A lot of my upgrading and patching is set to be done automatically (such as Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Windows) but it seems that even if you have switched off automatic updates from Windows, the Redmond Goliath will act as a hacker and still covertly download them on your computer regardless of your wishes. Most people are not aware of this as Windows does not ask your permission by displaying any kind of dialogue box but I was alerted to the situation by a blogger friend who checked his system logs. I subsequently found out that a computer newsletter also reported on the situation as well.

Why is this bad? Well because some people, such as myself, like to check on each patch to make sure that it is not causing anyone any problems BEFORE we download it. Some patches are just rushed out half-cocked and it's only when the thing is installed that problems start happening. So I have begun to investigate each patch by its reference number and I have started to search online on the Microsoft website and also other people's blogs to see if anyone has been reporting any strange occurrences with that particular patch. So for Microsoft to take that freedom out of our hands and covertly install the patch against our wishes is a blatant invasion of our computers and a demonstration of supreme arrogance on the part of Microsoft.

The patch version number is "Windows Update Software 7.0.6000.381" and the only place where this patch is explained is on a Microsoft Communities forum. According to that forum, the patch is "an update to Windows Update itself. Unless the update is installed, Windows Update won't work". Which is all well and good but why did Microsoft not build in a dialogue box into the Windows OS to tell people this update was being downloaded? Or announce it publicly on their website? Why the sneaky underhanded method by pushing it at us unannounced and under the radar?

Apparently in Vista, the following files are updated :

1. wuapi.dll
2. wuapp.exe
3. wuauclt.exe
4. wuaueng.dll
5. wucltux.dll
6. wudriver.dll
7. wups.dll
8. wups2.dll
9. wuwebv.dll

In XP, the following files are updated:

1. cdm.dll
2. wuapi.dll
3. wuauclt.exe
4. wuaucpl.cpl
5. wuaueng.dll
6. wucltui.dll
7. wups.dll
8. wups2.dll
9. wuweb.dll

To check to see if you have the stealth patch (and there's no reason why you shouldn't have it if you're running Windows), just open the Windows Event Log by going to the start menu and then "run". Enter eventvwr.msc and press Enter. Choose "System" in the left window and go to the Windows Update Agent entries for August 24th 2007. If you have entries like these, you have the covert patches.

But do NOT uninstall them. They are perfectly fine functioning patches. The issue here is the lack of transparency on the part of Microsoft in not announcing what they were downloading onto our machines. I would call that kind of behaviour unethical and I'm sure you would too.

After commenting the other day how slow Microsoft Word is, I started to wonder if there were any updates available for MS Office. Up until now, I assumed that MS Office was automatically included in Windows Update but it seems apparently not.

There's Windows Update - http://www.update.windows.com - which gives you the latest security patches and upgrades for the Windows operating system. But there is also Microsoft Upgrade - http://www.update.microsoft.com - which covers all the Microsoft products including Office. When I ran Microsoft Update, it ran for 9 minutes and then gave me a list of 17 urgent security upgrades for Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher and Outlook.

So if you were not aware that Microsoft Update even existed then go to the site now and check for urgent security upgrades! You'll probably find you have quite a few waiting for you.