Samsung computers are quietly installing an app that disables Windows Update

[Renew Deal]

Source: The Next Web

Anyone who’s purchased a new Samsung laptop has probably run into the company’s “software updater” tool, which promises to keep apps and drivers up to date on your computer.

That software does something slightly sinister in the background, however: it disables Windows Update. A post by Microsoft MVP, Patrick Barker, details a small application that’s quietly installed in the background to block updates.

The app, conspicuously named Disable_Windowsupdate.exe, is installed automatically without the owner’s knowledge. According to a support representative, it’s there to stop the computer from automatically downloading drivers from Windows Update that could be incompatible with the system or cause features to break.

Unfortunately for Samsung it also appears to change the user’s update settings and disables Windows Update entirely. Once installed, the app even disables Windows Update after the user re-enables it.

Samsung’s software update service doesn’t actually ship with the application installed, it’s silently downloaded in the background at a later time from a non-HTTP server and installed without asking the user.
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Read more: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/06/24/samsung-computers-are-quietly-installing-an-app-that-disables-windows-update

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[sabbat hunter]

1. WTF?

bad form Samsung!

[charliea]

2. That won't end well

This is going to end up with people screaming at Samsung. Thanks for the info, don't have any Samsung gear myself, and am now even less likely to get any.

[charliea]

3. This won't end well

This is going to end up with people screaming at Samsung. Thanks for the info, don't have any Samsung gear myself, and am now even less likely to get any.

[onehandle]

4. “Samsung execs don’t brush their teeth in the morning, they file them”

So goes the Valley lore, an expression of fearful admiration for the Korean giant’s success. The massive chaebol (the largest conglomerate in South Korea) is terrifyingly effective at dominating every industry it touches, from shipyards and power plants, to surveillance equipment, amusement parks, cars, and, of course, electronics.

When Samsung enters a market, the competition trembles. The TV set industry is one such example: Sharp remains on life-support after taking a $112M investment from Samsung two years ago (for a 3% stake). Sony has fared a bit better: When Samsung displaced Sony as the world’s number one TV manufacturer, the Japanese company was kept afloat by its life insurance business while CEO Kazuo Hirai worked on a much needed turnaround.

Smartphones offer the most vivid example of Samsung’s determination. As Android rapidly rose to prominence, Samsung saw an opportunity. Combining Android with its manufacturing might and gigantic war chest (Samsung’s 2013 marketing budget was $14B, the biggest in history, about the same as Iceland’s GDP), the company quickly became the world’s leading smartphone manufacturer, selling 300M units in 2013 alone — double Apple’s volume.

But Samsung’s handset business soon contracted. By the third quarter of 2014, Samsung profits had fallen by 60% and unit volume was down by 9% while all other major vendors went up. In the last quarter of the year, Samsung unit volume fell behind Apple (73M vs. 75M) and the Cupertino company reaped a huge share of all smartphone profits.

http://www.mondaynote.com/2015/06/22/samsungs-mobile-os-dilemma

When Samsung lost a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against Apple, their execs waited three days to tell their CEO for fear of how he would react. Much like Stalin's subordinates treated Stalin, who were worried about his reaction even after he was found dead in his bed.

Korea forced Samsung to appoint 3 (THREE) CEOs after the company came to a standstill.

[arikara]

5. Interesting

Thanks for sharing!

[cosmicone]

6. Samsung is successful because it makes great products

I have 4 Samsung TVs and I just purchased their 4K TV which is superb. Sony lost the innovative edge.

I have two Samsung Galaxy S5 phones and both work flawlessly with much better experience than the iPhone which is supported by apple-groupies rather than any new innovation.

When a company is successful because of making better products, I refuse to pile on.

As far as the Windows Update is concerned, what I suspect is that Samsung gathers updates from MSFT and installs them through their own update system to make sure everything remains compatible and functional. Samsung does this for Android updates as well. No one is that stupid to just turn off updates.

[onehandle]

7. Yet American Apple is doing fine.

The most powerful CEO in history, Tim Cook, the gay CEO of an American company, needs no CEO v2 or v3 to back him up.

Samsung is a good supplier of screens and chips. Apple still buys from them. And that's about it.

Meanwhile Apple is expanding production stateside. I hope the whole China thing is a memory in a few years.

Samsung still screws with American Google's Android OS. This is folly and is recognized for what it is.

My guess is that Samsung will abandon Android, because they don't know any better.

It's a terrible shame about Sony. Steve Jobs, and myself were big fans of them.

[cosmicone]

8. Like I said .. Apple survives because of Apple groupies

Samsung has already overtaken Apple in Asia and Europe. Samsung Galaxy phones are better than iPhones by lightyears.

[onehandle]

9. Ok...

Well, the 'Apple groupies' thing has been over for about a decade. Nowadays in reality, almost every youngster in America, Europe, and Asia wants Apple devices over all others, but whatever...

[Psephos]

22. Yet Apple is the most valuable company in history.

I note that as someone who doesn't use their products, and does use Samsung's.

