When Do You Install Windows Monthly Updates?

Microsoft releases its security updates on the second Tuesday of every month. I'm wondering how much people trust these patches, as I have been burned in the past with bad or inappropriate updates. My current practice is to wait a day or two before installing, to see if others have had any problems with the updates. (I figure if these updates can wait a month to be published, they can wait another day or two. Let others test the waters, and find the bugs).

To be fair to MS, it has been a while since I've seen any bad updates for my systems, but I do recall some doozies in the past. I've always operated on the principle that no software be installed on my systems til I'm sure it is safe.

So what is your practice, and experience?

 

I manually update (it's not on Automatic, it notifies me when they are available and I download and install them at my leisure) , but I don't wait a day or two, I don't see why should I wait, never had any problems with MS updates. That option is missing from the poll so I didn't voted.

 

I've never had a problem or personally known anyone who has, so I continue to let MS handle it via Automatic updates.

 

This should be multiple choice. Both options 1 and 2 are valid for me. Today I updated manually because I remembered, but last month Windows did the job 100% automatically.

 

Folks have a short memory!

Just to clarify, for one example, is the Windows Genuine Advantage Notification (WGAN) tool that was foisted by MS as a "critical update" on users back in 2006. (Not to be confused withe the WGA Validation tool).

WGAN was actually a tool designed to detect pirated MS software, and report it back to MS. Fair enough, but it had a high rate of false positive detections. This resulted in a large number of users with legitimate MS software being falsely labelled, and reported as such to MS.

Once tagged, such users could not update MS software (except for critical security updates) and were subject to incessant "nagware" from MS that their software was pirated. Even worse, WGAN could not be uninstalled. It was a major scandal at the time. MS was severely criticized for installing spyware under the guise of a "critical update".

I haven't trusted MS updates ever since.

References:
http://windowssecrets.com/top-story/genuine-advantage-is-microsoft-spyware/
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000178.html

 

I install when the updates are available.

 

DRM = Spyware now? Interesting.

I see the criticism though. Thankfully most anti-piracy updates aren't even installed by default anymore.

 

It's always either the 2nd or 3rd option.

 

Well, I think Microsoft learned the lesson from the 2006's events and really improved their DRM stuff.

Also, I never install pirated Windows on my machines, only original Windows (usually OEM). If one day an anti-piracy update falsely flags my setup (unlikely to happen with today technologies employed by Microsoft), I'm sure a fix will come very fast - because I will contact Microsoft immediately and by all available means to report the issue.

 

When the update shield pops up in the notification area I update.

 

mine are set to automatic and let ms handle it..........

 

Exactly! I have automatic updates on, but usually i go and take the patches myself when i know they're out. I never had any problems either

 

As some Patches have been problematic,
I prefer to wait & update manually...

 

Whichever is the easiest, unless I run into problems.

 

I manually update on patch Tuesday, and never ever had a problem with MS updates although on my main machine I usually back up the system before updating.

 

I update manually as soon as Windows Update reports that there are updates available (and after I reboot to disable Returnil).

I have had frequent problems (latest was on Tuesday) with Windows Update not being able to install some of the updates, or all of them. I have a procedure to apply in these cases that has worked well for me, but this is the worst problem I have found in Windows 7.

 

I didn't vote as I don't feel any of them represent what I do. I update 1 machine immediately for testing purposes. Then I watch for problems. If none I start rolling it out to my users. None of them are on automatic updates.

 

I voted never. I got off of their update-upgrade treadmill a long time ago. There are no official patches or updates for my operating systems. Unofficial upgrades are first trialed on a virtual copy of my existing system. If it works as it should, it's added to the physical OS after making a backup of that systems partition.

 

I manually update, but wait a day after updates are released, because I live in Europe, so I wait for a comfortable hour.

 

I manually update too, not exactly 1 or 2 days after they are released but more like when i have available time, which could be weeks

 

I voted 1, but do both 1 & 2. I have updates set on automatic but always check on patch Tuesday and sometimes 1 or 2 times a week for updates. Never had a problem.

 

I use Windows Automatic Updates, and let MS handle it.

 

I manually update Windows. I check first for problems/conflicts reported, within 2 hours or so, before deploying the updates on my machines.

 

I usually do it the next day (Wed.), if I have time. While I'm at it I update everything on my computer... like CCleaner, Comodo, on demand scanners, ect... Then reboot, clean up, defrag., and run those on demand scans. So it's kind of a ritual for me and I don't always have the time right away, so I sometimes put it off a few days.

 

Being a "techie" I like to see what's being updated, so manual for me. But for everyone else I always set/recommend automatic.