Work Took Control Over Updates

[Zema Bus]

For as long as I've had this work laptop I've managed the Windows updates, scheduling them via the Windows update scheduling option, installing them at the end of the day on Friday nights.That has worked well for how ever many years I've had this laptop. Now out of the blue the company took over the updates to force them to be installed on the same day Microsoft pushes them out. Installing Windows updates as soon as they come out is a bad idea, Microsoft is notorious for breaking things with their updates. But this utility they've started using is very naggy, popping up every 30 mins. It's an unmovable dialog box that covers everything in the middle of whichever of my three screens my mouse happened to be on. I let it update once during the workday and it wasted 20 mins of productive time, but it had popped up just after I started working and I just wanted it out of the way. They're most likely doing this because some employees never update, therefore we all have to suffer, and treated like children. It did it again today, I was clicking the "remind me later" button every time it popped up, until I had an idea. One minute before it was due to pop up again I went to a different Windows virtual desktop and waited. Once it popped up there I just left it on the screen and went back to the virtual desktop I was working in.

NinjaRMM1.jpg

This is the culprit:

NinjaRMM.jpg

I looked it up, this seems to be what it is. One of those forced updates was just for the HP laptop keyboard that they update to death and I never use.

[Grogan]

Heheh... that's one way to delay updates. What a ridiculous cat and mouse game.

Yes, I've read about them breaking shit with updates and they aren't even forthwith in admitting there's a problem, either.

I just don't think I could work with that shit.

[Zema Bus]

So last week my work computer got the usual forced "patch Tuesday" mystery update from the company I work for. But then this past Tuesday it gets another one. I hate that they keep the user in the dark about what they are actually updating. It was bad enough when the updates were handled by the Windows Update system, Microsoft stopped showing individual packages years ago, but at least they showed something. When I go into Windows Update History, the only things I can see are the updates that predate when they took over control of the update process. I think I know what this 2nd update was though. I heard they pushed out an "out of band" update to fix what the other one broke. That's why this company shouldn't be forcing the updates as soon as they are pushed out by MS.

Microsoft’s first Windows 11 security update of 2026 caused two nasty failures, some PCs couldn’t finish a shutdown, and some users couldn’t sign in over Remote Desktop. Microsoft has now shipped emergency updates to fix both.

The updates are out-of-band, meaning they landed outside the normal schedule, and they’re already showing up in Windows Update. If your PC started hanging during shutdown, failing to hibernate, or refusing remote sign-ins after the latest security patch, installing the emergency fix is the fastest path back to a stable machine.
The emergency patches to install

Microsoft has released two out-of-band updates, KB5077744 and KB5077797, and it is rolling them out through Windows Update.

The fixes target two specific problems. First, Windows 11 version 23H2 devices with Secure Launch could fail to shut down or hibernate. Second, connection and authentication failures hit remote connection apps across multiple platforms, including Windows 11 version 25H2, Windows 10 version 22H2 ESU, and Windows Server 2025.
Why these bugs hit so hard

A shutdown failure isn’t a small glitch, and the Remote Desktop issue also punches above its weight. A lot of people use remote access for work, troubleshooting, and hopping between machines, so a sign-in failure can stop a day cold.

This incident also lands in a touchy spot, it’s the first Windows 11 update cycle of 2026, and it shipped with problems that should have been caught earlier. The Windows Insider Program exists to catch bugs before release, but issues this severe still made it through.

From digitaltrends.com.

Glad I won't have to touch Windows again for another 48 hours

[Grogan]

Always "secure" this, and secure that, stuffing things up on Windows. Who needs hackers and malware, Microsoft can ensure that nobody, not even you, can access your computer systems

[Zema Bus]

I got an email today that they were installing Trend Micro security on all company laptops, and they asked me to leave my laptop on until 10 PM, which I do anyway since I work past that time. They installed "Trend Micro Deep Security". They already had Zscaler security, I didn't think to check to see if they removed Zscaler.

[Grogan]

Oh, Trend Micro Deep Throat. Security software that goes round and round and wastes CPU and real time. (I'm not singling out Trend Micro, necessarily, just security suites in general)

[Zema Bus]

For a while I was having an issue with the laptop slowing to a crawl with significant latency until it spontaneously rebooted if I didn't reboot when it started to get bad. That abruptly stopped happening a few months ago. I figured it was something they put on it and later removed.

[Grogan]

Every i/o operation, every network request... hindered by layers of filter drivers just waiting to get broken. Fatal stop errors if a file goes missing or incomplete too from a bad update or something.

I couldn't tell you how many times the "security software" was the biggest problem on the system.

[Zema Bus]

Work never pushed out the April updates, I heard that it was a big update so that may have had something to do with it. First month they've missed since they took over the updates. One thing they did push out was "Zoom Desktop", the icon showed up today. Hope I never have to use it.

[Grogan]

I would hate to not be in charge of my OS and software load. (I'm used to complete control, even)

[Zema Bus]

I would hate to not be in charge of my OS and software load. (I'm used to complete control, even)

I sure hated not being in charge of my work OS today, they really screwed me over this time. This dialog popped up earlier this evening:

forcedupdates.jpg

Different from what they were using before. So I clicked "Skip Restart". I was expecting it to nag every 30 mins like the other one did, but nothing more happened...until I came back from my lunch break. It was sitting at the Windows login screen, because it forced the updates while I was away, just like Windows' own updater has a reputation for doing. There must be an activity sensor, and when enough idle time has elapsed that dialog pops up again with the timer. It took forever to get back to the desktop and then of course all my stuff was closed and I was signed out of everything. Then I discovered that Citrix was broken, so I couldn't reconnect to the client, leaving me dead in the water. I contacted their helpdesk and was on the phone for an hour with the overseas tech who I think was in India based on her accent, which was so thick I couldn't understand half of what she said, She remoted into their admin account and poked around, trying different things, and finally said everything looked OK and said it was probably an issue with the client. I kind of doubt that, it was working just fine until their stupid forced updates. But there was nothing more I could do afterhours, so I lost a few hours of work. I'll be calling the client's helpdesk on Monday, and I bet they say everything is OK on their end and I'll be back to calling my companies helpdesk again. At least I'll be calling them when the more experienced techs are there. During the afterhours they farm out their tech support overseas, the one I got was very slow, with long pauses like she was looking stuff up in a manual. So that's what I have to look forward to Monday.

I sure hope I have enough success with an alternative income source to walk away from all this, I'm so tired of feeling beat up at the end of everyday

[Grogan]

That is incredibly stupid. They need Three Stooges maneuvers performed on their faces.