Microsoft’s controversial data mining and privacy invasions

As that Forbes article points out, for Win 7 and 8 those updates are designated optional, and are not mandatory. I can't remember the last time I installed an optional update, as they never seemed to address any security issues or other actual problems I had. The updates mentioned above I specifically hid at WU, once I saw their purpose. I doubt the average user bothers to check out the purpose of updates, however, and MS exploits this for their own obscure purposes.

We have already seen the damage caused by KB3022345, requiring yet another bugfix:
en.community.dell.com/.../19630596

MS really should be more transparent as to the benefits (if any) of these optional updates to the end user.

Just got offered optional update KB3083324 for Win 7, 32-bit, which they only describe as an update for Windows Update Client.

More Microsoft spyware?  :emotion-7:

Thanks, but NO thanks, Microsoft...

I found a post where one person claimed KB3083324 was a "Windows 10 Upgrade preparation for Windows 7"... I don't know that there's any other confirmation of this... but suffice it to say, I did NOT install that update either.

I was also offered kb 3092627, an "update to fix Windows or application freezes after you install security update 3076895".    I indeed have 3076895 installed --- an "important" update, which thus was installed (semi-)automatically --- but there's been no sign of any subsequent freezes... so I'm debating whether or not to install this optional "hotfix":  you'd think if they wanted everyone to install it, they would have marked it "important" as well.  [As a test, I have installed it on ONE of my Win7 systems...]

KB3083324 isn't listed in MS's update catalog. Only know what MS says about KB3083324 on the information page for this update. Nowhere does that page mention anything about upgrading to Win 10. My 32-bit system can't run Win 10 (or Win 8, for that matter) so if that's what it's for, I certainly don't need it.

Also have 3076895 but declined 3092627 too. That said, been having IE11 freezes lately, but none of the documentation I saw for any of these updates mentions IE11 and/or fixes IE issues caused by some prior update. So I'll stay away from 3092627.

This makes my head ache!  :emotion-7:

I hid 3092627 when it was first offered. Just looked at my list of hidden updates and it's not there!

Very curious indeed. :emotion-3:

Has to indicate that Microsoft pulled that update for some reason.

I've mostly used Hidden Updates as a sort of dustbin, or perhaps a "fire and forget" area. But the last few posts prompted to to take a peek to see how big the Hidden Heap had grown.

Surprise! There was only one hidden update! Where did all those updates for Win7 I had hidden over several years go to? I've never found the need to restore/install any in the past ...

MS works in mysterious ways, its wonders to perform. But I personally think if you ignore an MS optional update long enough, it pouts, gathers up its toys, and goes home. Sort of like the hopeless kid neither side chooses when picking players for a game in the schoolyard. [:'(]

Alternatively, this from Windows Help and Support regarding showing and installing hidden updates:
"Some [hidden] updates that you try to restore might not appear in the list of updates that Windows offers you. This happens only when Windows finds a more recent update that addresses the same problem as the update you tried to restore."

"Some [hidden] updates that you try to restore might not appear in the list of updates that Windows offers you. This happens only when Windows finds a more recent update that addresses the same problem as the update you tried to restore."

That makes sense. But 3092627 is very recent, so something must have happened to make it disappear that fast.

MS better get its act together about updates. Peeps are not going to upgrade to Win 10 with forced updates, if they keep failing, are causing more problems that require more patches, and/or are just being used to spy on us. :emotion-5:

Ron:

Speaking seriously now, I agree with you.

When ky331 started this thread, there were 3 questionable updates mentioned by Forbes (among others) in my Hidden list:
KB3068708
KB3075249
KB3080149

Now there is but one:
KB3068708
This is the update that "introduces the Diagnostics and Telemetry tracking service to existing devices. By applying this service, you can add benefits from the latest version of Windows to systems that have not yet upgraded. The update also supports applications that are subscribed to Visual Studio Application Insights." Whatever that means. Sounds like psycho-babble at best, spyware at worst.

I have not installed any updates since this thread began, nor indeed was I offered any. So the suggestion that subsequent updates addressed issues in the vanished updates and rendered them obsolete does not ring true. I can only conclude that MS read the Forbes article, and did a bit of quick damage control.

"Collecting information about application errors and the way the operating system is used is reasonable. Having an accurate picture of how people use the operating system is likely to produce a better platform in the future; knowing which applications crash, and why, is obviously invaluable if those apps are to be fixed."
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/microsoft-accused-of-adding-spy-features-to-windows-7-8/

And it's back:   3092627 was "reinvigorated" with September's Windows Updates... now listed as Recommended.

I'm biting-the-bullet and going for it on a second Win7 system, and a Win8.1..

I don't personally find a problem with it as long as its anonymous data collection.  Finding out why this crashed or that failed is apart of the game of fixing problems and making something  better imho.  Now if it is all tied to my Microsoft Account with my name on it and la de da, then yes I would have an issue (not that I do anything illegal etc).  Big data is unfortunately big business as anyone using Google products should know, so there isn't a whole heck of a lot we can do except switch products?

, so there isn't a whole heck of a lot we can do except switch products?

Or not to install questionable updates unless/until Microsoft gives us a clear, honest, accurate accounting of what each update does. And hopefully that accounting can be verified by some of those groups which love to check this such stuff.