sharke
Windows doesn't do automatic updates in the background, it does them all when you shut down/reboot, surely? Maybe it downloads them in the background and installs them on shutdown?
Windows will install while other programs are in use. The reboot usually reconfigures the software. Some updates are installed on reboot and others are install after they are downloaded. at least that is the way it works on my computer when I am running a bunch of updates. It will specify between downloading and installing.
Jonbouy
Interesting.
nobody would dispute that over that period of time stability of an OS gets improved.
There was one minor issue with one particular update in the last 5 months from what I can recall which was subsequently fixed.
The one thing that keeps me safe from this kind of thing and any kind of malware you care to name is having a strong policy of backing up the OS. System restore doesn't cut it. You need an imaging application that can backup or restore your entire OS in a matter of a few minutes per week.
If you'd found a particular issue with a specific update that would be useful but this kind of unfounded speculation over something that vaguely might or might not be an issue just undermines peoples confidence in whether their systems are working correctly or not.
Adopt a strong policy and remove any doubt. That can include incremental backups as in my case or only ever adopting full service packs. The responsibility is down to the administrator of your machine. Which is usually yourself.
btw I've not found any bogey men in the wood-pile on the latest round of updates. I always decline 'Skylight' and 'Bing Desktop'.
It figures if your machine worked perfectly when you took delivery of it and haven't updated a thing since it should still work perfectly, sometimes though you'll upgrade software or hardware and having the latest stability fixes to Windows may be just what's required if issues become apparent after such an upgrade. Being able to get back to any point before such a major change however is great security, especially when it can be done in a matter of a few minutes.
I was using Sonar with no problems. Then a banner came up Instructing me to reboot the computer to finish the install. I saved my project shut down Sonar and rebooted the computer. The problems I am having started after I rebooted the machine. These problems did not exist before I rebooted. While it may be a bug within Sonar and that is where the fix needs to come from. I find it mistrustful that this happened during a windows update while I was using Sonar with no problems.
I know how to shut services off. This is not an issue of malware unless you want to consider Sonar malware. I shut down most of the services I did not need. Windows update setting was set to ask before downloading. I don't know how it got changed back to the default setting.
I have used windows since 3.1 and there have been times when I received updates that have screwed everything up. So yes I suspect updates as well. Not so much the update as the config change. Still I am not saying that windows is the problem. I just know that the issues came about after an update.
I still have the issues and I am still looking for the solutions.