That's the stupidest thing I've read here in a while.
Windows 7 has always delivered occasional hardware driver updates to a range of hardware, more commonly the video drivers, but not exclusively so. Its a well-known and proven fact that drivers issued & certified by Microsoft are far less likely to clash with the operating system and cause BSOD's. That's why they do it : to keep your system stable.
Are you really that naive ? .... Do you ever read the trade mags / test sites ? How about Business trades ? Why ya think MS made the concession to business in the pro version at least allowing them to defer updates ? The reason this thread even exists is because one of the major reasons peeps don't want to go to Win 10 is the force feeding of potentially unreliable updates and drivers that destroy the functionality of their systems.
And as for the reliability of those MS drivers. I did trying installing that WDM driver.... over a year ago... and several times since. My thot was, it's an Intel driver, what are the chances that MS screwed it it up ? It's still appears in Windows Update. The update will not install, so much for the vaunted MS driver reliability. But as it's not affecting me in any way, I just don't care. I am using the "current" driver as listed on the manufacturer's web site and that's just fine w/ me.
I have been building PCs for 25 years and manage boxes on numerous sites. A relative who managed CitiBanks call center with over 2500 Windows machines followed the same practice. As to many others who I am regularly in contact with having built their workstations or gaming machines all follow the same routine. Laptop manuals and tech support advise not to install drivers via WU. Your "well known and proven fact" goes dead set against all of our experience as well as the advice from the component manufacturers themselves. MS does nothing that is not in MS interests and one of the main reasons people are avoiding Win10 is specifically because it does this.
Forbes Welcome
With just four days left before launch, Windows 10’s policy of automatic updates has run into its first major problem and it is causing many PCs to stop working correctly.
The flaw revolves around Nvidia graphics cards with users taking to
Nvidia’s forums to report
Windows Update is automatically installing new drivers which break multimonitor setups, SLI (dual card) configurations and can even stop PCs booting entirely which pushes Windows 10 into its emergency recovery mode.
“Please pull these off Windows update!!!” writes Nvidia forum poster slycoder. “It makes my second monitor not work and lots of flickering! Please. I roll back and Windows Update reinstalls them :/”
“I second this,” agrees ZabaZu. “For multi screen users, that driver is flat out broken and it is beyond annoying that windows auto updates to it.”
So much for your "well known and proven fact" about WU reliability".Users thot they were off the hook for a while... installing the nVidia driver from the nvidia site restored SLI functionality; and then on next reboot WU immediately fudged up the system again by reinstalling MS's non-functional driver. This scenarios has repeated numerous times already.
After outfitting an office with several IBM lappies several years back, I also installed BackUp Software to back up all the lappies to their server. Worked fine for several weeks than after a patch Tuesday, all machines were unfunctional. After working with IBM 2nd level Tech Support for a couple of days, we traced the problem to an updated network driver which even after uninstalling, did not return the systems to full function. OS reinstalls were required on all machines. Have also experienced the same issue with audio drivers and also DVD Player software.
Licensed DVD Player software became unfunctional after a WU so that when used it was asking for the license key which was embedded in the original CD that came w/ the drive. Installing an updated gfx driver on laptops can disable the power saving features which the manufacturer included in the design. This is especially true in custom laptops where desktop GPUs are used. With M series GPUs getting more powerful, this problem is getting less of a concern.
Or how about the XP Fix that disabled AutoCAD's licensing scheme. Thousands of CAD Operators sat around for three days twiddling their thumbs for, costing millions of dollars because when their machines were booted each day, the office server didn't recognize them and would not "grant a license" and allow the software to load. These are "concurrent use" licenses; a form might have AutoCAD installed on 30 machines but expects that not more than 25 will have AutoCAD in use at any given time. After the OS fix, 0 could load AutoCAD. Because my sites always "wait", none of them were affected.
Again, I very rarely see a hardware driver in WU, those who use MS Update seem to get a lot more. Your well known and proven fact is completely w/o any hint of support and contradicted by real life experiences of thousands of users and numerous articles. Do a little reading
Forbes Welcome
20 epic Microsoft Windows Automatic Update meltdowns | InfoWorld
Windows 10 forced updates: Don't panic | InfoWorld
Forbes Welcome
Mandatory Updates – Windows 10 may be more secure and up-to-date because of this, but Microsoft’s decision to force updates upon users also has significant downsides. This has included automatically installing a
broken graphics driver which crashed displays, a security patch
which crashed Windows Explorer and more.
