Update History
in [Windows Update]
|
From: Harry Johnston on 5 May 2007 20:00 Gerry Hickman wrote: >> I need stand-alone patches so I have to do it this way. It takes >> perhaps an hour or two a month, maybe less. Not all that big a deal. > > I also need stand-alone patches, but when I pay tens of thousands to > Microsoft every year, I don't see why I should waste time on their badly > designed web pages that require WGA, the ActiveX version of which forces > users to adopt bad security by having to log onto the internet as an > Administrator. I download the updates using Firefox and the stand-alone version of WGA, which is only a minor inconvenience. Certainly I don't need admin rights. The only real hassle is downloading Office updates because we support multiple versions of Office which means I need to run the Office genuine advantage tool on multiple computers. I've recently moved to using WSUS to deploy all Office updates, even old ones, so I don't bother downloading them any more. Regarding Windows - I seem to recall Microsoft produces an .ISO CD image for download each month which contains all of that month's patches? Perhaps that would be more convenient for you? I'm not trying to defend WGA here; it's certainly a PITA. All I'm suggesting is that as we're stuck with it it may be best to put in the extra work to get the supported packages rather than hacking WUA. Harry.
From: Gerry Hickman on 6 May 2007 07:32
Hi Harry, > I download the updates using Firefox and the stand-alone version of WGA, Yup, that's what I'm using too. Mozilla browsers are faster, more standards compliant; have better developer tools, and are more secure than Microsoft's bungling Internet Explorer. > which is only a minor inconvenience. For me, it's a MAJOR inconvenience! How can I get all FullFile patches downloaded automatically overnight? > Certainly I don't need admin > rights. Not with the stand-alone tool, but if you want WGA to be "semi-automatic" you have to enable the download and instantiation of the ActiveX control which needs Admin rights. > The only real hassle is downloading Office updates because we > support multiple versions of Office which means I need to run the Office > genuine advantage tool on multiple computers. Exactly, this is even more stupid! They assume you're sitting in front of the exact stand-alone computer on which you're about to install the udpates! > Regarding Windows - I seem to recall Microsoft produces an .ISO CD image > for download each month which contains all of that month's patches? > Perhaps that would be more convenient for you? I don't know about this, but there are two major problems with it: 1. I need the patches right away, the day of release. 2. It would be messy to sync all the superseded udpates. It's because of #2 I'm looking at creating an Auto Downloader. In my new system it would simply check for "updates that are not already in the cache". I could run it at midnight, and it will only download the new stuff, security and non-security. I could install WSUS, but it's overkill for what I want, and I think it relies on IIS. It's another bloated mess to look after on all my networks, which I'd rather do without. > I'm not trying to defend WGA here; it's certainly a PITA. All I'm > suggesting is that as we're stuck with it it may be best to put in the > extra work to get the supported packages rather than hacking WUA. Yup, I need to think of something, that's for sure. Thanks for the help. -- Gerry Hickman (London UK) |