Windows 8 Bible

Understanding Automatic Updates

Many people are afraid of Windows Update. They’re afraid that the updates will break something on their system that they can’t fix. It’s certainly true that any change to your system could create a problem. But it’s unlikely that keeping up with updates will cause any significant problems — certainly nowhere near as many problems as you expose yourself to by not keeping up with updates. In addition, Windows Update creates restore points before installing many updates (but not for all updates), so you have the added security of being able to restore the system to a point prior to the update.

Others fear that Microsoft will somehow exploit them through automatic updates. That’s not the way it works. Microsoft has tens of millions of customers and tens of billions of dollars. It doesn’t need to exploit anybody to be successful. Desperate people (and companies) do desperate, exploitive things. Microsoft is as far from desperate as you can get.

Microsoft is also a publicly held company on the stock exchange, which means it is subject to constant scrutiny. Such companies are not the ones that distribute malware. Most malware comes from e-mail attachments and free programs from unknown sources. When it comes to knowing who to trust and not to trust, large publicly-held companies are by far the most trustworthy, if for no other reason than that they can’t afford to be untrustworthy. A third common fear of automatic updates centers around the question “What’s ...