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Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Tue, 07 Nov 2017 03:35:00 -0800<\/strong><\/p>\n Last month we had no end of problems<\/a> with Microsoft\u2019s Windows and Office patches. If your machine was attached to a corporate Windows Update server, and your admin approved Windows patches for immediate distribution, your PC may have joined a sea of blue screens<\/a>. There were lots and lots of additional gotchas<\/a>.<\/p>\n This month, we already know<\/a> that KB 4041686<\/a>, the 2017-10 Win7 Preview of a Monthly Rollup, has a retrograde bug in it that clobbers SFC scans. It\u2019s not at all clear if Microsoft is going to fix that bug before the Preview becomes the for-real Monthly Rollup.<\/p>\n We also know that last Thursday’s attempt to fix a bug introduced in the October security patches failed miserably<\/a>, with Microsoft surreptitiously pulling KB 4052233, 4052234, and 4052235 and erasing them from the KB list, the catalog, and even the update histories. Heaven only knows if the next iteration of that abomination will succumb to a similar fate.<\/p>\n Later today, we should see a dozen or more non-security patches for Office. You don\u2019t need any of them right away. A week from now, the security fixes should roll out. As I\u2019ve argued many times before<\/a>, it just makes sense to hold off installing Windows and Office updates until the major first-round bugs get shaken out. Let the unpaid beta testers sacrifice their machines first.<\/p>\n If your PC is attached to a Windows Update server, buy your admin a cup o\u2019 coffee and gently make sure they don\u2019t have WSUS or SCCM set to automatically approve updates as soon as Microsoft dishes them out.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re running Win7 or 8.1, the method for blocking updates isn\u2019t difficult. See AKB1000004: Disable Automatic Update in Vista, Win7 or 8.1<\/a> on the AskWoody site.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re running Windows 10 Pro Creators Update (version 1703) or Fall Creators Update (1709), the method\u2019s even easier: telling Auto Update to back off just takes a couple of clicks. See Steps 7 and 8 in 8 steps to install Windows 10 patches like a pro<\/a>.<\/p>\n But if you have any other version of Win10, you aren\u2019t so lucky. Win10 Home users, and those with earlier versions of Pro, are considered fair fodder for the unpaid beta-testing cannons. To protect yourself, follow the nostrums in Woody’s Win10Tip: Block forced Windows updates<\/a>.<\/p>\n Take a minute right now and make sure Automatic Update is turned off. Then follow along here at Computerworld<\/em>, or on your favorite Windows bug-reporting site, to see what the beta testers have to say. You need to update sooner or later, but you don’t need to update on Microsoft’s timeline.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve set the MS-DEFCON level to 2 on AskWoody.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.computerworld.com\/category\/security\/index.rss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Tue, 07 Nov 2017 03:35:00 -0800<\/strong><\/p>\n Last month we had no end of problems<\/a> with Microsoft\u2019s Windows and Office patches. If your machine was attached to a corporate Windows Update server, and your admin approved Windows patches for immediate distribution, your PC may have joined a sea of blue screens<\/a>. There were lots and lots of additional gotchas<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n