Samsung caught disabling Windows Update to run its own bloatware Samsung computer users could find themselves wide open to attack because the software the Korean giant bundles on its systems disables Windows Update. The problem was spotted by independent security researcher Patrick Barker after a Windows user complained that the Windows Update function, which automatically downloads patches …
"It's hard to see why Samsung thought disabling Windows Update was a good idea, given that Microsoft regularly uses it to" ... Brick Windows.
Personally, I've been violently opposed to automatic bricking "updates" at least since the time when the Content® manufacturing industry coerced Nvidia and Microsoft to push an "update" that deliberately disabled DVD playback on machines with certain graphics cards.
So many supposed "updates" are intended solely to benefit the provider to the detriment of the user, that I simply don't trust them any more, and it seems more prudent to be cautious and assume bad faith every time. Indeed the whole "update" process is so subversive that I have no confidence that merely turning it "off" will in fact prevent it from running anyway, so I typically resort to removing the offending malware (i.e. the Windows Update service) instead. Although frankly I'd classify Windows in its entirety as malware, avoid using it unless threatened by armed bastards, and even then I'd have to think twice about it.
Consumers are no longer valued customers, we're the enemy, and capitalism is war.
but this disables updates and overrides the inbuilt windows options. I don't automatically install updates but I *DO* enable the nag screen as I forget (this is home not WSUS at work, that is a different case). This software simply disables the update service - not good. Whilst blindly automatically installing updates might not be the best course for us techies, it IS a good idea for my dad.
Ha ha... The usual plaintive cries of 'Install Linux.. Please... Please... Someone... Anyone...'
Aren't you people embarrassed that all these years of begging people to use something free have added up to zero? Almost literally when looking at market share.
Nobody wants it, except your billy no mates 40 year old virgin 'online buddies' , who sit discussing which distro has the least crappy drivers, while ordering the daily pizza...
The mac with bootcamp isnt a crazy idea, windows is very easy to set up (assuming windows has mac drivers without too much of an issue) but im a cheapskate and my dad is poor :)
I installed Ubuntu on a laptop first. I had never played with Linux at this point. Questions were asked that were far from English (sure, pushing next will work). The Epson printer/scanner wouldn't work afterwards and I needed to tinker in console. My dad wouldn't have a hope in hell of doing this.
His Dell worked as follows (I talked him through on the phone). Switch on, add username and password, right click on wireless icon on desktop, put the big long set of letters from his BT hub pullout, get on internet. The printer he plugged in (ignoring the do not plug in till software installed sticker), installed CD by clicking on the "install" button (it worked anyway). Job done. One afternoon I remoted in after getting him to install some remote software and I set up chrome for him and removed all the internet explorer icons just in case. He uses avast and automatic updates - so far everything is hunky dory.
There are so many drive by adverts that exploit IE holes - all of which have been patched by MS updates as things go along (sure he now uses Chrome but bear with me). People on Samsung laptops would not have had the same opportunity. I fail to see how scrubbing windows on Samsung laptops, muddling through installing Ubuntu - how do these people get Ubuntu anyway? Front of Your Spectrum (which was far better than Sinclair user)? - this is not helpful to people.
Linux has its uses but at the moment it is not meant for general mainstream installation by the masses. Don't get me wrong, it isn't hard but you seriously overestimate the ability of a general person. Sure, pre configured and set up it is great (my kids use an old Pentium 4 laptop with puppylinux) but getting it set up is certainly not easy peasy (I would also imagine a brand new laptop with USB3 drivers not working in Windows would not be a cakewalk to set up in Ubuntu!)
"Aren't you people embarrassed that all these years of begging people to use something free have added up to zero? Almost literally when looking at market share."
No one ever got fired for buying IBM.
That's the attitude for Windows users today. In terms of home users, a significant number could easily switch to Linux and barely notice the difference. The only reason many don't is simply fear of the unknown. You are just being closed minded. A bog standard install of any of the more popular Linuxes, even many of the less popular ones will just work on most hardware these days. You might need a graphics card driver, maybe a printer driver, maybe even a scanner driver, but nothing more complex than the same driver installs you will need when installing Windows.
