[Silhouette]

You're more concerned about the software being provided to you by Microsoft ... then you are for faceless hackers connected to the Internet

Yes. And there is no /s on this comment.

We don't use much recent Microsoft software because we no longer trust it. They are going down a path we don't want to follow.

With the older OSes that we do still use, principally Windows 7, we are similarly sceptical about updates, and typically we only apply necessary security patches now.

[Edit: For whoever is downvoting a lot of the comments with this sort of sentiment, you might consider that objectively we have had far more downtime as a result of bad updates from Microsoft than as a result of malicious actions by hackers over recent years, and I doubt we're alone in that.]

[cartoonfoxes]

> you might consider that objectively we have had far more downtime as a result of bad updates from Microsoft than as a result of malicious actions by hackers over recent years, and I doubt we're alone in that.

I haven't seen it put that way before. You're not alone.

One of the recent update cycles had some kind of interaction the video drivers on several of my machines, resulting in monitors connected via DisplayPort intermittently failing to wake up following a screen blank. The current workaround is for users to reach around the back of their monitor, unplug and replug the power. I burned an entire day on that one, plus the continued frustration.

Knock on wood, but I can't remember the last time I had to scramble for a security incident or malware outbreak.

[jdbernard]

To add some additional perspective: many of us know how to add some basic level of security to our personal networks. Certainly not NSA-proof, but enough to about being owned by your average script-kiddie or wide-spectrum hacker.

So in reality we do have more concern about Microsoft's update channel, which has a trusted, straight-shot channel directly into the core of our system than we do random Joe hacker who had to bypass our NAT, find a zero-day, etc.

From a secure point of view, Windows update operates within the secure zone with root privileges. Of course that's more concerning if you don't trust it that an external hacker.