Talk:Windows Update

Red links in the See also section are based on the following...

• http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&newwindow=1&q=KB+978706+site%3Awww.microsoft.com&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&oq=

--222.67.212.133 (talk) 08:13, 12 February 2010 (UTC)

The above patch is neither traceable from the microsoft website nor from my computer. Please bear in mind that this patch pop up onto my PC screen automatically--222.67.212.133 (talk) 08:26, 12 February 2010 (UTC)

The following is a traceable one

• http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=889482FC-5F56-4A38-B838-DE776FD4138C&displaylang=en

--222.67.212.133 (talk) 08:21, 12 February 2010 (UTC)

Where does Windows Update download its files to for each OS (Windows 95, Windows 98, XP, Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Vista, Windows 7 etc...)

I know in most of the OS's it stores it to the C:\Windows\ directory if that is the installation directory of Windows, but I dont seem to find where it stores those downloaded files in Windows 7. Any clues to where it may be storing those in Windows 7? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.253.2.17 (talk) 19:05, 9 June 2010 (UTC)

For Windows XP (all variants as far as I know), it is located in C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download. Although most updates are universal, there are many that are machine specific. I have compared a laptop and a desktop to verify this.--Imwithid (talk) 06:43, 22 January 2011 (UTC)

Windows 95?

Since Windows Update first began with Windows 98, Microsoft Internet Explorer is available for Windows 95, and that also means that windowsupdate.microsoft.com is available for Windows 95. I've seen Windows 95's Windows Update? Should this be included with the article? From Me, WiiRocks566 □ 19:04, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

IIRC there was no automatic update system for Win95. You could use IE3 or IE4 to access the WindowsUpdate website, but you were on your own as to what you should download. No clear indication of importance. No indication whether you already had the update (important if your Win95 came with an OEM Service Release). Better than nothing, but sucky. Not "notable" IMHO. When I upgraded to Win98SE I got a real update service. 141.156.148.226 (talk) 16:57, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

Un-authorized update

There is some (old) news about Windows Update updating itself without users permission... is it worth to include? --SF007 (talk) 14:47, 15 October 2011 (UTC)

Statistics

The number of update users has no meaning whatsoever without knowing how many possible update users there are. If the section is to have any value, it ought to report the number of updates and the number of CVE bugs fixed, as well as the number of bugs reported. Guess I prefer facts over marketing spin. Does WP have a Discloser requirement yet for contributing editors? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.122.91.95 (talk) 05:15, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

Who can use it?

Who can use it, only microsoft? E.g. I get e.g. realtek updates too (but I don't get nvidea or canon updates) In window 7 Adobe-flash updates should come with windows updates too. --Lastwebpage (talk) 16:07, 1 June 2012 (UTC)

Windows Update is for Windows users, just for updating the Windows operating system and Internet Explorer. The operating system includes device drivers which have been provided to Microsoft by hardware manufacturers, such as Realtek and Intel, so that's why those updates are sometimes available. Although some Adobe products like Flash are made to integrate with Internet Explorer, they are not considered part of the operating system or Internet Explorer, so their updates are handled separately by Adobe.

Since the list of "software and components that aren't part of the operating system or Internet Explorer" is infinite, I don't know if the article can really be changed to explain this situation any better. —mjb (talk) 22:33, 1 June 2012 (UTC)

Intel RST problem

Hi, as you possibly know, after half-a-year of hard team work Microsoft recently managed to overcome the W10 update Intel RST problem. I've got no idea how many W10 users were unable to install updates which they paid for, but it's definitely tens of millions. Isn't it worth a mention here, in this article? == (from:) Krzysztof Leski (talk) 12:55, 27 September 2019 (UTC)

may wake up a computer automatically

Windows Update may wake up a computer automatically. This may happen to a laptop during transport, and cause untold damange.

• "2007-09-13 03:00:11:521 408 f4c AU The machine was woken up by Windows Update

Great. Well, according the event logs, it ran for another 1 hour and 45 minutes or so before the battery got sufficiently low for it to go into hibernate. So, apparently, Windows Update woke my laptop, on battery, in my laptop bag to install updates. It didn’t even bother to suspend it after the fact (gee, thanks), leaving the system to keep running until either it ran out of battery or something broke due to running in a confined place with zero ventilation." http://www.nynaeve.net/?p=160

• "Enabling Windows Update Power Management to automatically wake up the system to install scheduled updates (WSUS 3.0)" http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/1390-wsus-gpo-settings-for-the-real-world

• Enabling Windows Update Power Management to automatically wake up the system to install scheduled updates http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd939933%28v=ws.10%29.aspx

-96.237.4.73 (talk) 22:23, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Recent patches for unsupported systems

Over the weekend, Microsoft has released patches for Windows XP, XP 64-bit, Server 2003, and Windows 8 (original edition) to fix an exploit used by WannaCry, even though they have been long unsupported (Vista got the update in March before it got unsupported). Where can this be added? 166.82.255.141 (talk) 20:50, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

I know. My watchlist is bristling with edits to different Windows articles reporting just this. —Codename Lisa (talk) 04:40, 16 May 2017 (UTC)

Was the Windows Update website a web app?

