Microsoft Releases Tool to Block Upcoming Service Packs

Jimmy 2004 · Dec 8, 2007

With the company putting the finishing touches to no less than three major service packs at the moment, Microsoft has released a tool which will allow users to prevent them from being automatically downloaded. The Windows Service Pack Blocker Toolkit lets users block XP SP3 and Vista SP1 for up to one year, and Server 2003 SP2 until March next year. There are three versions - an executable, a script and a group policy template - so take your pick. This is recommended for any users worried about potential security and stability issues that may result from installing the service packs.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

effmaster · Dec 8, 2007

Jimmy 2004 said:
With the company putting the finish touches to no less than three major service packs at the moment, Microsoft has released a tool which will allow users to prevent them from being automatically downloaded. The Windows Service Pack Blocker Toolkit lets users block XP SP3 and Vista SP1 for up to one year, and Server 2003 SP2 until March next year. There are three versions - an executable, a script and a group policy template - so take your pick. This is recommended for any users worried about potential security and stability issues that may result from installing the service packs.

Source: PC World

interesting heres to hoping that I won't need this though when Vista SP1 comes out next year :rockout:

Edit: yay I got the first post lol

X-TeNDeR · Dec 8, 2007

Jimmy 2004 said:
This is recommended for any users worried about potential security and stability issues that may result from installing the service packs.

Its a Service Pack, its purpose is to address "potential security and stability issues".. :laugh:

Maybe we need a Service Pack for the Service Pack :rolleyes:

Kreij · Dec 8, 2007

Can't you just shut off automatic updates?
Why is a new tool needed?

panchoman · Dec 8, 2007

so ms isn't forcing us to upgrade?!?! wow, did ms get a new head of marketing or something?

Jimmy 2004 · Dec 8, 2007

X-TeNDeR said:
Its a Service Pack, its purpose is to address "potential security and stability issues"..

You'd hope so, but that doesn't mean more get created by accident... also, some unusual applications may be adversely affected and require patches with new service packs, so some people prefer to wait and be sure.

Kreij said:
Can't you just shut off automatic updates?

Yes, but this way you can keep automatic updates enabled to get any other security patches.

dnoiz · Dec 8, 2007

It's amazing what a company like MS can release these days.

A SP blocking toolkit :roll:

Awesome... :rolleyes:

R.

mandelore · Dec 8, 2007

This is quite sensible really... alot of companies require solid stability without compromise, and that means no updates till they are properly vetted for their company needs.

Tis a good thing, so good going. Anyways, they are protecting their asses, coz if a company automatically got its update and it fuxored their inhouse software they'd not be best pleased

[I.R.A]_FBi · Dec 8, 2007

that should be finishing touches.

Kreij · Dec 8, 2007

Jimmy 2004 said:
Yes, but this way you can keep automatic updates enabled to get any other security patches.

People trust the security patches but not the security patches in the SP?

I know what you mean, it just seams a little ironic to me. :laugh:

Nemesis881 · Dec 8, 2007

Well I can't see how vista could get any worse so i'm just gonna bite the bullet and dl sp1 when its out. :rockout:

Davidelmo · Dec 9, 2007

Gotta love the fact that they don't trust THEIR OWN service pack

I know it can never be 100% safe and secure, but you have to love the irony

Chewy · Dec 9, 2007

Jimmy 2004 said:
You'd hope so, but that doesn't mean more get created by accident... also, some unusual applications may be adversely affected and require patches with new service packs, so some people prefer to wait and be sure.

Yes, but this way you can keep automatic updates enabled to get any other security patches.

mandelore said:
This is quite sensible really... alot of companies require solid stability without compromise, and that means no updates till they are properly vetted for their company needs.

They are protecting their asses, coz if a company automatically got its update and it fuxored their inhouse software they'd not be best pleased

So I guess this is just so it dont Fugger up some private/"unusual" software, us regular users I dont think will be needing this.

Pinchy · Dec 9, 2007

Don't we have to pay for the new service packs when they come out

?

CrAsHnBuRnXp · Dec 9, 2007

Pinchy said:
Don't we have to pay for the new service packs when they come out ?

Pirate the service packs. :laugh:

Just kidding.

effmaster · Dec 9, 2007

Pinchy said:
Don't we have to pay for the new service packs when they come out ?

Not for existing Vista users I don't think so. Am I wrong?

Pinchy · Dec 9, 2007

effmaster said:
Not for existing Vista users I don't think so. Am I wrong?

Im not sure...