By contrast Windows 8 and Windows 7 make all updates optional and you’re alerted to install them. I believe the ideal solution lies halfway between the two: make all updates automatic by default, but give users the option to stop or delay any update categories or individual updates they like. Right now this lack of flexibility makes Windows 10 a deal breaker for some.
Forbes Welcome
Windows 10 Automatic Updates Remove User Preferences
https://social.technet.microsoft.co...pdate-driver-conflict?forum=w7itpronetworking
In notebooks do not use drivers from MS. Always install drivers from notebook support page.
http://www.sevenforums.com/windows-...-7-update-causes-conflict-scanner-driver.html
Windows 8 update bombing? Sounds like a driver conflict | The Seattle Times
Windows 10 in head-on crash with Nvidia drivers as world watches launch • The Register
Windows 10 How To: blocking the automatic reinstall of a driver or update in Windows 10 ? WinBeta
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...h/3279ab69-239b-4b1e-976b-30025180b3e0?auth=1
http://www.computerworld.com/articl...anges-windows-update-settings-on-its-pcs.html
Apparently Samsung, one of the world's largest companies, is stupid also. After expending inordinate amounts of TS time helping users uninstall bad WUs, they introduced their SW Update utility which changes the WU setting to "Let me choose". One issue that was noted was that an WU update driver install made the USB ports not work on Samsung machines
"When you enable Windows updates, it will install the default drivers for all the hardware on [the] laptop which may or may not work. For example, if there is USB 3.0 on [the] laptop, the ports may not work with the installation of updates. So to prevent this, SW Update will prevent the Windows updates,"
According to a transcript of an online chat with a Samsung technical support representative that Barker included in his blog, the company acknowledged it was monkeying with Windows Update, but said it was necessary to provide customers with the correct drivers for their systems.
SW Update software is used to consistently disable Windows Update [automatic installs] so Windows Update doesn't install any drivers," said Barker in an email late yesterday where he answered follow-up questions posed by Computerworld. "They [said they] didn't want Windows Update installing drivers to conflict with their SW Update software when it came to installing drivers for the system."
Samsung was eventually "convinced" by MS to stop the practice arguing that uneducated users might not remember to run / check WU with any frequency and by allowing them to choose they might not ever install security updates.... I don't agree with Samsung's approach either but it is a clear and unarguable indication that Samsung was affected to a significant negative extent from all the driver conflict issues that WU caused.
So the question that needs to be asked is why WU isn't configured with check boxes for :
Windows Security Updates
Windows OS Upgrades
Windows Related Programs
Manufacturer Drivers
Installed Software
Options would include:
Automatically Download and Install (Default)
Download and let me know but let me choose when / if to install
Let me know when / which updates are available and let me choose when / if to install.
Windows Security Updates - I would let these sit for a week to see if any contain major problems, before installing. No problems uncovered, all would be installed. If one had a problem reported, I'd wait till it was fixed, before installing fixed version.
Windows OS Upgrades - I would let these sit for a week to see if any contain major problems, before installing.
Windows Related Programs - I don't much care about these as I don't use any but would install as above.
Manufacturer Drivers - I'd welcome the notice that an upgrade was available, and then d/l install from component manufacturer's site.
Installed Software - As above.
Why doesn't MS want you to be able to stop any installs ? For the exact reason that this thread exists. They look at the money Google takes in by not selling anything but by using tracking information to provide targeted advertising. MS wants in and doesn't want users, making an educated choice on what to and what not to install. To do that they need to convince you that everything they install is fine. Not many educated users are that gullible and, as evidenced by the list above, their record is extremely poor in this regard.
The driver packages Windows automatically installs are different from the ones your device manufacturers provide. The core drivers are created by your device manufacturer and provided by Microsoft after they go through Microsoft’s WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Labs) testing to ensure they’re stable.
However, Microsoft provides these drivers in stripped-down form. For example, when you get drivers for NVIDIA or AMD graphics cards from Windows Update, you’re getting a driver package without the NVIDIA Control Panel or the AMD Catalyst control panel. Connect a printer and the automatically provided drives won’t include the printer’s control panel. Plug in a wireless mouse and it will work immediately, but you’ll need the manufacturer’s control panel if you want to view the mouse’s battery level or customize what the buttons do. However, you may not always want these hardware utilities.
The versions of the drivers Microsoft provides are also a bit older. Microsoft doesn’t update these drivers as frequently, so your device manufacturer may have newer versions on their website. However, using older drivers often isn’t a problem
Often means, there are times that it is a problem. Furthermore.... when you experience any of the issues as described above, using the manufacturer's drivers, you have the option of calling the manufacturer's tech support. Good luck getting that from MS.
