Samsung to stop blocking Windows Updates "within a few days"

After being caught out silently disabling Windows Update on selected systems, Samsung has committed to ending the practice "within a few days."

Earlier this week Microsoft MVP Patrick Barker identified a small program called Disable_Windowsupdate.exe being pushed as part of Samsung's SW Update tool, which prevented Windows Update from automatically running in the background on PCs, forcing users to either live without updates or manually download them from Microsoft.

The company, it seems, has seen the error of its ways.

"Samsung has a commitment to security and we continue to value our partnership with Microsoft," a Samsung spokesperson told tech site Venture Beat. "We will be issuing a patch through the Samsung Software Update notification process to revert back to the recommended automatic Windows Update settings within a few days. Samsung remains committed to providing a trustworthy user experience and we encourage customers with product questions or concerns to contact us directly at 1-800-SAMSUNG."

This follows a scathing response from Microsoft.

"Windows Update remains a critical component of our security commitment to our customers. We do not recommend disabling or modifying Windows Update in any way as this could expose a customer to increased security risks. We are in contact with Samsung to address this issue."

All this comes a few months after Lenovo was called out for bundling the Superfish crapware that turned out to contain a serious security vulnerability. Lenovo has since promised to end the custom of preinstalling bloatware and junkware onto its systems.

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