> Ha ha... The usual plaintive cries
Please don't be so stupid, if you wouldn't mind. The bloke above was describing what works / doesn't work for him as the majority of posters do here.
But my point is, you seem to have a rather outdated idea of what Linux desktop users look like. Expect a call from the 90's asking for it back.
"...Nobody wants it, except your billy no mates 40 year old virgin 'online buddies' , who sit discussing which distro has the least crappy drivers..."
Says a truly cowardly specimen, who posts anonymously to avoid being called out, since he really is a clueless commenturd...
Consumers are no longer valued customers,
So opt out. Become one of the folks that we are forever being told "don't exist". Run Linux on your desktop, laptop, ... and become a participant in a community rather than a resource to be exploited.
If that's too radical for you, dump the bloatware distributors. Build or buy a bare PC and buy your Windows from Microsoft. At least that way you'll be free of any 3rd party bloatware and will be able to nuke and reinstall whenever you need to.
Nooo...
Build your own box (or if a lapdog choose the hardware carefully).
"Buy" a copy of Debian - It's a tad cheaper than windows. Spend the dosh on the hardware.
Install same.
Install traditional init and remove systemd.
Pin as reqiured.
Browse and install software as desired.
Job Done.
Enjoy.
build your own pc, Linux, openoffice (libre etc); all really really good advice - for techies. Im not as old as some on here but my first PC was a home made DX2-66 with windows 3.1 - all installed from floppy with the DOS freemem tuning learnt as I went along. Before that I tinkered with Amigas (and soldered various 3.5" to 2.5" converters and CPU WAIT switches etc. I wouldn't dream of building my dads laptop for him or putting Linux on there - he simply wouldn't cope with it. A laptop that works off the shelf will do (I got him an XPS15 from dell marketplace open box refurb) coupled with MS office and he's happy. Auto updates installed.
The people who are buying Samsung laptops and not performing a drive wipe as the first thing after unboxing are not the sort of people to go poking around services.msc They are people who are asked "do you want automatic updates enabled" when they first boot up and expect it to work. This is a 3rd party program that basically nukes automatic updates. I bet the wording (in the Samsung app) is "would you like Samsung to manage updating your drivers automatically?*"
It is a dumb move with no real reason to do so. Driver updates are optional ones and ive never had drivers automatically update. there ARE reasons to automatically update internet explorer though- yes, techies et al will use firefox (not in windows of course) but they aren't the normal demographic for these PCs.
> build your own pc, Linux, openoffice (libre etc); all really really good advice - for techies
Not for technically inclined people ("techies", as you put it), but for those concerned about the efficiency, stability, and security of their computing platform.
In my experience, those sort of people will know what they want and if they do not have the technical skills, time, or inclination to build such a product themselves, they will know how to avail themselves of one.
Indeed, techies will use Firefox - and if they are awake they will update it regularly. I set Firefox to update automatically, since the updates seem pretty reliable. And that Firefox Reset is provided indicates that the need for it is recognised, and I don't think that a non-techie user could cope with that, so I wouldn'd recommend Firefox for any non-techie user. The updates sometimes make rather large UI changes too, and that's another thing that makes it unsuitable for non-techies.
Fait accompli, at least as far as possible, which sadly isn't very far, considering that Microsoft steals money from my wallet for an OS that I don't want and will never use, every time I buy a PC.
These days it's a moot point though, since I, as with most people, probably have more chance of buying a new VCR than that equally archaic museum piece called a PC.
"Personally, I've been violently opposed to automatic bricking "updates" at least since the time when the Content® manufacturing industry coerced Nvidia and Microsoft to push an "update" that deliberately disabled DVD playback on machines with certain graphics cards."
Where is Microsoft mentioned in that article, other than a bug in the media player?
First thing I do is disable windows Update when I get a new PC. It nags and nags you to install the updates and a couple of times it has shut down the machine when I've been in the middle of working on something.
Surely MS can find a better way of implementing updates silently .... and until they do it stays well and truly disabled.
