Windows 10: Opinion: Microsoft needs to release support articles before updates

This week's patch day had a bit of a sour taste to it, and this time not because of the quality of the patches that Microsoft released. If you tried to check the support pages of the main updates for Microsoft's supported desktop client and server operating systems, you'd notice that the articles were not published yet.

The updates on the other hand were distributed via Windows Updates and other update management systems from 19:00 onward.

It is unclear why the publication of the support articles was delayed, but some articles were not published for a good hour after release. What is clear is that the sequence of events is problematic, as administrators and home users could not check what the offered updates actually included.

Did they resolve security issues and fix other non-security issues? Did Microsoft list confirmed known issues, or were not there any?

Without support articles, it is impossible to tell. One of the saner things to do in this case is to postpone the installation of updates until the support articles become available.

The solution: publish support articles early



Since this is not the first time that this is happening, it may be time to work on a solution that ensures that support articles are always published before updates are released. One easy option to ensure that is to publish the support articles in advance, for instance an hour before the updates are released by Microsoft.

The support articles don't provide security information that is actionable, that threat actors could use and exploit prior to the release of the updates. Administrators and users on the other hand could find out if updates they are about to install have known issues and whether they address issues that they experience.

Support articles can still be updated should the need arise to add last minute information to them before release. Microsoft could even label them as previews until the actual updates are released to make sure that customers understand that the article may be updated before the actual release of the patch.

Now You: What is your take on this?

Thank you for being a Ghacks reader. The post Opinion: Microsoft needs to release support articles before updates appeared first on gHacks Technology News.

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Type Cover 2 not working with WIndows 10 (Release)

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B3 Phenom support

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Microsoft Botches Up UEFI Support for Windows 7 on ASUS Motherboards



Microsoft suggests updating to Windows 10 to patch Windows 7

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• Chris Merriman
• 
  @ChrisTheDJ
• 05 May 2016

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9 Comments

MICROSOFT HAS confirmed a potentially lappy-borking problem that it won't be fixing, because Windows 7.

Woody Leonhard, the respected Windows columnist, points to a problem involving Asus motherboards, which also appear rebadged in a variety of other manufacturers' machines, and the activation of UEFI Secure Boot for Windows 7 in a patch KB3133977.

Short version: install update, welcome to Borksville, population you.

Both Asus and Microsoft acknowledged the problem. Microsoft entitled the article "BitLocker can't encrypt drives because of service crashes in svchost.exe process in Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2", but we prefer to just call it "Trevor for brevity."

The firm's advice was that it's an optional update, leave well alone, you'll be fine, or alternatively turn secure boot off.

Then Microsoft did a silly, silly thing.

It moved the update from 'optional' to 'recommended' and anyone who reads this site regularly will know what happens when Microsoft does this. That's right boys and girls - it makes it automatically install, unless you've specifically told your machine not to.

So now, if you have one of the affected motherboard and you keep your security updates automatic like wot Microsoft recommends, then your machine will stop working properly.

We should add it's not permanently bricked, but it will take some mucking about in the BIOS to fix and that's a pain even for an experienced computer user.

Microsoft has, by offering a workaround, suggested heavily that it won't be fixing the problem, though we have asked the question, so expect a response in about a fortnight.

But the real kicker is this piece of advice: "Note The Secure Boot feature is supported in Windows 10. To learn more about the security advantages of this feature and about the upgrade path from Windows 7 to Windows 10, go to the following Windows website"

Holy toledo, this company really knows how to rub people up the wrong way.

After all - if the advice is to manually avoid the update or move to a version of the operating system where there's virtually no control over updates, then Microsoft is dealing in massive contradictions.

A more cynical site would suggest that it's yet another example of Microsoft running Windows 7 into the ground and adding built in obsolescence to encourage quicker updates. But we're not that sort of site.

Its the patching to force secure boot that is the problem win 7 does not support secure boot
hence it borks systems and well microsofts answer is Cactus >your Asshole > insert

from the inquirer