I forget how it was back with XP because I just let my old comp tech do the building

.

keakar · Dec 9, 2007

IMO the real truth behind this is that M$ was trying to create problems for xp users (screw it up and slow it down) through automatic updates so they would go out and buy vista, the problem is they messed it up too much but still want to put it out there so the solution was that they offer a blocking tool which i bet will end up causing needed updates from being downloaded.

the question is why??? if the new update is flawed then dont release it till its fixed or do it as a manual download.
i've been waiting for SP3 for years so waiting a few more months is no problem.

mandelore · Dec 9, 2007

keakar said:
IMO the real truth behind this is that M$ was trying to create problems for xp users (screw it up and slow it down) through automatic updates so they would go out and buy vista, the problem is they messed it up too much but still want to put it out there so the solution was that they offer a blocking tool which i bet will end up causing needed updates from being downloaded.

the question is why??? if the new update is flawed then dont release it till its fixed or do it as a manual download.
i've been waiting for SP3 for years so waiting a few more months is no problem.

as i stated above, the reason will be because it takes alot more time for diff companies to test the compatability and stability of updates/service packs on their own software, how it will effect the business's day to day running etc..

alot of profit rides on the stability of their IT infrastructure, so any compramises to this will adversly affect their company. This blocking software gives them the time they need to make sure that nothing is gonna get bricked, no random crashes, frustrated customers, angry staff, lost profits. Makes sense really

imperialreign · Dec 9, 2007

as i stated above, the reason will be because it takes alot more time for diff companies to test the compatability and stability of updates/service packs on their own software, how it will effect the business's day to day running etc..

alot of profit rides on the stability of their IT infrastructure, so any compramises to this will adversly affect their company. This blocking software gives them the time they need to make sure that nothing is gonna get bricked, no random crashes, frustrated customers, angry staff, lost profits. Makes sense really

Valid point.

. . . I'm just surprised MS has actually thought of this tool before SP3 release.

We all know they don't always have their best epiphanies before they release a product/update/service.

keakar · Dec 10, 2007

mandelore said:
as i stated above, the reason will be because it takes alot more time for diff companies to test the compatability and stability of updates/service packs on their own software, how it will effect the business's day to day running etc..

alot of profit rides on the stability of their IT infrastructure, so any compramises to this will adversly affect their company. This blocking software gives them the time they need to make sure that nothing is gonna get bricked, no random crashes, frustrated customers, angry staff, lost profits. Makes sense really

a lot of profit also rides on the fact that they have to make sure everyone buys vista and leaves xp. they did this with win98 when xp came out and are following the same proven buisness strategy to slowly and hopefully not noticably do small updates that have the net result of slowing the older operating system down enough so that it convinces people to switch to the newer "faster" system.

i do not disagree with anything you said, however it has nothing to do with the point i was making about the larger overall goals M$ has and how that effects the way they look at updates being released for xp users.

if the new long overdue SP3 update has serious problems then dont "automatically" screw up my system because i wasnt paying attention to the latest M$ news release so that i could run to disable my autoupdate feature.

does it not make more sense to first release it as a manual download only so i can decide if i want to risk using it and later on after the bugs are all worked out make it into an automatic update? that is how they released IE7

as i said before, i've been waiting for SP3 for years so waiting a few more months is no problem.

System Name	Jimmy 2004's PC
Processor	S754 AMD Athlon64 3200+ @ 2640MHz
Motherboard	ASUS K8N
Cooling	AC Freezer 64 Pro + Zalman VF1000 + 5x120mm Antec TriCool Case Fans
Memory	1GB Kingston PC3200 (2x512MB)
Video Card(s)	Saphire 256MB X800 GTO @ 450MHz/560MHz (Core/Memory)
Storage	500GB Western Digital SATA II + 80GB Maxtor DiamondMax SATA
Display(s)	Digimate 17" TFT (1280x1024)
Case	Antec P182
Audio Device(s)	Audigy 4 + Creative Inspire T7900 7.1 Speakers
Power Supply	Corsair HX520W
Software	Windows XP Home

Processor	Core Duo T2250 1.73 GHZ
Memory	2 GB DDR2
Video Card(s)	NVIDIA GEForce Go 7600 256 MB
Storage	120 GB
Display(s)	17 inch notebook
Case	metallic grey
Audio Device(s)	Creative xmod (though that doesnt really count as a sound card lol)
Power Supply	power plug and battery
Software	Lots of it

Processor	AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus C2 (2.8GHz) 95w
Motherboard	Asus M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 (AMD 890GX/SB850)
Cooling	Scythe Yasya+MX-3, 3x140mm+1x120mm case fans
Memory	Mushkin 2x2gb DDR3 1600MHz 6-8-6-24 1.65v
Video Card(s)	Club3D Radeon HD 4850 512mb (Stock Fan+MX-3)
Storage	WD 1TB SATA3 + WD MyBook 1TB ext+Toshiba 160gb ext
Display(s)	LG W2486L '24 FHD Led 1920x1080
Case	Lancool Dragonlord K62R1 (AMD Edition)
Audio Device(s)	ASUS Xonar DX+Microlab X16 2.1+Senn 448 'Phones
Power Supply	Seasonic M12II-620 80+ Bronze Modular
Software	Micro$oft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit

