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Microsoft to force Windows 10 users to use its Edge web browser



 
 
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  #16  
Old March 22nd 18, 12:56 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Ragnusen Ultred
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Posts: 17
Default Microsoft to force Windows 10 users to use its Edge web browser

In article news
Look at this screenshot:
http://i.cubeupload.com/1ji0MX.jpg


I posted the question in a new thread of its own since it seems Microsoft
secretly changed the file system with respect to the file:
C:\Windows\System32\wuaueng.dll --- this is a strange beast indeed!
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  #17  
Old March 22nd 18, 01:53 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Paul[_32_]
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Posts: 11,873
Default Microsoft to force Windows 10 users to use its Edge web browser

Uultred ragnusen wrote:
Paul wrote:

Rename just one stinkin file, and... no more updates :-)

rename wuaueng.dll wuaueng.dll.bak

# Example of how to rename, here.

https://s13.postimg.org/jxvwua6c7/pesky_wuaueng.gif

# Example of Windows Update "wheel spin" as a result of this.
# The balls are animated... because there is no Service to
# talk to any longer. It can't run. Even USOSVC can't bring it
# back. This will stop working when Microsoft invents the
# self-repairing OS. Which won't take them that long to invent.

https://s13.postimg.org/5rg5z2y1z/wh...in_forever.gif

Rest assured that the OS has emergency features and back-channels,
so this is really no barrier at all. We won't know they are
present, until Microsoft starts using them.


Yikes Paul!

You enticed me to dive into water way over my head!

Look at this screenshot:
http://i.cubeupload.com/1ji0MX.jpg

What the heck is going on?

On decades on both Windows and Linux, I've /never/ seen those warnings!

Linux:
ultred@ragnusen: ls wuau*
ls: cannot access 'wuauclt.exe': Input/output error
ls: cannot access 'wuaueng.dll': Input/output error
ls: cannot access 'wuautoappupdate.dll': Input/output error
ultred@ragnusen: ls -l wuaueng.dll
lrwxrwxrwx 2 x x 25 Feb 9 20:37 wuaueng.dll - unsupported reparse point
ultred@ragnusen:

Can someone explain what went on just now when I followed Paul's advice?


It looks like they fixed it. Neat.

A reparse point, is a file system customization point.

It would be pretty hard for any Linux developer to "keep up"
with that. While one flavor of reparse point, a "Junction point",
is a standard construct (enough for Sysinternals.com to write
a program for it), others can be created at the drop of a hat.
For example, one flavor seemed to be created as part of
a virtual file system. Someone on the Linux side, would need
to make a full time job of this. (I did observe a thread in
Fedora, where someone created a patch for an issue like this,
without so much as a wince or flinching. It doesn't even look
like they consulted a Linux environment NTFS wizard to make
the fix either. Which is fun. They actually fixed the $MFTMIRR
error coming from Win10-created NTFS partitions, by effectively
just commenting out the check. Just... like... that. They
cannot do this for reparse points, no matter how tempting.)

A Junction Point is just a link, a link that "allows moving
your home directory to D: ".

But other reparse points, really are quite custom, and that
means we can't use Linux to take care of them. Slapping a reparse
point on a file, rather than a directory, seems like a purposeful
trick to keep Linux out.

I'm almost afraid to open my mouth, make a suggestion
to defeat it, and have them cut off another favorite
way of doing things.

*******

Here are my test results.

https://s14.postimg.org/462lq6o8x/Kubuntu_14_04_1.gif

https://s14.postimg.org/wk819k3xt/Ubuntu_16_04_3.gif

https://s14.postimg.org/83pvf5g2p/Ubuntu_17_10.gif

The results are consistent. All three Linux distros think

16299.15 OK
16299.125 OK
16299.309 wuaueng.dll is using a "reparse point"
which is alternately shown as an "I/O error" when it
cannot be stat()ed. It looks to me like "system files"
received this protection. Some files aren't
using it in the System32 directory.

Some change after .125 did this.

My suspicion is, the reparse point in this case,
is a "null" one, with no actual structure. I'll need to
consult (some tool) to figure out if this is the case.

So congrats to Microsoft, on another successful mission.
It's pretty obvious why this change was made.

This isn't an accident. Or a "rogue software designer".

You can check this out, to some extent, by using

dir /a

And a good place to test, is C:\users , as you'll get
to see a couple of the more benign examples. That will
demonstrate what some of the attributes look like.

But if you use Windows to check wuau* files

dir /a C:\Windows\System32\wuau*

then it doesn't show any attribute assigned to it.
Even though Linux has been convinced it's a reparse point.
Either they're using a trick which convinces Linux
it's a reparse point, or the reparse point has zero
size (stored in the $REPARSE metadata or the like).

*******s (for wasting my time).

Paul
  #18  
Old March 22nd 18, 06:20 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Ragnusen Ultred
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 17
Default Microsoft to force Windows 10 users to use its Edge web browser

In article news
So congrats to Microsoft, on another successful mission.
It's pretty obvious why this change was made.


Wow Paul.
Just wow.

Thanks to you for everyone who benefits from that appreciable effort and
insight, especially the part about proving how it is a recent change by
Microsoft, likely for nefarious purposes.

I reproduced your post, in its entirety, in the associated Windows and
Linux threads, so that we can all benefit from your excellent research and
these quite illustrative summary screenshots!

https://postimg.org/image/9hhiawabh/
https://postimg.org/image/71fowjkdp/
https://postimg.org/image/u2wa2cwwt/

Windows:
What is this strange new Windows file-system beast (C:\Windows\System32\wuaueng.dll)?
http://www.pcbanter.net/showthread.php?s=408f7d9f1d87cc84bff3b3a0e60e5eae& t=1103450

Linux:
Have you ever seen "unsupported reparse point" warnings in ls output?
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.os.linux/3XyLpV-Za9o
 




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