This is one reason I'm switching to Linux. Linux is open-source. I trust it much more. The concept of paying $100 to $200 for something that is inherently worth much closer to $10 is ridiculous. Monopoly abuse to the extreme.

Windows eventually installed all the updates it wanted to on my system. There are a few I don't want but get any way. Especially notable is the Windows Genuine Advantage update. I bought my Windows XP from Office Max I don't need Microsoft corporation telling me what to believe or hassling me about my purchase. I set the system to ask for permission but it installed everything any way. Its just an extra piece of junk I have to deal with and now its on my system bogging it down to some tiny degree. Frankly I don't trust Microsoft at all to not snoop through my personal information on my computer and send it to their corporation using the update service. However, the update service is worth the increased security it provides.

This happened with my previous Windows install as well.

Ive done many re-installs on machines in the last few months and each time i turn the updates off but they start downloading the WGA program anyway. They then try to get you to install the program on every reboot.

This can be resolved by deleting the contents of the folder

Windows\System32\KB905474


[edit on 27-6-2009 by VitalOverdose]

Great post OP.... I was having similar problems with my old computer, updates kept coming along telling me i needed to update because some hacker could get into my system so at first i would update & update until my computer was content but then i saw these updates were just taking up way too much memory so i started deleting a whole bunch of them and the system still worked normally... there were no hackers trying to get into my system etc...

I've just upgraded to a new computer and installed everything from the Microsoft site that i wanted and will probably get the bubble telling me there is something new every day until it catches up on itself but i was really getting suspicious about all those updates!!

BTW I have mine set to tell me when downloads are available but not to install anything.....

I was just wondering if anyone has actually read the terms of use agreements and whether or not it states that they reserve the right to update when they want to. I have to admit I haven't. So I just accept that it's happening.

This happens every once in a while with Microsoft. It certainly is nothing new.

I manage 4 Server Farms in 4 different Data Centers, almost all of which are running Microsoft Windows Server exclusively (except DNS Services which are flavors of *NIX). 9 out of 10 of the Security Updates that are released on Patch Tuesday do as they should and await the criteria you have set for either download or installation. However at least once a year they get pushed out regardless of your settings in Windows, and force a reboot of your system. For normal workstations, this isn't too big of a problem, but for Mission Critical Servers that millions of people depend upon, and account for potentially millions of dollars of lost revenue when they are automatically restarted outside of their Scheduled Maintenance, you tend to notice when this happens (as do all of your customers who become highly agitated and irate).

Registry hacks can't prevent it. I've tried in vain.

The only thing more ironic are these same Critical Security Patches that rather than fix a Security Vulnerability in a Microsoft Product just disable it entirely (last month one of these Critical Security Patches disabled Microsoft FrontPage Extensions on Windows Server products because Microsoft FrontPage was too vulnerable and insecure. Rather than fix the vulnerability their product had, they blocked their own product from working permanently with their Windows Server line. Imagine how to explain to customers that they can't connect anymore because the software they purchased Microsoft deemed too broken and costly to fix, so they just disabled it instead!)

I don't think it's a conspiracy, I just think that sometimes Microsoft gets caught with a huge gaping vulnerability the size of Texas in their software when they've marketed the heck out of it being more secure than the competition, so they force these updates for the betterment of all, whether you want them installed or not. Believe me, SysAdmins who'd rather test out these updates in a controlled environment first before rolling it out to thousands or tens of thousands of workstations and servers are the ones most annoyed by this behavior at Microsoft.

Yea and there are also reports coming in about sightings of bigfoot at the local state fair.

Alien Mind

Don't have automatic update service turned on.
Have it disabled and check them manually.
Oh yeah, you have to turn automatic updates on to use windows update.
Funny that isn't it?Perhaps if you forget to turn it off?
Most of them are rubbish anyway.

my efforts have done no good whatsoever. When I go into the settings, they are as I left them, but completely disregarded. It will also update anytime it likes. My computer is pretty fast generally, but not when microsoft is downloading -no-telling-what---that I don't want.

I notice when things "slow down", a while later I get the message "updates completed....please restart your computer".


PERSONAL COMPUTER my derriere.
I guess Bill Gates knows whats best for us too.

Hmmmm..... I used to think my computer had a mind of it's own too

Maybe you should get your computer seen by a computer expert.... may be something wrong with the main computer bus board & components or could be some code which is out of date or out of place!!

"Is Windows Installing Updates Without Permission?"

Nope. You're just computer illiterate. Also, I've never had a microsoft update break anything.

yep, my computers does this. I even got forced to download some new software to figure out if I have a pirated copy which didn't detect any pirated software. All this was done without asking for permission.

Not just that since on one computer I have 2 operating systems. Well windows detected that I had linux partician drive. So what did it do? oh ya it wiped it clean and decided without my permission to reformat it to ntfs. Then once I restarted my computer I was not able to start my computer and ended up losing my website files and many important files like my college essay.

So I seen many cases of this. I hope google OS is way better then windows OSES so Microsoft can go out of business since their major sales come from Windows OSES and no it's not really much from individual people but mostly from licenses from businesses and computer repair shops that is how Microsoft makes their money well most of it.

Question:

I see in another post I remarked that these unsolicited updates could start to slow my computer down "in a year or so". Well, that was very optimistic! It's already slowing it down. All these updates.


But anyway, I've forgotten (can't find) those list of updates where you can go in and delete them. (Select the ones you want to delete).

Can anyone tell me how to get there? lol. I'm running window XP-pro. (please remember that I have everything checked appropriately NOT to auto-update).

Thanks,
liw