MCITP: Windows Server® 2008 Enterprise Administrator, Study Guide

9.8. Overview of Windows Update

Almost everyone who has used a Windows-based computer since Windows 95 is familiar with the ever-present Windows Update button. And Windows Server 2008 is no exception. But, I can summarize this topic in one sentence: enabling automatic updates is easy in its implementation but possibly dangerous in a complex environment. This is because automatic updates induce the potential to release an update that could cause a service to suddenly stop operating in a fashion that you've become familiar with. And this means that (if the service is relatively important) the entire server could stop running as a whole!

With any luck, in time, this will change. As time moves on, the days of automatic updates ruining entire infrastructures ...