P.S. I don't surf porn, warez or gambling sites so it must be safe .......
I set Windows Update to download and notify, then I can plan the update for when my computer isn't doing something.
I set it to just notify. If I'm tethered to my 4G phone, I don't exactly appreciate the laptop deciding it'll take my 1GB quota all to itself just for Windows update.
Then there's the situation when you're a guest on someone else's network, it's rude to start downloading lots of data without their permission.
It's about time Microsoft understood that.
If you're on windows 8, set your tethered connection as a metered connection. Now if Dropbox respected that too....
… and for the Windows 7 users here that are using other peoples' networks? Sorry, only a quarter solution. I say quarter because it ignores those who are not running Windows 8 and it ignores the guest network user case.
Most of the time my machines are booted into Linux, however the one I'm typing on dual-boots Windows 7.
"… and for the Windows 7 users here that are using other peoples' networks? Sorry, only a quarter solution. I say quarter because it ignores those who are not running Windows 8 and it ignores the guest network user case."
Upgrade to Windows 8? It has been out since 2012. If you are running Ubuntu then 12.04 was released the same year (to show a comparative age). I don't think i'm running any machine older than 14.04 personally so just update if you want the new features.
>I set it to just notify. If I'm tethered to my 4G phone, I don't exactly appreciate the laptop deciding it'll take my 1GB quota all to itself just for Windows update.
That is probably the most useful enhancement in Windows 8. If only they kept the Windows 7 shell.
Only tangentally related, but it bugs me when software assumes 'wifi' == unlimited, 3/4G == metered.
On many occasions I had it exactly the other way around, and it did bite on occasion.
(Mi-fi with 'three' - 15Gb for 16 quid - coupled with unlimited unteathered data on the tablet Sim)
This post has been deleted by its author
Right. And the fact that the option YOU use(Notify, no download) exists clearly indicates that they do inderstand.
Ignoring whatever "indistand" means (probably an off-by-one error)…
The fact that when you set it, it nags you to set it back to download and install when you check for software updates tells me otherwise.
It's also something one has to toggle each time they connect to a foreign network… i.e. it can't just assume that, by default, all networks are "metered", and that only certain networks (such as the network marked as a "Home" or "Work" network) are safe to assume are "unmetered".
They pop up a dialogue box when you connect to a new network asking if it's home, work or public, how hard is it to ask: "May I download software updates via this connection?"
Drivers on Win updates servers are usually written by chipset providers not OEMs, OEMs just wrap them lightly if at all. Even if the OEM provides a working copy to Microsoft, update is prone to supplying a different version that matches the chipset signature.
That in itself would be just annoying if the drivers work, the real problem is piss poor testing from Microsoft. I have a DVBT card with working drivers that update persistently tries to 'update' to broken versions. A WiFi dongle that has no known working drivers but Windows still tries to install them - causing an instant kernel crash and making Windows unbootable. Both driver are WHQL certified.
Win update is quite capable of breaking PC's and leaving no clue about how it happened if you let it run automatically. At least they allow me to hide specific updates or the backup image would get more use.
This is, of course, assuming Windows can find the correct driver...
I live in France. My older XP box is set to English (British). When I plugged in my phone, Windows took a while to find and install the MTP driver. It works, yes. But it speaks Italian - WTF?
I wonder how many "breakages" are the driver finder/loader installing not quite the right thing?
It seems pointless tampering on the OEMs part.
I get a lot of machines to rebuild and I like to get the latest drivers installed. Often I'll get the latest 2014 driver for their standard integrated Intel graphics and the installer will suddenly say "this is a custom version of the hardware and wont take this driver! See the OEM website for their driver!"
So I go to the say Samsung/Toshiba site and find that the latest driver for that machine is dated 2009 and its the one the machine was shipped with. Oh that's great!
OEMs are doing their best to screw themselves and not just the customer. They don't need to screw with standard off the shelf parts but they do.
Just leave it alone.
Dell?
Hmm I find they are not too bad. The only Dell parts I've had issues with are their 19 in 1 card readers. For some reason they tamper with the standard Teac firmware making drivers for later OS usage difficult.
