Microsoft has brass balls installing its CRAP on MY machine!
I just got a new notebook computer (yes, cross it off the new year’s resolutions, it’s bought and paid for.) So in the usual setup what do I have to do? Wade through a ton of SECURITY UPDATES from those wonderfully security conscious people in Redmond, Microsoft. You know. The ones who say they have the best product and then spend three or more years after the release fixing the security holes in it.
All I was installing were SECURITY UPDATES and HOTFIXES. Nothing else, I want to keep this laptop reasonably cruft free since it’s my travel and fun box and I won’t need all the heavy software ammunition I’ve got on the desktop. And being Microsoft their stuff takes awhile to install . . . so I get the updates started and start doing stuff around the house while they’re running. When I check back in a bit what do I see? My firewall has caught a program trying to access the internet. What program? Microsoft’s version of Instant Messenger. Wait a minute. I never installed that insecure piece of manure! How the HELL did that get on my nice new clean machine?
Microsoft (or should I say Big Brother) has decided I need this INSECURE POOR EXCUSE FOR A PIECE OF SOFTWARE, whether I want it or not. Yes, insecure. They’ve chosen to install this on my machine during a SECURITY UPDATE. (Does anyone else see the irony here???) And of course they’ll say I gave them permission when I chose to do the security updates and clicked the radio button to accept their licensing . . . YOU’VE GOT BRASS ONES Microsoft!
Technorati Tags: SECURITY UPDATES, Microsoft, SECURITY UPDATES, HOTFIXES, YOU’VE GOT BRASS ONES Microsoft
February 15th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
Er…. I DID tell you, did I not, about the only time I’ve ever turned my back on a format/reinstall of ANY windows OS, to return to find out that not only had IE accessed the ‘net without my permission, but that in supposedly simply going to the MS site to “check for updates” it grabbed a virus while it was there….
February 15th, 2006 at 6:14 pm
*sigh* No, you didn’t, but it doesn’t surprise me in the least. It’s why I made sure to install the AV and the firewall BEFORE I went to the MS update site.
February 15th, 2006 at 8:52 pm
Ah…. well, you must be the only person in the world I did NOT scream it to loud and long…. oh. Maybe it was before we “met”.
But see, I didn’t even go to the MS updates site - this happened when IE decided to access MS on its own to see if there were any “install” updates…. and it’s supposed to wait until you tell it “yes” before it does anything….
Yeah right.
February 16th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
And it takes you ten button clicks in various places to turn off Automatic Updates(with the MS nag window version of a greek chorus asking at every step, “Are you SURE you want to turn off Automatic Updates?” Yes, I am for sure damned sure! Leave me the f*** alone!) I know. Oh, and then you run a hotfix and it turns them back on for you DESPITE your wishes that they be turned OFF. Thank the Big Kahuna for Zone Alarm, which stops it dead in its tracks . . .
February 17th, 2006 at 8:39 pm
Yeah…. wonder what we did before ZA?