The update tool of Samsung- SW Update was described by the company as a relevant program for faster and easier updates of Windows software and the drivers. This is an OEM tool which is shipped with the computer to keep the manufacturers’ drivers updated. However, earlier this week, Microsoft MVP Patrick Barker found out that there was a major difference between Samsung’s update tool and other OEMs. He alleged in his blog that the SW Update is disabling the Windows 8.1 update on some of its computers. The SW Update program runs whenever the PC installed with the service starts up. Thus re-enabling automatic updates will not work as updates will get disabled as soon as the computer is rebooted.
It was found by Patrick that “SW Update downloads the executable in question as part of a zip file from Samsung’s website and that its digital certificate is signed by Samsung”. Disable_Windowsupdate.exe which runs on Samsung PCs as part of the company’s SW Update service is configured to load automatically regardless of how Windows is set to start up.
This has caused a lot of trouble to users wanting to update Windows software since it blocks automatic updates and forces users to manually install individual patches to update their software. The service has not only disabled addition of up to date software features, but also security updates provided by Microsoft in its automatic Windows updates.
The reason to block the automatic Windows Update as claimed by Samsung was to update its own driver thus giving itself priority over Microsoft. It also stated that users were not prevented from receiving updates but were given the choice to choose if and when they wanted to update the Windows software. According a Samsung representative, the move was taken to prevent the download of default drivers which would break features like USB 3.0 ports.
After a lot of controversy and discussions held between Microsoft and Samsung officials, the Korean company has finally announced that in a few days it will issue a patch through the Samsung Software Update notification process to stop disabling Windows Update.
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As soon as the company patches its service, the settings of SW Update will revert to automatically update Windows software in case users have not uninstalled the program form their computers.
The Korean company states that it values its partnership with Microsoft. It indeed does not want to get into the bad books of the technology giant and thus is committed to fix the automatic update problem by providing a ‘trustworthy user experience’.
