Windows Update Screws Up Again; Pissed Off Users Discover Desktop Search Auto Installed

from the not-what-the-IT-admin-ordered dept

A month ago, there was a story that made that rounds about Microsoft Windows' auto-update feature automatically installing stuff, even if people had turned off the auto-install option. This pissed off a lot of people, but we didn't write about it at the time, assuming it was a one-off glitch. Apparently not. Now reports are coming out that plenty of folks who had auto-update turned off are discovering that a recent patch automatically installed and began running Windows Desktop Search. Once installed, the app started indexing everything, chewing up resources. On top of that, if you want to uninstall WDS, you need to reboot your computer, which is quite a nuisance for many people. Needless to say plenty of folks are pissed off. The specific problem appears to be that this patch simply looked at whether or not a person had approved an earlier (from February) patch -- and if that had been installed, then this one was automatically installed as a "revision." It just so happens that it also included WDS -- even if it wasn't wanted. While the article notes that the Windows Server group had admitted it made a mistake, it doesn't read much like an admission or an apology. Rather, it's just an explanation, which doesn't seem to be placating pissed off users everywhere.

Filed Under: auto update, desktop search, windows
Companies: microsoft