Controlling Windows Update in Windows 7


By the time the first service pack launches for any Windows operating system, there might be 80 or more security and software updates included in it. These updates address the business of:

Most updates address security vulnerabilities and legacy code. Around four billion people worldwide use Windows, so it’s an enormous target for hackers and criminals. They regularly exploit software, for example Microsoft Ie.

Legacy code updates, another largest cause of service packs, cover vulnerabilities that go as far back to previous versions of Windows and problems brought on by maintaining compatibility together. For example, shortly after Windows 7 launched, Microsoft released an update for any twenty-year-old DOS vulnerability that nobody had spotted before.

For any stand-alone PC or a computer on the small, unmanaged network, I suggest activating automatic Windows updates. This could help prevent problems on your computer by automatically updating Windows components as updates become available.

You can access Windows Update by selecting Action Center or looking in the System and Security section of User interface. You can also open Windows Update by clicking All Programs on the Start menu.

Controlling Windows Update Through Group Policy

Windows Update sometimes causes problems, particularly with older, legacy hardware or software where an update introduces an incompatibility, preventing older software or hardware from in working order or making Windows 7 unstable when software runs.

In the corporate environment or on the small Windows Server network with multiple users, you can disable the Windows Update service and instead use Windows Server features to download and test all updates before they're presented over the network.

To help you disable the Windows Update service, every version of Windows has a utility called Group Policy Editor. To gain access to Group Policy Editor, type GPEdit.msc (not case-sensitive) in the Start menu search box and press Enter. The neighborhood Group Policy Editor window appears.

Group Policy Editor enables you to independently control policies for that computer as well as for individual users. This will be significant since you wish to grant systems administrators full control of the PC but limit access by other users.

To manage Windows Update and hang a policy for those users, in Group Policy Editor click Computer Configuration, click Administrative Templates, click Windows Components, and then click Windows Update. In this window, you can configure Windows Update to prevent receiving automatic updates in order to receive updates only from your company’s server, among many other options that are for sale to controlling Windows Update.

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This article was sent to us by: Kenneth Jones at 05112011

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