Though thinking back there was a issue with Nvidia drivers for the Dell M4400 laptop. It could take standard Nvidia drivers but only two specific releases.
That's about it.
I always keep a full Retail copy of any version of Windows handy. I buy them cheap at release date.
I've found a retail copy can be used to fresh install Windows using 99% of keys whether OEM or not to activate.
Hit and miss with OEM copies.
get it home, wipe it clean and reinstall the OS?
I've never liked any "hardware vendor software" - including the damned audio stacks that took off with the ICE chips. Usually the hardware vendors have pages with hardware updates, this suffices for those of us with a technical bent. Have to feel sad for those that get mangled by the vendors. We could of course come up with a law..... </ducks>
Personally my step would be get it home and wipe it clean and install <choose linux distro here>.
<grumpy old troll>
> get it home, wipe it clean and reinstall the OS?
That'd be nice, but on my HP laptop, the reinstall partition didn't work, and it took a week to get my install media. HP thought I was going to pay for it too, until I mentioned the EULA said I could get media just for asking.
> Personally my step would be get it home and wipe it clean and install <choose linux distro here>.
Yup, my desktop is Debian Testing, but there are some things (Suzuki Diagnostic Software) that requires Windows and isn't happy with VM USB implementations (because it's horribly written crapware)
> Personally my step would be get it home and wipe it clean and install <choose linux distro here>.
I wondered how far down I would have to read before I came across the first correct answer. Not too long, but longer than it should.
I cannot for the life of me think why you would want Windows. I spend a large part of my time using a browser -- Firefox naturally (it's the only browser I know that does what I WANT).
If I have to write a document or use a spreadsheet I have Open Office. So I don't have to go anywhere near the nasty shite that M$ pushes out. And I don't have to pay to be retrained to do exactly what I used to do.
Lobotomy -- that's the only thing I can think of that would make people stick with Windows.
(Also the sign of a downvoter.)
I cannot for the life of me think why you would want Windows
That you struggle with basic concepts is no indicator that the rest of the world must. Try starting from a position of everyone not being like you and not wanting what you want, and see where that train of thought takes you.
If I have to write a document or use a spreadsheet I have Open Office
Me too, because I only have to use the office software the way I want to at home, and I don't push the capabilities of Open Office enough to need MS Office.
Lobotomy -- that's the only thing I can think of that would make people stick with Windows
Linux on the desktop isn't going to happen. I don't mean this week, month, or year, I mean ever. It is never going to happen. Sure, you'll always find some people that want to use it, but they, you, will always be a very small minority. I realise that won't be popular with a lot of Reg readers, but it's no less a fact for that.
I've been using Linux for just about everything for more than 5 years (started using it about 20 years ago) but I can see that there are legitimate reasons people may need (or even want) to use Windows. Saying that they're all stupid doesn't really make you look all that smart, you know?
In case you hadn't noticed, there's a bunch of MSFT shillsfans populating the fora at the moment, looking for every excuse to talk-up WindowsX/Office on Android/any of their other attempts to regain market/mind-share, and Linux Loons make an easy target for them.
Getting audio right can require a bit of tweaking sometimes, particularly if there's e.g. an audio device in your graphics card and another in a PCI or USB slot. Also PulseAudio doesn't always do its thing properly, so sometimes it's useful to temporarily disable it and revert to plain ALSA.
Audio is something that has worked in FreeBSD for ever.
Did you try that?
Multiple source mixing existed long before it did in Windows, and long before Linux invented a new audio standard because they couldn't fix their OSS implementation (From what I gather, in Linux-world, if you can't get software to work properly, it's law that instead of fixing the implementation, you must instead invent a new API/protocol. *cough* alsa *cough* pulseaudio *cough* dbus *cough* udev etc.etc.etc)
There are far more OS options out there than just Windows, Mac, and Linux (and even FreeBSD)
The thing about free software is that each software "product" is developed by a team of people who want to work on that product with that team - on the whole people aren't going to work on stuff that doesn't interest them, or work with people they don't like. And there's politics, of course. When OSS (which never worked very well with Linux) went proprietary it was obvious that Linux people would develop an alternative, and by the time it went free again people had invested heavily in ALSA development.
