Really confused about updates now, can i ask for some advice

[Alloneword]

OK I used to update my win 7 U x64 every month like most of us, then came along the sneaky updates and using GXW Control Panel, then came patchocalypse and since then i have held of any updates from the main PC (left laptop longer as it only get used as a back up, however since patchocalypse has been and gone i have heard of so many stories of the best way to patch i'm now well confused .

To be honest my lack of trust in MS is at an all time high, so not intrested in updates i don't need i only want updates to keep my system up to date and from my understanding that would be what the call the "Roll-Up" an i right or do i have the wrong end of the stick?

The following 2 images come from the laptop











and this last one is from the main PC



So has the nightmare of patching been sorted yet, as i say i'm only intrested in keeping the system (and me come to that) safe.

All1

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hello mate now personally I set my updates now and have for a long time to show me before I download and install and I look for the ones I want say ones for security patches and any .NET ones the rest I leave alone because in my mind a few updates that one sees are causing issues.

In any case quite often I select the updates and they still do not download so I just don't bother. In a sense it seems to me that if the system constantly needs updating then it means it is not that perfect to start with I compare it to cars and the way they keep giving them facelifts to make them look more stylish or aggressive when the vehicle still runs as usual.

 

[Ranger4]

Everyone seems to have their own ideas on what is the best way to handle the Updates question.

I still just download & install all the Windows 7 Updates as they come to hand & I have never had a problem. The GWX try on was disconcerting but I managed to block that.

I do not install 3rd party software drivers the Microsoft might recommend. Instead I get them directly from the makers website.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yep well I am just the same Ranger I am not a fan of the Windows driver update feature it is way too weak for me and the "aftermarkets driver sites bar one I will not use and the one I do sometimes I am very careful with and uninstall whenever I am done with it.

Thinking about it now I did run a batch file from the Ten Forum tutorial on disabling the upgrade to 10 and never got round to changing it and am wondering if it is messing with my updates??

 

[Alloneword]

Well if i do nothing i'm leaving myself open to god knows what and if i install everything then MS will want to know the in's and out's of a ducks ar*e.

I'm trying to find happy medium, keeping my system safe and not leaving myself wide open, anyone elsehelp me wih some up to date links on what to do?

All1

 

[Ranger4]

No one can really advise you as it's a decision you will have to make.

You can just install the Important Windows 7 Updates & ignore the Optional ones if you wish, or you can just install all the Updates & be done with it. To keep your system secure you should at least Install all the Important ones.

I think you are being a bit paranoid worrying about MS prying into your system. There are billions of Windows users around the world so MS are not likely to be interested in any one computer.

 

[Alloneword]

No one can really advise you as it's a decision you will have to make.

You can just install the Important Windows 7 Updates & ignore the Optional ones if you wish, or you can just install all the Updates & be done with it. To keep your system secure you should at least Install all the Important ones.

I think you are being a bit paranoid worrying about MS prying into your system. There are billions of Windows users around the world so MS are not likely to be interested in any one computer.

WOW if you want them to know everything about you then fine but i'd like some privacy

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
The scary thing is MS using the word "quality" to describe them now
Otherwise just monitor the News section for the security only links like a lot of us are now doing
http://www.sevenforums.com/news/

 

[ICIT2LOL]

I'm trying to find happy medium, keeping my system safe and not leaving myself wide open, anyone elsehelp me wih some up to date links on what to do?

Mate as Ranger has said there are literally billions of users around the world and Microsoft are not the only ones who like to know where you have been what you have don bought or whatever take for example Google and Apple they amongst the many collect any info you are likely to put on your system and it only takes a hookup to the net and it is freely available.

Just lately I watched a few TV documentary programs that looked into cyber crime and the business of hacking and it was quite apparent to me that if someone wants to get into your system for whatever reason they will. You only need to see what that Anonymous site can do to see it is futile and the best way of securing any info that is so important to you is not to put it on the net.

I have to admit I was very anti 10 until I eventually came to realise that privacy as such is not truly a realistic expectation in the broad world we now live in and I thought now why would anyone be interested in what I was posting or looking at unless it was an illegal activity or had some monetary value to be taken from me.
It is a risk that we all take every time we login and if you spend the rest of your life worrying about it then I think is going to be a miserable way of life. Just look at the number of sites you must have that you enter info/data into banks, shopping sites, forums, and the stuff they enter into your medical records etc etc

I am not saying don't be careful just you need to accept that it is a way of life now and the old world order of privacy has now been well and truly compromised by the advance of technology.

Back to updates I like the others do download when they will critical and important ones the optional's well I do not have the time or patience for one thing to research them - it just cuts into your time to deal with other stuff.

 

[AddRAM]

This is my list of updates I hid, mind you this is from fresh installs done in the last 3 weeks. I`m pretty sure Microsoft is back to normal with updates, but you still have to read what each and every one is for.

Security updates you can pretty much just install, but read up on any other recommended/important ones, if you don`t want/need them, just hide em.

 

[Ranger4]

I'm trying to find happy medium, keeping my system safe and not leaving myself wide open, anyone elsehelp me wih some up to date links on what to do?

Mate as Ranger has said there are literally billions of users around the world and Microsoft are not the only ones who like to know where you have been what you have don bought or whatever take for example Google and Apple they amongst the many collect any info you are likely to put on your system and it only takes a hookup to the net and it is freely available.

