 camperjust visiting this planet
Premium Member
join:2010-03-21
Bethel, CT
kudos:1 ·Xfinity
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camper
Premium Member
2016-Mar-10 8:30 am
Updategate: Microsoft is burying adware in its own Patch Tuesday updates » www.theinquirer.net/inqu ··· -updates
... You know what, Microsoft? We're calling it. You're infecting your customers' PCs with software over which they have no control and, worse still, could actually be worse off for not installing.... KB3146449 doesn't appear in your update history. The only way you can tell if you've got it is the banner appearing. The only way of stopping it is not to install the update. ...
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 beck
MVM
join:2002-01-29
On The Road
kudos:1 |
beck
MVM
2016-Mar-10 9:14 am
That is so far over the line. And then they hide it. Like... yes, like a malware!
Well, the good part is that MS broke my updates, so I won't get this malware.
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Are YOU just a turkey voting for xmas? |
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 MacGyver
join:2001-10-14
Russell, ON
kudos:2
1 edit |
to camper
I'm going to disable all updates on machines in my house. I'll take my chances with hackers instead.
Does this not fall under US Anti-Trust legislation? Because the trust is gone. |
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 dandelion
MVM
join:2003-04-29
Germantown, TN
kudos:5
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to camper
Sadly I have had to disable updates on my Window 7 Pro for about two months. I try to read and gradually get a few but it is difficult when you can't trust the company anymore. I am simply hoping my host file and other security programs can pick up some of the slack. |
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 BlackbirdBuilt for Speed
Premium Member
join:2005-01-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:4 ·Frontier Communi..
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to camper
It's become crystal clear what Microsoft thinks of its former paying customers, at least in the consumer realms. With the ethical breakdowns becoming increasingly more apparent during their Windows 10 campaign, Microsoft is finally letting their hubris all hang out. Well, it bears repeating: when any company, no matter how dominating, makes itself utterly obnoxious through its attitude and actions toward its customers, it makes the choice of previously-unthinkable alternatives so much easier. Microsoft is gambling that most users won't break and run toward the less familiar, but the history of the marketplace is littered with the rotting carcasses of companies that thought that way.
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The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money. -- A. de Tocqueville |
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camperjust visiting this planet
Premium Member
join:2010-03-21
Bethel, CT
kudos:1 ·Xfinity
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camper to beck
Premium Member
2016-Mar-10 11:29 am
to beck
said by beck:That is so far over the line.
Every time I think Microsoft has sunk to a new low, a low that they would not sink below, they come along and pull a stunt like this. It appears they are intentionally hiding malware in a security update, and then making it so that the security update cannot be uninstalled. Now all we have to do is wait a few days for Microsoft to fess up and say this is a "bug" and that they didn't mean to do this. |
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 DarkLogixTexan and Proud
Premium Member
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX
kudos:4 |
DarkLogix
Premium Member
2016-Mar-10 11:52 am
said by camper:Now all we have to do is wait a few days for Microsoft to fess up and say this is a "bug" and that they didn't mean to do this.
Just like that upgrade to win10 that was a checked by default optional update. "Oh sorry we were testing out a new feature" --
semper idem
1KTzRMxN1a2ATrtAAvbmEnMBoY3E2kHtyv
A plan that doesn't scale is a plan to fail. |
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John28
join:2012-08-10
Louisville, KY |
to camper
Any running spreadsheet of whichs updates are safe? Currently unpatched since thanksgiving. |
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 chachazz
Premium Member
join:2003-12-14
kudos:10
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to camper
@ghacks: Security Update MS16-023 installs new “Get Windows 10” functionality» www.ghacks.net/2016/03/0 ··· onality/Here's the knowledgebase article that lists the non-security fixes in the Security Update - including "3146449 - Updated Internet Explorer 11 capabilities to upgrade Windows 8.1 and Windows 7"As there is no way to remove this update, I've removed IE11 from my machines. Browser of choice is Firefox - since Firefox v 0.8 Royal Oak - February 9, 2004  --
Gladiator Security Forum |
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camperjust visiting this planet
Premium Member
join:2010-03-21
Bethel, CT
kudos:1 ·Xfinity
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camper
Premium Member
2016-Mar-10 1:21 pm
From the KB article for 3146449 » support.microsoft.com/en ··· /3146449
... This update adds functionality to Internet Explorer 11 on some computers that lets users learn about Windows 10 or start an upgrade to Windows 10. ...
