Microsoft Customer Support - Truth in Advertising?

[BikerMike]

I thought I would share with the group an exasperating and disappointing experience with Microsoft Customer Support.

When I first sent in a support request, I thought my question was this:

IF I don't want to use Automatic Updates, and
IF I prefer not to use Internet Explorer,
Is it still possible to update my Windows XP installation?

Three weeks and 25 emails later, my question became:

IF I refuse to use the Windows Update website, and
IF I refuse to allow WGA on my machine,
Is it still possible to update my Windows XP installation?

I fully expected this to be difficult. But I honestly believed that if I was persistent and patient, I would eventually be given a URL to a list of updates and links for downloading them, since I have good reasons for wanting to keep IE and Automatic Updates inactive, and I shared these reasons candidly with Microsoft. Disappointingly, this turned out not to be the case. The support people I exchanged messages with would not answer the question. No matter how persistently I asked it, they just would not answer it one way or the other. Finally I did some googling and found a non-Microsoft site with the list and links I needed, and updated XP that way.

If anyone is interested in how deliberately obtuse Microsoft Customer Support can be, PM me and I'll send you a Word doc I made with the complete exchange of messages.

[christopher_wolf]

You can choose to manually install all the Microsoft updates, except for WGA...no harm; but they should have told you that and pointed to the articles on their site and not left you hanging.

[Nick Y]

I do my updates via Firefox and an extension called 'IE tab', which I was very kindy pointed towards by a member of this community. If helpful you can find it on the Firefox site under extensions.

Since installing I have done several updates and not used IE once. (I am set to auto, but still check and do some manually -e.g. 9 last night)

[BikerMike]

They told me I could manually install updates, but what they meant by manually isn't what I would call manually - they still wanted me to use Windows Update. My objection to the Windows Update site was that when I tried it (after clearing up some confusion about the difference between Automatic Updates and the Automatic Update service) it first told me I needed a new version of Windows Update on my machine; then when I clicked OK to install this new version it began to download and install WGA instead (I have a screenshot of this at home). I really object to WGA (I prefer to choose when my machine is connecting to outside servers and prefer to decide what information to share with them) and I gave up on using Windows Update at that.
I use Firefox, but I hadn't heard about the IE tab; I'll look into that, thanks.

The thing that still baffles me though is how obstinate they were about answering my question. No matter how often I asked, no matter how I phrased it, they just wouldn't say yes or no. What kind of customer support is that?

[GomJabbar]

Personally, I think you are being unduly paranoid. Just turn off Automatic Updates, then you can choose when to update Windows. When you do decide to run Windows Update, choose Custom, then you pick which updates to install.

While I don't recommend it (why do it the hard way?), you can download most updates from the links on the following page.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/sear ... laylang=en

[dsigma6]

Use WINDIZ update- Requires Firefox:

windowsupdate.62nds.com

I don't use Microsoft Updates. They wouldn't like my setup.

[BikerMike]

Really, my objection isn't about Fear of Microsoft (paranoia), else why would I trust the updates? I just follow simple rules (for my simple mind) to avoid malware and spyware - Firefox instead of IE, no ActiveX controls, no permanent cookies, etc.
I also like to keep my background services to a minimum (faster boot, more RAM). And why the heck would Microsoft name a service Automatic Update if it doesn't have anything to do with Automatic Updates??!?
And while I buy many things Microsoft, and have always been happy with their products, the whole WGA thing creeps me out. I've read Microsoft's disclaimer - WGA isn't spyware because there is no "malicious intent" - and I just don't buy the logic. Intent has nothing to do with it (guessing motives is a murky business); if it spys on you it's spyware.

[dsigma6]

i see..just to let you know, windiz doesnt use activex.