Processor	Amd Athlon X2 4600+ Windsor(90nm) EE(65W) @2.9-3.0 @1.45
Motherboard	Biostar Tforce [Nvidia] 550
Cooling	Thermaltake Blue Orb-- bunch of other fans here and there....
Memory	2 gigs (2x1gb) of patriot ddr2 800 @ 4-4-4-12-2t
Video Card(s)	Sapphire X1950pro Pci-E x16 @stock@stock on stock
Storage	Seagate 7200.11 250gb Drive, WD raptors (30/40) in Raid 0
Display(s)	ANCIENT 15" sony lcd, bought it when it was like 500 bucks
Case	Apevia X-plorer blue/black
Audio Device(s)	Onboard- Why get an sound card when you can hum??
Power Supply	Antec NeoHe 550-manufactured by seasonic -replacement to the discontinued smart power series
Software	Windows XP pro SP2 -- vista is still crap

System Name	Jimmy 2004's PC
Processor	S754 AMD Athlon64 3200+ @ 2640MHz
Motherboard	ASUS K8N
Cooling	AC Freezer 64 Pro + Zalman VF1000 + 5x120mm Antec TriCool Case Fans
Memory	1GB Kingston PC3200 (2x512MB)
Video Card(s)	Saphire 256MB X800 GTO @ 450MHz/560MHz (Core/Memory)
Storage	500GB Western Digital SATA II + 80GB Maxtor DiamondMax SATA
Display(s)	Digimate 17" TFT (1280x1024)
Case	Antec P182
Audio Device(s)	Audigy 4 + Creative Inspire T7900 7.1 Speakers
Power Supply	Corsair HX520W
Software	Windows XP Home

Microsoft Releases Tool to Block Upcoming Service Packs

Jimmy 2004

New Member

effmaster

New Member

X-TeNDeR

New Member

Kreij

Senior Monkey Moderator

panchoman

Sold my stars!

Jimmy 2004

New Member

dnoiz

New Member

mandelore

[I.R.A]_FBi

Kreij

Senior Monkey Moderator

Nemesis881

New Member

Davidelmo

New Member

Chewy

Pinchy

CrAsHnBuRnXp

effmaster

New Member

Pinchy

keakar

mandelore

imperialreign

New Member

keakar

Processor	I9 9900KS @ 5.3Ghz
Motherboard	Gagabyte z390 Aorus Ultra
Cooling	Nexxxos Nova 1080 + 360 rad
Memory	32Gb Crucial Balliastix RGB 4.4GHz
Video Card(s)	MSI Gaming X Trio RTX 3090 (Bios and Shunt Modded) 2.17GHz @ 38C
Storage	NVME / SSD RAID arrays
Display(s)	38" LG 38GN950-B, 27" BENQ XL2730Z 144hz 1440p, Samsung 27" 3D 1440p
Case	Thermaltake Core series
Power Supply	1.6Kw Silverstone
Mouse	Roccat Kone EMP
Keyboard	Corsair Viper Mechanical
Software	Windows 10 Pro

Processor	C2Q6600 @ 1.6 GHz
Motherboard	Anus PQ5
Cooling	ACFPro
Memory	GEiL2 x 1 GB PC2 6400
Video Card(s)	MSi 4830 (RIP)
Storage	Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320 GB Perpendicular Recording
Display(s)	Dell 17'
Case	El Cheepo
Audio Device(s)	7.1 Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair TX750
Software	MCE2K5

System Name	Nemy's comp
Processor	AMD Athlon x2 4200+ @ 2.61ghz
Motherboard	ASUS A8M2N-LA
Cooling	1x250mm (side), 2x120mm (one front and back), 6000+ stock cooler
Memory	3Gb Corsair value select PC2-4200 (2x512mb and 2x1gb))
Video Card(s)	XFX HD7770
Storage	320gb Seagate Baracuda / 160gb western digital
Display(s)	ASUS 19" widescreen LCD. 1440x900
Case	Apevia Jupiter-JR S-Type
Audio Device(s)	on-board. Audigy died D;
Power Supply	Ultra 600W X-pro
Software	Vista Home Premium

Processor	Intel i7 920 @4.20Ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte EX58 UD5
Cooling	Titan Fenrir
Memory	6Gb Patriot 1600Mhz
Video Card(s)	ATI HD4870 1Gb
Storage	2x250Gb Seagate Barracuda (RAID 0) plus 2B storage
Display(s)	Samsung 22 inch Widescreen
Case	Coolermaster HAF 932
Audio Device(s)	Auzen Prelude 7.1
Power Supply	PCP&P 750W Silencer
Software	Win7 beta