"lets users learn"? More like "force feeds users against their will" |
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DarkLogixTexan and Proud
Premium Member
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX
kudos:4 |
said by camper: adds functionality
WTF, is that like how a banner ad adds functionality to a website? |
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Frodo
join:2006-05-05
kudos:1  ·magicJack
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to chachazz
said by chachazz:Updated Internet Explorer 11 capabilities to upgrade Windows 8.1 and Windows 7
Anybody actually seen any manifestation of this update? Any screen shots? Even Woody says he can't replicate the issue. Neither can I. quote:
I spent most of the night trying to replicate this behavior -- a blue banner on new tabs in IE11 with "Microsoft recommends upgrading to Windows 10" -- and couldn't get it to trigger. If you can, I'd appreciate your shooting an email with a screenshot...
Without this thing manifesting itself, it is hard to figure out what files are involved. |
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chachazz
Premium Member
join:2003-12-14
kudos:10 ·TELUS
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chachazz
Premium Member
2016-Mar-10 1:56 pm
said by Frodo:Anybody actually seen any manifestation of this update? Any screen shots? Even Woody says he can't replicate the issue. Apparently here - » GWX even with GPO disabiling it In "About", IE11 has a check box to auto-update. quote:
In most cases, the newest version of Internet Explorer will automatically install at some point after its release via Windows Update.
» pcsupport.about.com/od/b ··· orer.htm--
Gladiator Security Forum |
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DarkLogixTexan and Proud
Premium Member
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX
kudos:4 |
Though that's in the system tray not in IE. |
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Frodo
join:2006-05-05
kudos:1 ·magicJack
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to chachazz
My checkbox is unchecked, and shows a UAC icon. As far as the other issue is concerned, Woody has an article about that issue. quote:
Admins all over the world are waking up to an unwelcome development: Microsoft has snuck a Get Windows 10 malware variant onto their customers' systems. All signs point to an infected Patch Tuesday update -- above and beyond the Internet Explorer "security" patch with its own Windows 10 ad.
Sounds like there is a two pronged effort undertaken. But, the one I'm interested in is the mechanism (if any) introduced into IE to advertise upgrading the OS. |
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 DavesnothereOK, Steve has been Heaved - NOW What ?
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada
kudos:8
1 edit |
to beck
said by beck:That is so far over the line.
And then they hide it.
Like... yes, like a malware!
Hmmmm.... It QUACKS like Mal-lardware !  |
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| Davesnothere |
to camper
said by camper:....Now all we have to do is wait a few days for Microsoft to fess up and say this is a "bug", and that they didn't mean to do this.
Yeah, right !  |
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| Davesnothere |
to chachazz
said by chachazz:....As there is no way to remove this update, I've removed IE11 from my machines....
I never had IE11 installed anyway, for other reasons, so I guess I escape the nasty clutches of Microsleaze - THIS time. |
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 dib22
join:2002-01-27
Kansas City, MO |
to camper
Well it only appears to infect IE... so most won't notice.  |
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 NetFixerSnarl For The Camera Please
Premium Member
join:2004-06-24
The Boro ·Cingular Wireless
·Comcast Business..
·Vonage
ARRIS SB6121
Switches Trash Bin
D-Link DIR-655 Rev. B
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to camper
I am just thankful that I resisted the urge to upgrade to Windows 7 on the couple of workstations I have with the horsepower to support it. Actually, I was not really seriously considering it since XP still handles everything I need (If it ain't broke, don't fix it), but I did briefly consider buying a couple of Windows 7 install DVDs "just in case I needed them". At this point, if MS ever activates the backdoor that destroys Windows XP and/or Windows Server 2003 (and refuses to allow re-activation), I will just become an openSUSE shop overnight. I would already be there if it weren't for a few older Windows apps that I prefer to use, that don't run well (or at all) under WINE. --
We can never have enough of nature.
We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander.
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 Exidor
Premium Member
join:2001-05-04
Brampton, ON |
to Frodo
A poster, Dan Hevey, in the InfoWorld article comments says: This isn't what it appears to be.