This is normally my modus operandi too (although I'd also buy a new hard drive with the laptop, just so I can swap out and put the old one back in if I needed it for warranty purposes). Unfortunately with my latest laptop Asus seems to have done some sort of black magic with it, I can't install Windows 7 without turning off UEFI (which I refuse to because I want to use GPT partitioning), the boot disk keeps freezing at the "Starting Windows" screen.
And well, Linux won't cut it. I'm very tempted, but the video chipset of the laptop won't be able to run games in Wine smoothly enough. and I do want to play games on this laptop. And well, it does the same thing with Linux as well. The Ubuntu logo appears animates, then freezes up. If I make it boot into command line with a minimalist bootCD like the Clonezilla LiveCD, it will only boot to completion if I specify "vga=normal". Anything else will cause the video freeze.
In the interest of full disclosure tho, the laptop has AMD Enduro.
I had to switch Windows Update to manual review:
1) Wrong Printers, graphics, audio drivers installed by MS Update breaking stuff
2) Stupid MS ware I don't want getting added.
3) Some updates forced a reboot!
LOADS of MS Updates are nothing to do with security, or are for vulnerabilities in stuff that anyone sensible has uninstalled or disabled.
Also even if Samsung give MS all the "latest" drivers, there isn't any assurance it doesn't go wrong. Windows has become a mess and Win 10 is going to be worst yet.
DLL Hell was nothing as to what is coming.
Intel drivers seem particularly prone to this problem - I don't think I ever had an oem set work perfectly installed over vendor wifi or graphics drivers.
Whilst I don't condone what Sammy did sometimes the settings ui's need rewriting so a normal human can use them.
Drivers AFAIK are always offered as 'optional' updates, never as important ones, and thereby should not be installed without user approval. Recommended updates can also be set to require manual approval.
Moreover, I was never offered one for my hardware (Intel, Asus and nVidia) nor for my printers (HP and Canon). Probably because I keep them updated myself, thereby WU never finds something to update.
Only my Surface gets driver updates from MS.
Uninstalled software doesn't receive updates, unless it was removed improperly. Disabled software needs to be updated anyway, how could the system know if you're going to re-enable or not?
>DLL Hell was nothing as to what is coming.
I had to install SAP JCo on a clean install Windows 7 box and, seriously, it was DLL HELL. Add to that dependency walker was being silly, JCo, a library for connecting to AS ABAP from Java depends on a bunch of stuff, most notably IESHIMS.DLL - yes, the binary in C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer, so obviously not on the path. Oh, and before you ask, if you run a 32-bit JVM, then you need 32-bit JCo and C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer in your path.
It also depends on a C++ redist of the same "bittiness" as your JVM, however, I did not mange to work out which version, ended up installing 2013, 2012, 2010, 2008, and 2005.
On Linux, I do "ldd /path/to/some.so", see what is missing and can easily install required libs with apt, no Google "Which MS redist has SOME.DLL" > google "<result>" > "select bittiness", "click Download" > "Untick Bing bar, bing search engine, and MSN homepage hijacker > click download (again) > click back (I use Chrome, I need the direct links that only appear AFTER you click "Download" the second time and go back) > Click link.
On Linux, I do "ldd /path/to/some.so", see what is missing and can easily install required libs with apt,
Really? I think you forgot the bit where you have to download a new Perl module from CPAN, which takes most of the evening finding and installing the 27 other modules that are interdependent, plus the new (or maybe old) version of GCC you have to install so that you can recompile something you don't need but is part of the library dependencies, and the trendy new scripting interpreter that you've never heard of before and which the developer has used for the startup, instead of using bash like everyone else.
SAP - A weapon that can be made out of a soft leather pouch filled with lead shot.
SAP - Some German Software that beats the living daylights out of anyone trying to install and/or use it.
not a lot of difference really.
And when it goes wrong it spews loads of technical German at you just to make sure that you know who's boss.