Processor	Q6600 G0 @ 3.2Ghz
Motherboard	Asus p5k-Premium/Black Pearl
Cooling	Luna Block, 240mm rad
Memory	Patriot Extreme PC2-6400 2x2GB
Video Card(s)	Saphire 5850 1GB
Storage	60GB SSD + 2x500GB/1TB/2TB
Display(s)	Samsung 226BW and 50" Panasonic S2
Case	Silverstone TJ-09
Audio Device(s)	X-fi Prelude
Power Supply	Enermax Galaxy Dxx 850watt
Software	Windows7 32Bit
Benchmark Scores	Super Pi 1M 14.333

System Name	UltraPC
Processor	E8500 Core 2 Duo, 1333Mhz FSB, 3.16Ghz @ 4.5GHz (got into Windows @ 4.75GHz)
Motherboard	ASUS P5Q-e
Cooling	CPU Cooler - TT V14 Pro, 2x120mm CM Blue LED fans, 1x90mm CM Blue LED fan
Memory	G.Skill Pi 4GB (2x2GB) Dual Channel DDR2 PC8000 (1000MHz), 5-5-5-15
Video Card(s)	Sapphire HD4850 512mb with ASUS EAH4850 BIOS
Storage	2x 500GB Seagate 7200.12 Raid 0
Display(s)	Acer AL1912, 19" LCD screen
Case	Thermaltake Soprano Black ATX case
Audio Device(s)	Onboard 7.1, Speakers - 5 + Sub + Monitor speakers
Power Supply	Thermaltake 850W Toughpower Cable Management - Quad (2x18A and 2x30A) 12V rails
Software	Win 7 Pro x64, MSN, CS:Source, etc etc

Processor	Intel i9 9900K @5GHz w/ Corsair H150i Pro CPU AiO w/Corsair HD120 RBG fan
Motherboard	Asus Z390 Maximus XI Code
Cooling	6x120mm Corsair HD120 RBG fans
Memory	Corsair Vengeance RBG 2x8GB 3600MHz
Video Card(s)	Asus RTX 3080Ti STRIX OC
Storage	Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB , 970 EVO 1TB, Samsung 850 EVO 1TB SSD, 10TB Synology DS1621+ RAID5
Display(s)	Corsair Xeneon 32" 32UHD144 4K
Case	Corsair 570x RBG Tempered Glass
Audio Device(s)	Onboard / Corsair Virtuoso XT Wireless RGB
Power Supply	Corsair HX850w Platinum Series
Mouse	Logitech G604s
Keyboard	Corsair K70 Rapidfire
Software	Windows 11 x64 Professional
Benchmark Scores	Firestrike - 23520 Heaven - 3670

Processor	Intel Core i5-12400F - Core i5 12th Gen Alder Lake 6-Core 2.5 GHz LGA 1700 65W
Motherboard	GIGABYTE B760M--DS3H LGA 1700 DDR4
Cooling	CPU - Thermalright Assassin King 120 SE / Case - cooler master 120mm rear case fan (Air cooling)
Memory	CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600)
Video Card(s)	GTX1060 6GB
Storage	Samsung 1 TB 870 EVO SSD Main Drive / Samsung 500 GB 870 EVO SSD Backup Drive
Display(s)	ASUS 23" LED Monitor
Case	COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 (silver & black)
Power Supply	CORSAIR RM-750X 750W Modular ATX
Software	Windows 11 Pro 64bit Edition

System Name	УльтраФиолет
Processor	Intel Kentsfield Q9650 @ 3.8GHz (4.2GHz highest achieved)
Motherboard	ASUS P5E3 Deluxe/WiFi; X38 NSB, ICH9R SSB
Cooling	Delta V3 block, XPSC res, 120x3 rad, ST 1/2" pump - 10 fans, SYSTRIN HDD cooler, Antec HDD cooler
Memory	Dual channel 8GB OCZ Platinum DDR3 @ 1800MHz @ 7-7-7-20 1T
Video Card(s)	Quadfire: (2) Sapphire HD5970
Storage	(2) WD VelociRaptor 300GB SATA-300; WD 320GB SATA-300; WD 200GB UATA + WD 160GB UATA
Display(s)	Samsung Syncmaster T240 24" (16:10)
Case	Cooler Master Stacker 830
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro PCI-E x1
Power Supply	Kingwin Mach1 1200W modular
Software	Windows XP Home SP3; Vista Ultimate x64 SP2
Benchmark Scores	3m06: 20270 here: http://hwbot.org/user.do?userId=12313