Microsoft upgrade blockers to expire
THE VOLE wants its Windows XP and Vista users to install its Service Packs, therefore it's going to disable the Service Pack Blocker Tool for both operating systems later this Spring.
The change will affect users who have the tools installed and also have Automatic Updates turned on in order to receive the monopolist's seemingly endless periodic security updates.
Users might have blocked Windows XP or Vista Service Pack upgrades because those break odd device-drivers, third-party software or in-house developed applications, or they might not want to suffer the disruption of installing the Service Pack and possibly having to then download and install additional fixes.
"The Service Pack Blocker Tool temporarily prevents the installation of a service pack through Windows Update, typically for one year after general availability of the service pack. We are announcing the upcoming expiration dates for the Service Pack Blocker Tool for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3," warned Windows blogger Brandon LeBlanc last Friday.
He went on to say that the upgrade blocking tool for Vista SP1 will expire April 28 and the one for XP SP3 will expire May 19.
Windows users who have Automatic Updates turned on will receive an alert, as will those users who check for updates manually - alerts about the Service Pack upgrades which all users will still be able to ignore.
LeBlanc wrote, "Microsoft strongly recommends all customers move to Windows Vista SP1 if they are running Windows Vista or Windows XP SP3 if they are running Windows XP." µ
L'Inq
Information Week
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Bearing in mind the issues with getting SP1 installed on vista this could be a problem (I´ve encountered several SP1 update fails the have necesitated accord to the Vole, reinstalls).
ah well, never did like it anyway. Is this forceware for windows 7 perhaps?
"seemingly endless periodic security updates" Dou don't want it? Do you like bugs in your OS?... sometimes you guys make very stupid and childish comments......... i'm sorry but i'm in a bad mood today :-p
Yep. I have a weird glitch where SP3 will NOT install properly for me. I hate the windows update notification. I really do hope that gets improved with windows 7.
Ronin clearly *is* in a bad mood. He's missed the point that Microsoft's main selling point for Win 7 is 'improved security'. It's always a help in marketing if you plug away at how poor the security of your old product was by continually talking about its 'vulnerabilities'...
But removing this block, well I suppose it will now allow them to produce a pack which nags at you to upgrade from your old OS.
Seem like M$ wanna gain control over OS, if get over 100% then I move to OSX or Linux. this is BS.Where is our right of freedom use when we purchased over 300 bucks for OS that is ridiculous, I tell you M$ that lose us. In future you might fall down like a ROME if u not careful with your action.
"seemingly endless periodic security updates"
Don't all OSes have updates?
My Ubunutu had a huge update last night (granted I haven't turned it on in a long while).
I think that people are misunderstanding the article. If I read it correctly, it means that you will no longer be able to hide the service packs from the uipdate list. You will now forever (until support ends for that particular OS)see the service packs in the list of available updates, but will still be able to choose not to download and install them. If auto-update is enabled, then what happens will depend on your settings, ie. download and install, download and notify, etc.
Sitting behind my hardware firewall, security set to Paranoid, I have long since disabled the AutoUpdate service and my XP is fine and dandy. And yes, it is submitted to periodic sweeps for malware and virii. The worst that ever pops up is the occasional dodgy cookie. So no, I'm not in any hurry to install SP3, and when I do, it'll be on my terms. I have no guarantee that nothing will break, now do I ? On the other hand, I do have a strong suspicion that MS has included some, euh, "performance enhancements" that will try to convince me that Vista is better. Yeah, and pigs will fly tomorrow, no doubt.
You know why? I can bittorrent a XP Professional install disc with every single update and service pack (including SP3) slipstreamed into the image. No updates required. It even has all the RAID and SATA drivers included so I can install on the latest hardware.
Those having problems with installing Sp3 on XP and have an external fire wire HDD, do the following. Before installing Sp3 go to network properties and disable the fire wire network connection.
I had the same problem and eventually found that that was the solution.
Well if SP3 is going to be forced i better let people know like me that if the people using this motherboard don't enable there parallel port in their bios the will get the endless boot cycle. And to be honest i don't like to be forced to install things, ill figure out away to block this shit.