I blogged some time back about Microsoft installing stealth updates on people's computers, even if the computer user has disabled Windows' automatic updates feature.

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.

Apologies for the lack of posts in the past week but I have been ill and not very productive. I've instead been spending my time catching up on my reading and also reading some blogs. I have also been working on my novel which I am determined to get finished for Christmas.

For a while now, I have been considering making my own Windows XP installation disk. Lifehacker mentioned it yesterday and it has always struck me as a good idea to have a disk with all our settings on it that I can just pop into the computer if we ever need to re-install everything (in the past 3 years, we have had to purge and re-format everything twice). But I lack the technical know-how to make such a disk and besides I need to locate our original XP disk first (I haven't seen it since ages!).

Having the original XP disk also means you can activate XP features which are normally deactivated. For example, I had absolutely no idea that you could send and receive faxes through XP. But to switch the feature on, you need to insert your XP disk into your hard-drive. Guess I'd better start looking for it. The attic is normally a good place to start.

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.

OK, the title of this post is slightly misleading as it may not be 10GB for you. But the following method is definately one worth doing to see how much space you can claim back from the Windows OS (as it already takes far too much).

There's a feature on your PC (if you have XP or Vista) called "System Restore". This allows you to roll your PC back to a previous state if you screw something up. Now by default, the System Restore feature uses 12% (!) of the total space on your drive to save restore point files and settings. If you use the standard settings, XP creates a restore point every day. The actual size of a restore point varies but using the standard settings, your PC could be holding data on 200 system restore points, which you don't really need.

Now you can easily reduce that System Restore space to just 1GB on your hard-drive which all you will ever need. When you do so, XP will delete the rest of the data and give you the space back. Plus in the future, System Restore points will only use up that 1GB of space.

Since I am using a German language PC, it is pointless to make screenshots if you don't understand German, so just do this : go to Control Panel then System then System Restore. Now using your mouse, slide that slider to the left until you get to around 1000MB (1GB) of space. This should be either 1% or 2%. When done, click the "apply" button to save the changes then "OK".

Now how much space did you get back? I got 10GB!

One of the things that has annoyed me about Windows is the music it plays when the system is booting up or shutting down. But I have found a way to disable those sounds.

To mute Windows’ startup and shutdown sounds, click the Start menu and scroll to Settings then Control Panel. Then choose Sounds and Audio Devices, and click the Sounds tab.

The Sounds tab is where you can activate and disable all the sounds on the Windows Operating system. To turn off the startup and shutdown sounds, just scroll through the list under Program
events, select Exit Windows, and choose (None) in the Sounds drop-down menu. Do the same for Start Windows, and click Apply. Then click OK and you're done.

One other irritating Windows feature is when you delete something and you get the box asking you "if you're sure". Of course I am bloody sure! To turn off that annoying nag box, just right-click on your desktop trash bin, choose settings and disable the nag box.

I am finally getting Windows the way I want it!