SW Update | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Mon, 29 Jun 2015 08:06:21 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png SW Update | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Samsung to stop disabling Windows Update this week https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/matthew-wilson/samsung-to-stop-disabling-windows-update-this-week/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/matthew-wilson/samsung-to-stop-disabling-windows-update-this-week/#comments Mon, 29 Jun 2015 08:04:52 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=256469 Last week, Samsung ran in to quite the PR nightmare when it was discovered that the company's own SW Update tool contained a little program titled ‘Disable_WindowsUpdate.exe', which did exactly what the name suggests. Samsung laptop owners weren't happy and neither was Microsoft. Microsoft was swift to point out that disabling the Windows Update tool …

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Last week, Samsung ran in to quite the PR nightmare when it was discovered that the company's own SW Update tool contained a little program titled ‘Disable_WindowsUpdate.exe', which did exactly what the name suggests. Samsung laptop owners weren't happy and neither was Microsoft.

Microsoft was swift to point out that disabling the Windows Update tool can put users' machines at risk. We also learned that Samsung was likely disabling Windows Update due to compatibility issues with the hardware used in its laptops as Windows would overwrite the drivers for things like USB 3.0 ports, which would then cause them to stop working.

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While at the time Samsung attempted to say that it wasn't disabling Windows Update but merely ‘giving consumers a choice' when it came to using Microsoft's standard update tool, the company has now come around and is saying that it will remove the Disable_WindowsUpdate.exe file in an upcoming patch for SW Update.

In a statement sent to VentureBeat, the company said: “We will be issuing a patch through the Samsung Software Update notification process to revert back to the recommended automatic Windows Update settings within a few days”.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Samsung was certainly playing a dodgy game by disabling Windows Update by default on its laptops, which comes with a range of security risks.However, it looks like the issue is set to be fixed this week, which is good news for any Samsung laptop owners. 

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It looks like Samsung has been messing with Windows Update https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/it-looks-like-samsung-has-been-messing-with-windows-update/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/it-looks-like-samsung-has-been-messing-with-windows-update/#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2015 14:49:07 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=256265 It looks like Samsung has been messing around with the Windows Update feature on its own laptops, which is causing quite a stir this week. According to Microsoft's Patrick Barker, Samsung has a program titled ‘Disable_Windowsupdate.exe' as part of its own Samsung branded computer update tool called SW Update. It turns out that Samsung was …

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It looks like Samsung has been messing around with the Windows Update feature on its own laptops, which is causing quite a stir this week. According to Microsoft's Patrick Barker, Samsung has a program titled ‘Disable_Windowsupdate.exe' as part of its own Samsung branded computer update tool called SW Update.

It turns out that Samsung was preventing the Windows Update from automatically running in the background on its laptops in order to push users in to using the SW Update tool or finding Microsoft's latest updates manually. As you would expect, Microsoft itself isn't too happy about the discovery as it can pose a security risk to leave Windows Update off entirely. For a lot of users, this may have meant that some of them were missing important fixes for Windows, especially those without a ton of technical knowledge.

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In a statement sent to VentureBeat, a Microsoft Spokesperson said: “Windows Update remains a critical component of our security commitment to our customers. We do not recommend disabling or modifying Windows Update in any way as this could expose a customer to increased security risks. We are in contact with Samsung to address this issue.”

Now according to Patrick Barker, who did some digging around, this all comes down to the fact that Windows Update installs default drivers for hardware on the laptop and Samsung's particular hardware may not be compatible with these updates. So to stop Samsung's own software from being overwritten by Windows, it disabled the update feature.

In a statement sent out to multiple publications, including The Inquirer, Samsung officially responded to these allegations, saying: “It is not true that we are blocking a Windows 8.1 operating system update on our computers. As part of our commitment to consumer satisfaction, we are providing our users with the option to choose if and when they want to update the Windows software on their products.”

You can read the full report from Barker, HERE.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Samsung is clearly playing some shady games with the Windows Update tool. The simple solution would just be to use hardware compatible with Windows but it seems Samsung would rather go down this route. I would recommend reading the full report from Patrick Barker as there is some pretty shady stuff in there and lots of technical expertise. Do any of you own a Samsung laptop? Have you had any issues with Windows Update? 

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