Microsoft Confirms That Its Secret Alterations of Windows Generate Problems

Microsoft has been modifying files in the Windows Vista and Windows XP operating systems without the knowledge or consent of the users that have acquired the products in good faith. The Redmond company's incognito updates served both to XP and to Vista are an integer part of a long time practice over at Microsoft, targeting Windows Update and are as old as the updating infrastructure that the company has built for its platforms. Nate Clinton, Windows Update Program Manager initially admitted the stealthy updates to Windows but argued that they only benefited the end users and that they caused no harm whatsoever.

Well, Scott Dunn, from Windows Secrets, the editor that originally broke the news about Microsoft's silent Windows updating practices, proved the company wrong. Copies of Windows XP repaired via the options on the disc, prior to the deployment of the secret patches, failed to install all additional updates. Clinton subsequently acknowledged the validity of the problem.

"When an XP repair CD is used, it replaces all system files (including Windows Update) on your machine with older versions of those files and restores the registry. However, the latest version of Windows Update includes wups2.dll that was not originally present in Windows XP. Therefore, after the repair install of the OS, wups2.dll remains on the system but its registry entries are missing. This mismatch causes updates to fail installation", Clinton explained.

The sole explanation that Microsoft offered for the silent patches introduced to Windows Update in Windows XP and Vista was nothing more than routine maintenance of the service. The company explained that without the updates WU would fail to perform successful identification, download and deployment of patches served for XP and Vista. Clinton additionally disclosed a modality for users of Windows XP affected by the issue to regain functionality of Windows Update:

"1. Stop the Automatic Updates service. To do this, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
b. At the command prompt, type the following commands, and then press ENTER after each command: net stop wuauserv and exit.

2. Register the file that is used by Windows Update and Microsoft Update. To do this, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
b. At the command prompt, type the following command, press ENTER after the command, and then click OK when you receive a verification message:
regsvr32 %windir%system32wups2.dll
Note: for x64 machines regsvr32 %windir%syswow64wups2.dll

3. Start the Automatic Updates service. To do this, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
b. At the command prompt, type the following commands, and then press ENTER after each command: net start wuauserv and exit."

source: news.softpedia.com

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