Just lately I watched a few TV documentary programs that looked into cyber crime and the business of hacking and it was quite apparent to me that if someone wants to get into your system for whatever reason they will. You only need to see what that Anonymous site can do to see it is futile and the best way of securing any info that is so important to you is not to put it on the net.

I have to admit I was very anti 10 until I eventually came to realise that privacy as such is not truly a realistic expectation in the broad world we now live in and I thought now why would anyone be interested in what I was posting or looking at unless it was an illegal activity or had some monetary value to be taken from me.
It is a risk that we all take every time we login and if you spend the rest of your life worrying about it then I think is going to be a miserable way of life. Just look at the number of sites you must have that you enter info/data into banks, shopping sites, forums, and the stuff they enter into your medical records etc etc

I am not saying don't be careful just you need to accept that it is a way of life now and the old world order of privacy has now been well and truly compromised by the advance of technology.

Back to updates I like the others do download when they will critical and important ones the optional's well I do not have the time or patience for one thing to research them - it just cuts into your time to deal with other stuff.

Exactly, I could not have put it better myself.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yep Ranger I did mean to mention in my little rant that one thing that does annoy me about what goes on now is the ever growing stream of ads that I have no interest in or have even asked for especially in emails and sites that I regularly visit for info on whatever.

A good example is watching a YouTube on something as mundane as how to repair a garden spade is often preceded by up to 8 minutes of some awfully boring rant from a politician or that damn Volkswagen that runs for around 4 minutes. The ones I mean are the ads that have that yellow run line along the bottom that one cannot skip like some.

Now this also smacks of some company ie Google collecting data on what we are watching and those same companies passing on my details to some retailing chain that I personally have never solicited info on what they sell. Perhaps I am the only one that gets this rubbish and I have enough Microsoft devices and software to last me forever and yet not a day goes by that I do not get a least two emails from them tendering goods of one sort or another. Now some might say why not just block these sites and I have both in the unsubscribe choice and in my security suite but they still keep coming.:sarc:

 

[Barman58]

The whole internet is funded by advertising - and people like Google are the biggest advertisement organisation around, but you have to remember that it is in both the users, and the advertisers interests that all are targeted as much as possible.

The number of people who will as soon as they see a check box that allows them to switch off targeting or demographics, jump at it as it suggests data mining.

Unfortunately this means that instead of being delivered adverts for products that are related to their online activities, (Eg for members here the majority of of adverts would involve windows hardware and software), they are force fed loads of stuff that does not interest them in the slightest and leads to annoyance and more.

The way I look at it ... If I'm going to have to look at some advertising, I'd rather it be something that might prove useful to me. Occasionally I have received online offers for some useful stuff due to targetted advertising .

Our sites rely on advertising to keep in in business, Members do not see it as it is removed once you join, but without it either the site would not be here or you would have to pay to use the site

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yes Nigel I appreciate what you are saying I just object to the sheer number of ads and especially that YouTube thing I spoke of really does annoy the living Christmas out of me.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Now I watched this this morning http://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/686976579550/the-hidden-side-of-google it was documentary on Google and how much it knows about anyone really. Worth a watch because it shows up what Google does how it does it and how it makes it's money.

I found it a bit intimidating to be honest because afterwards I did a quick Google of my name and guess what up popped all my details such as phone numbers, my phone contact list, pics and email addresses - that I found really out of line.
I also got the impression that when approached Google shut up shop a bit like the Scientologists do that was really quite scary along with the way they hire and fire people - quite unreal in a sense. It was just as if Google has become big brother in a way that we all thought that the government was supposed to be heading.
I also Googled my fathers name and it popped up his details - which I thought was extra scary too because he died last year!! and was no computer person at all to make that much more of a shock:shock:

To be truthful I am seriously considering another browser although I do now have a Google Pixel phone so I am guessing they will track my every move - literally through it.

Just when you thought Microsoft was bad enough and it was safe to go back in the water

 

[Alloneword]

This is my list of updates I hid, mind you this is from fresh installs done in the last 3 weeks. I`m pretty sure Microsoft is back to normal with updates, but you still have to read what each and every one is for.

Security updates you can pretty much just install, but read up on any other recommended/important ones, if you don`t want/need them, just hide em.

Thanks AddRAM taht is what i used to do but i have read over the last few months MS have been labeling stuff as "Important" when in fact it's been nothing more then a telemetry instal and that is what i am trying to avoid.

I think there are crossed wires here, ANYTHING on the "Optional" list is not going to get installed, if you take a look at the last image (which is from the main PC) i would instal all the office ones and all the Windows 7 ones (so 3 in total) plus the Defender update as well and leave alone the Optional one as it's silverlight.

Now looking at the laptop which has not been done for a while, again nothing on the "Optional" list is going on but the issue is with this image



my only real concern is the 142MB option, if my understanding is corrct this is a "RollUp" security patch, so instead of having 40 critcal updates which i would normaly do as they were "Critical" i just get this single update, am i right in my thinking? If i am then i'm sorted.

All1

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
As stated you can install the security only and after hide the "quality" rollup afterwards
Then just install the rest of them.

December 13, 2016—KB3205394 (Security-only update)

This update includes only security fixes. No new operating system features are being introduced in this update. Key changes include:

• Security updates to the common log file system driver, Windows OS, kernel-mode drivers, Microsoft Graphics Component, Microsoft Uniscribe, and Internet Explorer.

For a complete list of affected files, see KB3205394.

Download: Microsoft Update Catalog