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from the "because-the-updates-might-not-work" dept.
Security researcher Patrick Barker has caught Samsung deliberately disabling Windows Update on Samsung PCs in favor of its own bloatware service:
The problem was spotted by independent security researcher Patrick Barker after a Windows user complained that the Windows Update function, which automatically downloads patches and security fixes from Microsoft, was being randomly disabled.
The culprit turned out to be a piece of code called SWUpdate, which Samsung bundles on its machines to handle driver updates for its hardware. SWUpdate, in turn, runs an executable called Disable_Windowsupdate.exe as part of its standard operations. Guess what that does.
At first, the researchers were concerned that the software might be malware, although it did appear to be signed by Samsung itself. A call to Samsung technical support yielded the following response:
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 laptop, the ports may not work with the installation of updates. So to prevent this, SW Update tool will prevent the Windows updates.
Samsung has not replied to The Reg's request for comment but a Microsoft spokesperson emailed us the following statement:
Windows Update remains a critical component of our security commitment to our customers. We do not recommend disabling or modifying Windows Update in any way as this could expose a customer to increased security risks. We are in contact with Samsung to address this issue.
Original Submission and Original Submission
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday June 25 2015, @09:58PM
How hard would it really be for Samsung to provide drivers to Microsoft to include in the normal Windows Update?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by ese002 on Thursday June 25 2015, @10:13PM
It might not help. If Windows Update is misidentifying the device, it might still install the generic drivers if they are newer.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday June 25 2015, @10:35PM
I would have thought it'd be easier to advertise "Samsung laptop, don't update USB3 chipset drivers with generic", than actually interfere with WU.
It should be quite trivial to track hardware-chipset relationships when you're the company that provides Yahoo with a world-class Internet search engine.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Nollij on Friday June 26 2015, @02:27AM
Trivial and easy to do? sure.
Unnecessary? Yep.
Has anyone actually seen this issue in action? The only times I see a generic driver on WU is when the chip maker (e.g. Renesas USB3) has a recommended driver, but the board maker (e.g. MSI) has a different recommended driver. Usually an older version of the former, but with branding. I don't think I've ever seen the "generic" driver break things, but I have seen a lot of warnings that it could.
I've also seen where the hardware IDs are modified, so the generic driver doesn't show as compatible (and thus, is not listed in WU as available). This would be the proper way to go.