[Myrina]

23. +1

n/t

[LanternWaste]

24. In other words, Apple survives due to its customer base... much as every other successful company.

In other words (and lacking the irrelevant petulance and trivialization), Apple survives due to its customer base... much as every other successful company.

[cosmicone]

25. Yes, but said customer base is of blind followers

and not because of any inherent superiority of Apple products.

[6000eliot]

29. I guess there's no such thing as a Samsung groupie though.

[cosmicone]

30. There isn't

You'll never see people lined up for days in advance of a Samsung phone's release.

Apple groupies line up and stay in line all night and days to get a phone that will be available to everyone in just a week to 10 days anyway.

[6000eliot]

31. Isn't there a word for judging a whole group of people based on the actions of a few?

It's right on the tip of my tongue.

[cosmicone]

32. I never judged a whole group of people.

I stated that Apple succeeds because of Apple groupies. I didn't make a statement regarding what percentage of Apple consumers are groupies.

[unblock]

10. kinda funny, microswift complaining about another company doing rotten and evil things.

i mean, don't they hold the patent on that sort of thing?

hell, windows updater itself is a pretty horrid piece of software.....


i'm not going to rush to defend samsung; yes, they're more than capable of pushing out nefarious and/or incompetent software. but i'll still take anything microswift has to say about them with a huge grain of salt.

[sybylla]

13. Yeah, no kidding.

I don't think I'll trust that they are giving us all the facts either.

[Xithras]

20. Microsoft today isn't the same company it was a decade ago.

It's always kind of funny when people bash on Microsoft as an evil company, because they're largely just dating themselves. Microsoft doesn't wield nearly as much power as it did 10-15 years ago, and pretty much all of the "evil practices" that they once embraced were abandoned long ago. While there are still a number of very valid points to be made about the QUALITY of some of their software, or of the competence of its corporate leadership (who the hell thought Windows 8 was a good idea?), the company itself isn't any better or worse than the rest of the tech industry nowadays.

And yet, there are still clueless ninnies who go into apocaleptic fits any time their company name is mentioned. "OHMIGOD! MICRO$HIT IS EEEEVVVVILLLL! WORST COMPANY ON EARTH! I HEARD THEY SACRIFICE THE CEO'S OF THE COMPANIES THEY CRUSH TO THE GOD BAAL(mer)!!!!"

Ah well, they give the rest of us something to laugh at.

[unblock]

21. alrighty then. i guess they have complete moral standing to complain about others then.

not hypocritical in the least.

i don't disagree with you that they've been surpassed by others; like i said, i'm not defending samsung, and we've all heard how far google has strayed from its original "don't be evil" mantra, and so on.

but that hardly takes away from the irony of them complaining about the practices of others while we all know how they built their own empire.

[bobthedrummer]

11. Google eavesdropping tool installed on computers without permission (Samuel Gibbs 6-23-15 Guardian)

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/23/google-eavesdropping-tool-installed-computers-without-permission

Long live all the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Earth!

[TygrBright]

12. And this is bad because.....?

Never mind, geeks. I know, I KNOW....

And I DO run it on the Windows-based machines I manage.

But the ninth or tenth time in the course of a few weeks, when one wakes the machine and finds the login screen smiling brightly at you because that effing nuisance has "helpfully" restarted you, creating detritus and temp files and other crap in its "helpful" attempt to save all the stuff you were working on, you tend to get a bit jaded about the "helpfulness" of it all.

crankily,
Bright

[navarth]

14. If you're managing these machines...

that would imply you have admin privileges. Why not just change the settings?

Then maybe you could leave unsaved work open, although that's not such a good idea.

My 2 cents

[PatrynXX]

15. ie Malwarebytes should have a patch up soon right

it is malware

[navarth]

16. My recommendation:

Buy a copy of the operating system, install it on the laptop/tablet whatever. Wipe the machine clean of all the extra poop they impose on you. I've done that with the last 2 laptops I got for my wife and the machines work fine. And no unwanted crap from the manufacturer. HP has got to be the worst....well, maybe now Samsung is the worst. They do make good TVs though.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. Or DON'T buy an operating system and use Linux.

[csziggy]

27. I did that on my husband's Acer laptop

But something disabled Windows update even with a fresh installation of Windows. The only other things that were installed were the drivers for the hardware in the laptop such as the motherboard, video, and audio drivers.

I did download the drivers from Acer and now I wonder if they put their malware into one of the drivers.

[leveymg]

17. If it allowed manual control over Windows Updates it would add value.

I often can't get into email and programs first thing in the morning because automatic updates has taken over my computer. Very annoying, and I often wonder what's in those updates MS thinks I should have.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

18. This is the result of Microsoft being slow to release code to hardware makers....

I'm old enough to remember having to assign IRQ 7 or 5 and having a sound card with a SCSI for a CD-ROM.

[flor-de-jasmim]

26. Scuzzies, yeah! How about the Kaypro with 64K of memory??

[Spitfire of ATJ]

28. Remember "Better Scuzzy than Sassy"?

[L0oniX]

33. Hey ...it's a good thing. Samsung is helping to stop viruses.

Winsux is some bad mojo.