Microsoft to push WGA-free IE 7 update to corporate users in February
On February 12, Microsoft will deliver, via its Windows Software Update Services (WSUS) automatic update mechanism for businesses, an update to Internet Explorer 7 that is Windows-Genuine-Advantage-free.
Microsoft made the IE release -- known as the IE 7 Installation and Availability Update -- available on its software download site in October 2007. Microsoft did not push the update automatically to customers at that time.
The new update disables the WGA validation checking process that has been required for IE 7 installation, enabling IE 7 to run on Windows builds that are not deemed to be "genuine." WGA is the anti-piracy mechanism Microsoft uses to check whether users are running non-pirated Windows before allowing them to download certain product updates, fixes, white papers and other related information.
The IE 7 Installation and Availability Update includes other new features, as well. The menu bar is on by default in this new update. A "first run experience" page for new users is added, as well. The page prompts users to select a default seach provider, set phishing-filter settings, opt into using ClearType, etc.
Microsoft made public its business-delivery plans for the IE update in a January 14 posting to the Manageability Team blog. According to the manageability team:
"If you have configured WSUS to 'auto-approve' Update Rollup packages (this is not the default configuration), Windows Internet Explorer 7 will be automatically approved for installation after February 12, 2008."
Customers using WSUS 3.0 and/or those customers running IE 6 on Windows machines who don't want the new IE 7 update to install automatically will need to take action, the manageability team noted. Specifically, administrators will need to disable auto-approval before February 12, as Microsoft details in this Knowledge Base article.
Meanwhile, in other WSUS news, Microsoft is planning to push its Silverlight Flash-competitor (the 1.0 release, I'd assume) over WSUS on January 22.
"By using WSUS, administrators can fully manage the distribution of Silverlight to all computers running the Windows operating system in their network," blogged a Microsoft developer evangelist.
I asked Microsoft for more details but was rebuffed. I'd assume admins will be able to disable the automatic Silverlight update the same way they can the IE 7 update, however.