Microsoft Botches More Patches In Latest Automatic Update

snydeq writes "'No sooner did Microsoft release the latest round of Black Tuesday patches than screams of agony began sounding all over the Internet,' writes Woody Leonhard, reporting on verified problems with Microsoft Automatic Updates KB 2817630, KB 2810009, KB 2760411, KB 2760588, and KB 2760583. The latest round of MS Auto Update hell comes on the heels of one of the worst runs in MS Patch Tuesday history — and just in time for Microsoft to expand the scope of its automatic update damage. 'Does this make you feel warm and fuzzy about automatic app updates in Windows 8.1?'"

This is why I have a 1 week delayed install policy

[dicobalt]

It's simple but effective.

Re:This is why I have a 1 week delayed install pol

[tftp]

I, personally, have even better install policy: off. The disruption from MS patches exceeds the pain from defects in the OS.

Re:This is why I have a 1 week delayed install pol

[fekmist]

I used to have this policy as well, until I went GNU/Linux for 99% of the time. The 1% on Windows I use to play games but it is rare and seeing as Linux is getting more games nowadays I might go 100% soon enough.

Beta Is the New Gold Master

[organgtool]

It's shit like this that forces me to turn off automatic updates and wait a month before manually applying updates. And it's not just a Microsoft problem - I have also seen similar issues from Apple and Canonical.

Re:way overblown

[Nimey]

Because there's a vocal bunch on Slashdot who get excited by a chance to hate on things, especially [Microsoft|Google|Sony|the government].

Re:This is why I have a 1 week delayed install pol

[Nerdfest]

It's free, it's fast, it's open, it's reliable, and it's not back-doored by the NSA?

Re:way overblown

[Anonymous Coward]

> worst IT dept. in the world.

Typical Microsoft cultist. You lash out and attack and blame everyone but the people responsible. The Microsoft update took over eight hours to run, most of it because of KB2868116, on a brand new clean install of Windows 7. How is that our IT department's fault? It isn't. Please stop with your irrational attacks and irrational defense of Microsoft garbage.

Re:This is why I have a 1 week delayed install pol

[Chryana]

I used to run Linux on my desktop (and I still run it on one of my laptops), and honestly Linux has nothing, nothing to envy to Windows in regards to troublesome updates. True, updates to Linux are to the whole environment, while you have to update nearly everything by hand on Windows, but at least on Windows the programs still work after the update. On Ubuntu and once or twice Debian testing, I've had the following software stop working: Nvidia driver (no gui, joy), mpd, OSS4, SSHFS, dm-crypt /tmp and swap, wireless driver. Nvidia and wireless drivers are especially annoying in that I used to have fiddle with them on every kernel update (plus, I have to find a cable to plug my laptop to ethernet, how quaint). SSHFS, mpd and dm-crypt happened on an upgrade from a major version to the next, but OSS4 and the drivers just broke out of the blue. I don't think I ever upgraded from a major version of Ubuntu to the next without issues.

Re:way overblown

[Anonymous Coward]

1) Not on my "brand new clean install" it didn't.

2) Why are you running updates during work hours?

3) Why are you running updates without testing them first?

I'm not defending MS. I'm attacking your fucking awful IT department.

Re:This is why I have a 1 week delayed install pol

[Zontar The Mindless]

Ubuntu != Linux.

And "Debian testing" is called "testing" for a reason. See if you can figure out what that is.

Jesus Christ

[Blakey Rat]

Did you used to write propaganda for the Nazis? Give the rhetoric a rest and just report the facts, please.

Re:This is why I have a 1 week delayed install pol

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

And with Linux, you get the free bonus that if you want to update anything that isn't part of your standard distribution, you're completely safe from unintended side effects. It's now been mathematically proven that no way exists to install out-of-band patches that does not also corrupt the known laws of physics, resulting in a subtle cascade effect that starts unnoticed but will ultimately invert the polarity of the sysadmin's cerebral cortex six months later and cause their brain to explode all over the nearest wall. Therefore no-one is actually foolish enough to try this any more, unless they really are planning to recompile their kernel, reformat their disks and recreate their LVM set-up, and then rebuild every other piece of software from scratch with the latest system libraries and a new GCC flag so it's all still compatible.

Seriously, please don't pretend Linux systems are somehow more maintainable than Windows ones because every now and then MS screw up. Linux systems are absurdly unmaintainable if you stray outside of the controlled environment of a well-managed distribution, and this is a direct result of the architectural foundations and established standards of Linux itself.

Re:This is why I have a 1 week delayed install pol

[Blakey Rat]

Use another distro, obviously you're doing something wrong and it's all your fault, you must have a weird configuration nobody else in the universe has, well it's open source you can go fix the updates yourself, maybe you're just not smart enough to run a sophisticated OS like Linux, etc etc etc etc.

Just going through the litany of replies you'll get to save some time.

Re:way overblown

[Dracos]

You mean those notification bubbles that always stay on screen until the very moment you move the mouse with the intent of clicking on it?

Re:This is why I have a 1 week delayed install pol

[jsepeta]

weeks? YEARS in some cases.

Re:This is why I have a 1 week delayed install pol

[bigstrat2003]

Let's address those point-by-point.

• Free: fair enough.
• Fast: Windows is plenty fast enough, and has been for quite some time.
• Open: who cares? Being open source doesn't matter for the vast majority of people, even power users.
• Reliable: Windows is also plenty reliable enough. We aren't on Win95 any more.
• Not back-doored by the NSA: for all 99% of people know, Linux is back-doored by the NSA to high heaven. The ability to inspect the source code means nothing when you aren't qualified, nor in possession of a trusted contact who is qualified, to find vulnerabilities in the source code. Linux's lack of back doors is taken by most people on faith... the same as Windows.

So out of your list, the only valid point is "free". And perhaps applications, depending on if you need to use an app which is Linux-specific. But otherwise it's not a compelling argument you just made. And hey, if you have no need of applications which run on Windows and want to take advantage of the Linux price point (or just prefer the OS), God bless you. But Linux advocates also need to cut it out with this superiority complex nonsense. Linux and Windows are both perfectly serviceable operating systems which may or may not be superior depending on your needs. Saying one is inherently better than the other is asinine.

Re:This is why I have a 1 week delayed install pol

[Anonymous Coward]

Nah, I can understand the guy. No matter how wonderful the person you choose, sometimes you just want them to go away so you can be alone. That's difficult when you're married.