Why I’m sick of software updates

Hi.

I create software as part of my work, and as a hobby, so I know in detail the dangers and opertunities that can happen.

You all forget, it’s next to imposible these days to write any software (however trivial) that is guaranteed to be 100% correct, and secure.

It is especialy true of any program that “reaches out” beyond your PC. As 99.9% of the time, you will be relying on other peoples work for that part of the code, and though much of it is trusted, you never know 100%. It may not even be part of a third party software tool you incorporated, but the compiler itself may have bugs in it, that result in vulnerable programs being created, though you “do the right thing” with your own source code..

Updates and Patches are sadly essential, for the continuing correct functioning and safety of our otherwise vulnerable systems. Heck, if all the offices and companies that got hit with the Confiker worm, had done their updates ASAP, it would have been much less of a problem.

Unless (as I do) you run various services from a computer 24/7, it’s best just to let it download them when needed, but let you choose when to install them. The best compromise, as then you get minimum wait time, and still have some control as to what and when.

If you run a PC 24/7 for whatever reason, and an auto forced reboot is not wanted, then set up the update preferences as above. You dont *Have* to let it do it’s own thing when it wants, after all it works for you, not the other way round.

If nothing else, let the security updates run, also from vendors such as Adobe, who have been having issues of their own. Applications for sites like Twitter, are also best updated with security pathces, as soon as available, for obvious reasons.

If nothing else, make sure your Firewall is fully up to data, and do keep an eye from time to time on it’s settings. There are documented ways for App’s to alter it’s settings for their own use!

If you are restricted in your connectivity (no ADSL for example) it is still posible to have someone else download the updates in a form that you can use from for example a CD or USB stick. It’s not exactly straightforward, but is posible. Of cours, if your PC is not connected to anything, and you don’t exchange CD’s or memory sticks with others, you’re probably safer than the rest of us!

Lastly, *ALL* OS’s have these problems. Just that at present Windows is a much bigger target for the Bad Guys to aim at, than the others. You can rest assured (and if you search, you can find evidence of this) that other systems, MAC, Linux, FreeBSD etc, all have open vulnerabilities that are not patched, but as yet, no one is (known) to be exploiting them.

Lastly. Remember that Windows XP falls out of support re updates etc, after about June or July 2011.

Take care.

DaveB

In February this year we bought an Asus laptop TPL 300LA. This was for my wife to use. She is an extremely busy teacher and found the laptop invaluable. On Thursday evening last week, 10 November 2016 she was using the laptop in the living room to do some job-related work when a window suddenly appeared on the screen saying Asus Live Update. Neither of us had any idea what this was so we assumed that it must be some sort of automatic update system similar to the Microsoft system.

Eventually there was a notice which said something like “do you want to Refresh before closing?”. Neither of us having any idea what this meant my wife clicked ‘yes’.

The result was an absolute disaster. Eventually a window appeared listing the programs that had been deleted. These include all our Microsoft Office 365 Programs, Virus Protection, Accountancy Program Etc. In fact everything..

Eventually I discovered that Asus Live Update is a programme which Asus load onto their computers and I gather that it is meant to seek out possible updates for any of the programmes which you have on your computer and then install them. Apparently it programs its own schedule so that it starts running at any unpredictable time.

I did call the Asus helpline to see whether they could help to explain how this had happened but the response did not really help me at all.

I then tried to work out for myself what had happened and was able to get some information about this program and its purpose by searching on the Internet.

I then had to spend approximately 35 hours personally locating and reinstalling all the programs.

I called the Microsoft Office 365 Helpline and they were absolutely magnificent with the help that they gave. In the first call they actually carried out the reinstallation of their programs direct having taken control of the laptop. I had two further calls with them during which they were able to solve other problems for me.

Needless to say I have uninstalled Asus Live Update so that it can’t possibly do the same thing again.

Could somebody possibly explain whether this was due to our naivete in having no knowledge about this program before it ran or would others possibly agree with me that computer manufacturers should not install such a programme without being absolutely certain that future users would understand the risks that go along with it?

So true even 8 years later. Every day is constant updates from your tv, to your car, to your phone, to your laptop. How soon till we are waiting at traffic lights, or in elevators with messages reading “update in progress, please wait.”

Software you were used to and depend on suddenly automatically versioning up, making you wait, followed by moving all of the UI elements around. UI decisions that companies once took months to carefully design are now made in seconds by the junior grade developers based on momentary aesthetic whims vs ease of use. Have you ever spent minutes searching a screen for a simple button only to find its been changed to some cryptic symbol, or buried 8 clicks deep in some “three dot” menu? Is that even a proper grammatical use for an ellipsis.

As basic as the analog world was, the one benefit was everything worked, and in a consistent fashion. Things were dependable, and like the Apple mantra of old “it just works.” Perhaps this is why Mr. Jobs was a fan of Skeuomorphism in early IOS designs.

Mark my words, one day after too many updates Skynet will go insane and send terminators out to cease updates once and for all.