While Microsoft has pushed Windows 10 in some really underhanded ways, the blue "Microsoft recommends upgrading to Windows 10" doesn't seem to be coming from this Windows update at all. It's a web pop-up that's actually coming from www.msn.com and some other Microsoft websites when you visit them with IE. It happens both with and without the update, and it never pops up unless you visit one of those sites that generates it. I've done a lot of testing today (3/10/2016) on several Windows 7 machines here and verified this to be the case.
If you actually tell it to install Windows 10 from there, it downloads an executable and attempts to run it to start the update. I have running executables blocked in local group policy, so it can't run anyway.
The reason that so many people are seeing this is that IE launches to MSN by default, which triggers the pop-up. Starting a new tab in IE also starts at MSN by default, so unless you've changed your home pages, that will also trigger the "Microsoft Reccomends..." pop-up. All you have to do is change your homepage and new tab startup pages and you shouldn't see this any more. At least not until they do something else to ratchet things up.
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 sivranVive Vivaldi
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Irving, TX
kudos:2 |
sivran
Premium Member
2016-Mar-10 8:24 pm
I can vouch for that banner appearing with or without the update. I haven't installed updates on my desktop in months. It's part of the msn.com page. You don't even have to be running IE to see it. Still it's unclear what exactly is in this update, AND sneaking it into what is ostensibly a security update is definitely evil. Microsoft must be desperate to build a tracking empire as large as Google's. Trouble is instead of luring users in with-- gasp--excellent products, they're trying to drag them in kicking and screaming. In other words, Microsoft is playing Orwell to Google's Huxley. --
Opera reborn -- »vivaldi.com |
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psloss
Premium Member
join:2002-02-24 |
to Frodo
said by Frodo:said by chachazz:Updated Internet Explorer 11 capabilities to upgrade Windows 8.1 and Windows 7
Anybody actually seen any manifestation of this update? Any screen shots? Even Woody says he can't replicate the issue. Neither can I. Apparently no one has...there's also a suggestion that the KB3139929 package (with the embedded KB3146449 "thing") also has to be combined with the optional KB3123862 update. » www.sevenforums.com/wind ··· 9-2.html(Woody has also written about KB3123862.) I haven't tried that combo on a test machine, but the about:tabs URL in IE11 already shows a built-in Bing search screen (in part). Wouldn't be surprised if the Win10 ads are integrated with that, but I don't use IE11 enough; if they open that advertising up so it shows for all (connected) users I might see it someday. |
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to camper
At least I have Windows 10 and use Firefox so I'll never see it. |
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NetFixerSnarl For The Camera Please
Premium Member
join:2004-06-24
The Boro ·Cingular Wireless
·Comcast Business..
·Vonage
ARRIS SB6121
Switches Trash Bin
D-Link DIR-655 Rev. B
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to Exidor
I have not seen that particular popup ad when visiting www.msn.com, but then again, I don't allow automated popup ads (and possibly the Windows XP user_agent string might prohibit that particular ad since Windows XP is not an official upgrade path to Windows 10). What I do see is a banner ad that links to the MS store site (but I can't recall that banner ad explicitly offering a Win10 upgrade): 
I do see a mouse-over ad (technically not a popup) if I allow the mouse to accidentally pass over the [Store] icon -- and currently that mouse-over ad does show "Upgrade free" as the first menu selection: 
--
We can never have enough of nature.
We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander.
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dave
MVM
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio
kudos:10 |
to camper
Microsoft isn't sufficiently happy with the progress of its efforts to force customers onto some non-MS operating system, so it's now trying to make the slow-to-leave-Win7 crowd adopt a non-MS web browser? |
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| dave |
to camper
This is the new SaaS approach: you're getting Shafted as a Service. |
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| dave |
to Exidor
Seems right to me. I installed the upgrade (taking one for the team!), poked around, but couldn't get me a recommendation to upgrade to Win10.
As soon as I went to msn.com (not a place I usually go) and moused over the 'store' icon, there it was.
Looking at the source it just seems to be plain old HTML rendering from the web site (but I are not a web programmer, so could be wrong). |
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 Cartel
Premium Member
join:2006-09-13
Chilliwack, BC
kudos:2 |
to camper
Tough luck M$, I'm running IE8 |
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BlitzenZeusBurnt Out Cynic
Premium Member
join:2000-01-13
kudos:6 |
to dave
The majority were already using another browser, but with tactics like this Microsoft can't wait to alienate more of their customer base. Google Chrome is king now. |
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