@Codename Lisa: Regarding this, you need to crack open your history books and do some research. "Windows Update" in the Windows 95/early 98 era really was nothing more a web site with download links. It wasn't a "web app". You can see it described as a "web site" in places like here. You can see an example of what that looked like here or here, though, granted, it wasn't called "Windows Update" then. — Warren. ‘ talk , 18:21, 13 January 2018 (UTC)

Hello Warren

Sorry for seeing this late. (Why am I not receiving notifications these days?)t

I was a proud owner of Windows 98. One day, I collected enough money to purchase a prepaid dial-up Internet card. My first destination was the Windows Update website. It was not a static HTML page. Functionally, it was completely similar to the Windows Update applet in the Control Panel of Windows 7. [1] Sure, it wasn't as pretty and the layout was different. But, it offered a dynamically generated list of updates; there was check boxes for selecting them; and there was one button for installing them.

You can see it here:

• http://techgenix.com/w98updat/
• https://www.its.hku.hk/news/ccnews79/y2kpatch.htm

It was a full-fledged web app.

Best regrds,
Codename Lisa (talk) 19:04, 13 January 2018 (UTC)

You're talking about Windows 98 -- but the the text you updated talks about Windows 95. There was never an automatic update tool for Windows 95. (Also, that's the second time you've apologized for taking a long time to get back to me on something, when you really aren't taking long at all.) — Warren. ‘ talk , 00:02, 14 January 2018 (UTC)

Yeah, back then Windows Update was actually ActiveX. ViperSnake151  Talk  00:26, 14 January 2018 (UTC)

In the Windows 98 era, yes, but not before. The original retail version of Windows 95 didn't even ship with a web browser. — Warren. ‘ talk , 03:28, 14 January 2018 (UTC)

Hi again, Warren.

That's correct. That baffles me. And that piece of text was in the article before I started copyediting because I don't know what to do about it.

For example, take a look at revision 816487541, from 21 December 2017, and compare it with what I did:

revision 816487541

what I did

Windows Update was introduced as an Internet web site with the launch of Windows 95. A link to Windows Update on the Start Menu gave access to additional downloads for the operating system. At the time of Windows 98's release, Windows Update offered additional desktop themes, games, device driver updates, and optional components such as NetMeeting.[1] Windows 95 and Windows NT 4 were retroactively given the ability to access the Windows Update website, and download updates designed for those operating systems, starting with the release of versions of Internet Explorer 4 for those operating systems.

Windows Update was introduced as a web app with the launch of Windows 95. At the time of Windows 98's release, Windows Update offered additional desktop themes, games, device driver updates, and optional components such as NetMeeting.[1] Windows 95 and Windows NT 4 were retroactively given the ability to access the Windows Update website, and download updates designed for those operating systems, starting with the release of versions of Internet Explorer 4.

As you can see, I removed the blatantly false "A link to Windows Update on the Start Menu gave access to additional downloads for the operating system" because as you said, the original retail version of Windows 95 didn't even ship with a web browser, so the question of whether it was a static HTML page or a web app at that time is not applicable.

Let me investigate past revisions though. Something about the dual wiki-link to Windows 95 and no link to Windows 98 makes me wonder if vandalism has occured here.

Best regards,
Codename Lisa (talk) 05:36, 14 January 2018 (UTC)

Bingo! It was an instance of vandalism 8 years ago, by an anonymous editor with an Italian IP: revision 403176413. (If you enjoy condemning Italian mafia, it is time. )

I am fixing it. —Codename Lisa (talk) 05:49, 14 January 2018 (UTC)

Huh, how about that. Thanks for figuring that out. Anyways, the original, pre-vandalism version (which I wrote) stating that there was a link to Windows Update on the Start menu is still accurate when talking about Windows 98. I think that part can stay. — Warren. ‘ talk , 06:22, 14 January 2018 (UTC)

About a bad edit on this article

Someone decided to vent about WU in a page that is open to the public. I decided to revert it. If you want to complain about Windows Update, do it in a private note or in some sort of forum, not on a public article. SweetFountain178 (talk) 01:11, 11 September 2020 (UTC)

Carbon footprint

This article doesn't even discuss the carbon footprint of all of those cumulative windows updates. When people look back in twenty years in the middle of some serious ecological nightmares, no one will care what particular update model was used for some long-defunct operating systems, just what contribution did this make to climate change, and since that is, in the long term, the only important thing anyone will care about looking back, it should be in this article if at all possible to give it historical relevance. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.16.106.224 (talk) 07:32, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

Microsoft became a Carbon-neutral in 2013. It has pledged to become carbon-negative by 2030, at which point it has removed all Carbon-emissions its has produced since 1975.

I am more concerned about Carbon-emissions arising from dealing with Wikipedia trolls. Waysidesc (talk) 07:20, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Hotpatch capable

Great news! The latest security update was installed without a reboot!

https://img2.helpnetsecurity.com/posts2024/windows_update-650.webp 2A00:1370:8184:1869:89B1:95EB:6213:2635 (talk) 04:40, 16 October 2024 (UTC)