After many years, Microsoft has released to the public an update service for all its products, not just Windows.
After many years, Microsoft has released to the public an update service for all its products, not just Windows. The new Microsoft Update, which replaces the old Windows Update, has been around for a little but we’ve held off on our verdict – until now.
Most of us are used to the Windows Update service, usually accessed from Internet Explorer’s Tools | Windows Update menu or from the update service in Windows XP. It works fairly well giving the choice of automatically installing updates, downloading them ready to install when you permit, notifying you only, or doing nothing.
The Microsoft Update service extends this service to Office 2003 as well. Once you’ve installed the Microsoft Update service you can see a list of all available updates for Windows, Office and beyond. This is especially handy for getting those smaller, less critical updates that might be easily overlooked.
We’ve tried Microsoft Update on Windows 2003 Servers, including Small Business Server 2003. It advised us of some updates we’d overlooked. This especially applied to Exchange Server and SQL Server updates (including those products as part of SBS).
Not all Microsoft products are covered by Microsoft Update, but it’s hard to tell which ones are not. The FAQ says it supports “Microsoft Windows and many other Microsoft programs that you’ve installed, such as Microsoft Office, Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft SQL Server, all in one convenient place.”. In fact, only Office 2003 is covered – previous versions of Office have to use their web site.
The idea of ‘set and forget’ updates sounds ideal but those of us who have been using Microsoft products for many years are somewhat less enthusiastic. Updates are not always perfect and seamless. Sometimes the process of updating your computer can cause problems. More often the updates affect (deliberately or accidentally) the way your computer works.
Security-based updates can block or change something you’ve become accustomed to doing. With the complexity of software these days it’s quite possible for one bug fix to create new bugs of its own.
The Windows team has a good track record with update stability – not perfect by any means but pretty good. But the Office team has an awful history of bungled and buggy updates for Microsoft Office. To be sure they’ve become better in recent years but we’ve always been concerned about Microsoft’s poor institutional memory for past blunders.
For that reason we’ve installed Microsoft Update but not chosen the default ‘Automatic’ option. Like the Windows Update before it, we prefer the ‘Download but don’t install’ option.
By the way, the download process works nicely in the background, using your Internet connection when not wanted for other things.
If you keep control over when updates are installed then you can better identify what caused a particular problem. With Automatic Updates there is a small risk of finding your computer misbehaving with no idea what happened. You can view a history of your updates, but if you can’t access that history you’re still in the dark.
Tip: The Automatic option only downloads important and critical updates. You should still run Microsoft Update occasionally to get other, less critical, updates.
Using ‘download then install when instructed’ also lets you choose the time when updating takes place. Murphy’s Law says that your computer will try to update, then prompt to reboot at the time of maximum inconvenience – such as a pressing deadline, a boss hovering over your shoulder or an impatient child requiring your attention.
The downside of not using automatic install is that you may not be protected quickly if some nasty worm starts roaming the net. However, if you are using your computer regularly this should not be a problem.
SUGGESTION
For power users – and Office Watch readers are higher up the evolutionary tree by definition – it’s probably prudent to install Microsoft Update but only use the ‘download then wait’ option.
If you have largely unattended machines or computers operated by less savvy friends and relatives you might make it easier for them by choosing the fully ‘Automatic’ option. In these cases the benefit of the ‘hands off’ service probably outweighs the risk of a troublesome patch.
In short, the convenience of Microsoft update is worth the switch but be cautious about letting Microsoft patch your programs without you oversight.
TO SWITCH TO MICROSOFT UPDATE
Go to windowsupdate.microsoft.com. On the right side you’ll see a link to ‘Microsoft Update’. Follow those prompts to install the new updating system.
