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Windows Snooping Patches KB 2952664, KB 2976978 Are Back (Again)

posted by on Friday March 10 2017, @03:28PM   Printer-friendly
from the malware-or-spyware,-you-decide dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Windows Update came roaring back today [Mar 7] after more than a month in a semi-comatose state, and the chute filled up quickly this morning. Windows Update seems to be working well -- even more reason to check your Win7 and 8.1 systems and make sure it's turned off

[...] More disconcerting are the re-re-releases of KB 2952664 (Win7) and KB 2976978 (Win8.1). As I explained last month, those two patches have, in the past, triggered a new Windows task called DoScheduledTelemetryRun.

Even proponents of installing all Win7 and 8.1 patches balk at those patches, which were born in the crucible of the Get Windows 10 (GWX) marched upgrade madness. The series was renumbered, with no explanation: KB 2852664 was renumbered from revision 25 on Oct. 4, 2016, to revision 12 today. Microsoft states:

This update performs diagnostics on the Windows systems that participate in the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program. The diagnostics evaluate the compatibility status of the Windows ecosystem, and help Microsoft to ensure application and device compatibility for all updates to Windows. There is no GWX or upgrade functionality contained in this update.

Yet it appears as if the scheduled task runs whether CEIP is enabled or not. If there's a reason for installing the patches, other than increased telemetry, I haven't heard about it.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/article/3177812/microsoft-windows/windows-snooping-patches-kb-2952664-kb-2976978-are-back-again.html

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  • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday March 10 2017, @07:46PM

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Friday March 10 2017, @07:46PM (#477490) Journal

    If you can handle the install, Arch is excellent, and despite its supposed instability I've never had it crash on me. Haven't had it break anything irreparably for over 6 years either, and that was my own fault for not keeping on top of the documentation. You can make something stupidly quick and lean if you know what you're doing. My work machine is an old HP laptop a customer donated. It runs Xfce with some custom work and looks very much like OS X 10.9. Zippy as hell, especially with the CK kernel installed :)

    Debian is also always a good choice, though you may prefer Testing to Stable; don't worry, in Debian speak Testing means Stable and Stable means "I've got vinyls newer than that."

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
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