Know your upgrades

Readers sound off Microsoft Windows Update

For the past two weeks, I've written about the fact that Microsoft a few months ago quietly changed Windows Update. It now uploads the Product ID number of your Windows installation and a list of your installed hardware (see "Windows file update," Mar. 24, page 22).

On its face, this isn't so much a horrible change as it is an omen of Microsoft's direction. Reader Walt Kwait sent me the next update message we're likely to see: "Click Yes, or No, or Cancel, or press Escape, or End Task, or just power off your PC to update your machine with any changes Microsoft wants to send you or take from you. Your birth alone was implied consent to Microsoft Corporation, allowing this to happen.”