Earlier this week Samsung was caught disabling Windows Updates on its users PCs. For those who were unaware of this and are just now finding out, don’t worry. Samsung will be sending a patch that will allow Windows to install its updates on your PC.
Many Samsung users were quite disappointed with Samsung’s decision to disable the ability for your computer to install Windows Updates without the user’s consent. Essentially, Microsoft’s MVP Patrick Barker discovered a program titled Disable_Windowsupdate.exe. This file was pushed as part of a the software update tool Samsung uses to update users PCs. While this did not totally prevent updates to be installed, it did disable the ability for the updates to run automatically in the background. If you wanted to get the Windows updates, you would be forced to visit Microsoft’s website, download, and install them manually.
When Microsoft discovered this a spokesperson stated:
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.
After being scolded by Microsoft and other Samsung users, Samsung decided to rollback the update they pushed. Samsung told Gizmodo:
Samsung has a commitment to security, and we continue to value our partnership with Microsoft. We will be issuing a patch through the Samsung Software Update notification process to revert to the recommended automatic Windows Update settings within a few days
Many updates that Microsoft pushes Window’s PCs are critical to the overall health of the system. Some of these updates are essential to ensuring your computer stays protected from numerous threats trying to attack Windows PCs each day.
It’s great that Samsung is willing to see the errors of their ways and roll back the updates they pushed to disable automatic Microsoft Updates. However, it does not make me feel any better being a Samsung PC owner. I, like many others, was already not a fan of Samsung’s software update tool, and the error Samsung made only added fuel to the fire. I find it interesting that Samsung indicated that the update they pushed to disable Windows updates was optional. When looking at my PC I also found this file, and I definitely don’t remember opting into disabling Windows updates. Something seems fishy. Additionally, while Samsung revoked the update, they did not explain why it was disabled in the first place. Can we get some logic behind this Samsung?
What are your thoughts? Do you believe what Samsung did was wrong? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.