Microsoft releases Windows updates all the time, some on a preplanned basis, some on an emergency basis when a security issue or system crash is detected that can cause problems for its users, and then we have the big OS updates, sometimes which last year were joined by Moments, which aim to be the new great way of arrival of novelties to the operating system. Thus, at the end and throughout a year, if we check it, we will see that our Windows has had a lot of movement in that sense.
There are some updates whose rationale is obvious, such as system improvements and security updates. Others, however, are a bit more confusing, no matter how documented they are, either because they allude to highly technical aspects of the operating system and, therefore, are beyond the knowledge of the average user. And there are others that, although what they do is clearly indicated, when reading it we are still left with more doubts than we had before doing it.
Such is the case of the KB5021751 update, published by Microsoft a few days ago for Windows 10 and Windows 11. This is the description of it that we can read on the Microsoft website:
«This update is designed to help Microsoft identify the number of users who are running unsupported (or soon to be unsupported) versions of Office, including Office 2013, Office 2010, and Office 2007. This update will run once silently without installing nothing on the user’s device.»
Yes, you read that right, an update that will be downloaded via Windows Update, which will run silently (one time only, mind you) and will check if your operating system has an old version of Microsoft Office installed, whether it no longer is supported (Office 2010 and earlier) or is about to be unsupported, in the case of Office 2013. Microsoft wants to know so… well, the description of the update isn’t that extensive, so they don’t tell us about that.
And I admit that I am left a bit stunned. That popular meme of “Pa k you want to know that haha greetings» and I don’t really like that Microsoft uses Windows Updates to collect information of this type. On the other hand, however, it does it in such a transparent way that, wow, used to seeing how not a few software developers sneak this type of telemetry into us without warning, I want to thank Microsoft, and not in a sarcastic way, your honesty about it.
Microsoft knows that it is well observed, it knows that it cannot abuse telemetry without setting off many alarms, and the truth is that it is enough to review the newspaper library to understand the reasons. On this occasion, I repeat, I think they have been transparent in reporting so clearly. However, to make everything even more respectful of the user, I think they should find another system, always with the knowledge and prior approval of the user, to obtain this type of information.
And yes, if you are one of the users who use a version of Microsoft Office without support or that is about to end, remember that we tell you how to get an original and 100% legal Office license for less than 25 euros.
