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I have closed down Windows Updates from Microsoft of all kinds. I know there is some risk in doing this.
However, my considered opinion is that the risk of Microsoft changing our systems into something we would not have considered buying, and fouling up our systems with windows update errors too numerous to count is virtually 100%.
This as opposed to some hacker breaking into one our systems and posing a serious threat which I consider to be a risk of well below 1%.
We are well protected with one of the best antivirus programs in the market. We are relatively conservative in the use of our systems, which in itself lowers risk. We are all protected with routers that hide our IP addresses. We are all using Windows 7 systems that have had 9 years of security updates and are now finely tuned reliable stable systems.
Backup is the critical key. I strongly encourage my clients to do backups once a month.
It is important to note that none of my clients are businesses or people who depend on their computers for a living. We are just plain common folk who use our computers primarily for email and internet browsing and we are switching away from the less-popular and less-secure Internet Explorer to the better Google Chrome browser.
We have not applied a single Microsoft update since May, 2017. We have not had a single instance of a problem.
There was a time before this when you could apply security only updates as a safe strategy. However, last June, Microsoft committed a serious error. They patched an erroneous security only patch within a "quality" all in one patch, which we have no intention to ever use. That meant that unless you followed their quality roll-ups, you would be left with an erroneous patch. That behaviour just cannot be accepted. So, that was the end of Microsoft updating.
Hacking has changed a lot in the last 10 years. It used to be the threat of some kid in the basement making a pain of him/herself. They threatened anyone that they could get at. That has morphed now into a big business enterprise -- hacking. They are there to make a profit and we are not the type of profile that they would seek. They are going to go after organizations and enterprises.
And, a very happy and healthy new year to you and your loved ones carrmasdad 2