I have a Samsung Series 7 Gamer, that's right, the ridiculously bright orange model, and their bloatware is... interesting. It manages to mostly stay out of the way in terms of hurting performance, but there's a lot of it and it's hard to disable any one piece without breaking all of it.
After a clean install of windows, necessary after windows update stopped working and refused to download updates, hmm, OMG somebody please tell me I didn't have to reinstall all of my software because of something they did on purpose... Ugh.
Anyway, after a reinstall from the factory image, there is no way to make the cool "gamer mode" switch to work like it did when the computer was new, it's just a normal power switch. Samsung's "cool" stuff is very invasive and apparently not installable. But I'm somehow less interested in getting it to work, now...
updating drivers that are working correctly.
Case in point, on my new Acer Aspire laptop the track pad is barely usable and there is no way to adjust its settings. I downloaded the corresponding driver from Acer but Microsoft's generic driver is newer so it tells me to shove off. It gives me shivers to think what will happen when Windows 10 will force its updates on all consumer PCs.
Lucky for me I always keep a live USB key that would still allow me to enjoy the use of my hardware.
on my new Acer Aspire laptop the track pad is barely usable
Not sure if this is relevant to you but I've just bought an Aspire. OpenSuse didn't even recognise that there was a touchpad until I went into the BIOS and turned off the "enable fancy touchpad features" setting which apparently needs some kind of esoteric I2C driver in order to work. Now the touchpad works exactly as I'd expect, multi gestures and all.
Maybe Windows would prefer that too - and run the touchpad perfectly well under a generic HID driver? Have to admit that the first thing I did with the Aspire was pop the bottom off, ditch the not-brilliant HDD and install OpenSuse on an SSD. I'm not entirely happy with the video driver; there's a lot of weirdness going on when the thing boots, but once booted it's fine, and I can always play around.
M.
Yet another reason to follow these simple steps when purchasing a new laptop:
1) Purchase a brand new, unused SSD drive and copy of your favorite OS.
2) Immediately after unboxing the laptop, remove the hard drive.
3) Put the brand new hard drive in.
4) Install your OS.
I happen to have a fairly new samsung laptop. I didn't even power the thing on before I had replaced the hard drive. Windows 7 installed everything with zero issues - all the downloaded drivers worked. I'll throw the original hard drive back in when I decide to sell it.
Honestly, to me they joined the club when they started region-locking their cellphones so that you can't use a phone from one country with a sim card from another, all in the interest of forcing you to use roaming while maintaining an illusion that their phone is not region-locked.
http://www.androidcentral.com/heres-how-region-locking-works-european-samsung-galaxy-s5
I don't care if it will unlock after 5 minutes, region-locking is region locking.
The headline is misleading and the article does nothing to support the term bloatware - it just looks like drivers. I don't have any sympathy for Samsung after their various spying tv issues, which seem to be more incompetence than anything else, but it looks like the author is deliberately exaggerating the issue here. As others have implied there can be real problems when Microsoft instaals its own drivers on laptops instead of vendor's own. I always use Dell certified drivers on my laptops and run Windows update manually.
Because I did not know what it had done, so I looked it up on the internet, on a PC with a working network connection.
You see not everyone is an expert in operating systems, to me they are a tool, and nothing else, as long as they do not annoy me (and many do) and I can run what I like I am happy.
But I have been working in the world of Xbase now for around 30 years.
Yes. I think you'd now be on mine if I'd bought one of your infected laptops described above. You've escaped by a whisker.Take note.
I still haven't forgiven or forgotten the two hassle- and stress-filled days of my life which Sony inflicted on me, by putting malware on audio CDs a good many years ago. I have a personal "buy Sony last" policy and that will last until I'm six feet under, or until Sony is in the corporate graveyard, or until enough competing vendors do enough even worse things that Sony fall off the bottom of my list.
And those bizarre Sony network blocks that slip onto the end of the power brick when you buy a VAIO. You know, the ones that mimic the hardware address of the Vaio's wireless card and thus royally f*** up layer 2 switching in e.g. enterprise networks that have both wired and wireless networks.
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