from a web forum where answers and opinions are exchanged. The subject was all those automatic updates your computer can do; the contributor was Bobbye.

The first suggestion was: “I encourage you not to set up for automatic updates… except for… antivirus. The reasons: any update can potentially cause a problem on the system. The more auto-updates you are getting, the more difficult it would be to locate the source of a problem if you had one.”

I am inclined to agree with this so far. Many programs include auto-update functionality and permitting all of them to update themselves any time they want can indeed open the door to the result described.

Bobbye continued, “Secondly, regarding Windows Updates, you do not need all the updates Microsoft automatically sends. It should be your choice and your responsibility. By choosing either (1) ‘download but don’t install’ or (2) ‘don’t download or install, inform me,’ you can choose the Custom function, see what an update is for, determine if you need it, or want it.”

Here Bobbye and I part company. Microsoft’s updates are released on a known schedule, the second Tuesday of each month. When something goes wrong then, we all know who to blame, though there have been few instances when any blame needed to be assigned. Not all users want to be saddled with the responsibility of updating their systems manually every month or having to decide if they need to do so.

All the Microsoft updates are structured to create a System Restore point prior to installing themselves. Were anything ever to go wrong with a particular update, reversing the changes would be a simple matter of using the Microsoft System Restore utility.

The most compelling reason to take advantage of the automatic update feature in Microsoft Windows is this—when Microsoft releases a security update that amounts to a public announcement sent to every hacker and every virus writer on earth that there is a vulnerability in Windows waiting to be exploited. Believe me, all those hooligans jump right on that information because they know there are a lot of users out there following Bobbye’s advice and those users are unprotected.

Next Bobbye states that, “Internet Explorer v7 was included in the Windows Updates. It was not an ‘upgrade’ for IE6; it was a new version.” Picky, picky! Whether you prefer to call IE7 an upgrade to IE6 or a new version is but a question of semantics.

Looking past the wordplay, though, the more important question is related to the relative importance assigned to one upgrade versus another. Microsoft classifies their updates as either “High Priority” or “Software, Optional.” The “High Priority” updates can be automatically installed without user intervention whereas “Optional” updates sit there waiting for someone to take action. There never seems to be a shortage of opinions as to whether an update should be classified as “High Priority” or “Optional.”

Bobbye finishes with, “I feel strongly that any user needs to retain control over the system.” It is hard to disagree with that statement, although I feel that Bobbye and I see different paths to that end.

I will continue to recommend that everyone take advantage of the automatic update feature in Windows.

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 044-415-101-8528 or email FAQ8 (at) SMAguru.com.