Thanks for the heads-up.
No doubt all three of these are described in the Windows Update client as "Resolves issues with Windows" or something equally vague.
Yes, obviously any IT administrator worthy of the name should be carefully evaluating and analysing every WU patch to determine its relevance, but it's getting to the point that every home user and their grandma has to do the same. Gone are the days when one could reflexively hit "install all", with the assumtion that Newer Code = Better; simply can't trust the patches to be for your benefit rather than Microsoft's any more. Yes, you could argue that "well, anyone sensible should be evaluating and carefully reading every patch anyway"...but no, home users have more important things to worry about. To use an analogy, I don't have to carefully read the small print before & after taking my car for it's scheduled service, just in case the dealership decided to install a data-logger for their benefit.
It's not so much the data-slurping, it's the fact that Microsoft seem to be going out of their way to do it in as sneaky and surreptitious way as possible, handing ammunition to the privacy nuts and haters. I mean, if it's all so innocent, why not be more up-front about it?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
