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Disable automatic updates
How can I prevent dropbox from automatically updating itself? The new dropbox 3 has a very anti-windows-7 UI that I don't like, so I reinstalled 2.10. How do I stop dropbox from continually install...
Thanks for that info. It just reinforces my decision to completely uninstall the application until such time as they actually fix the problem. It still amazes me that they don't think they have a problem. I encourage anyone who does not actually need the desktop app to do the same thing. There are other programs out there that will let you upload files to dropbox, get a shared link to send and do it without the invasive intrusion the Dropbox app has become.
I wasn't even aware Dropbox automatically (and uncontrollably) updated itself until today when I looked at my installed programs and saw that Windows thought Dropbox was installed yesterday - obviously an auto update.
Giving anyone unfettered remote admin access to my computer is unacceptable. Even if Dropbox has the purest of intentions, my computer is still a hostage to any error they make or any lapse in their security. I don't know what their security is like, but however good it is, it's not good enough to trust my security to. It is only a matter of time before an employee folds under external influence, or even before someone walks into a place like Dropbox with a mask a USB stick and a gun and says "push this update out or I shoot people". With the amount of money at stake with ransomeware, does anyone think Dropbox is any more immune to violent criminal action than a bank is? Once criminals wise up to the opportunity that real-time forced automatic updates affords, this is only a matter of time.
I already have to go through a significant amount of pain with Windows 10 to prevent it from automatically updating itself, I don't need to try and manage that in Dropbox too. The propensity for vendors to adopt uncontrollable automatic updates is getting out of hand. I must use Windows 10, unfortunately, but I don't have to use Dropbox. Dropbox has therefore been summarily uninstalled in favour of a complete migration to Syncthing. I control Syncthing end-to-end. I obviously control nothing of Dropbox.
As has been mentioned earlier it isn't hard to prevent Dropbox from auto updating with a firewall but that isn't the point for me. I shouldn't have to do that. I will leave the program off my system untul they allow me to cahnge that in the settings. I have other program options to use it and don't need their program. If you really need their program you should also be able to keep it from phoning home if you use a good firewall.
This will cause me to move away from Dropbox. I had no idea that it auto-updated. My bad.
- Rich
Super User II
Kurt F.3 wrote:
I already have to go through a significant amount of pain with Windows 10 to prevent it from automatically updating itself
Disable one service and it prevents Windows 10 updates, allowing you to download and install them on your own schedule. It will prompt you regularly when there are updates, but it won't install them until you tell it to.
Rich wrote:Disable one service and it prevents Windows 10 updates, allowing you to download and install them on your own schedule. It will prompt you regularly when there are updates, but it won't install them until you tell it to.
Thanks for the hint. I require more control than being able to select when Windows performs updates, though. I require to be able to select which updates I want.
My solution was to disable the service as you mention, to prevent Windows from automatically performing updates. When I do want to check and install updates, I use Windows Update Minitool (WUMT) to do it. If you google it you will find the program - it's written by a Russian and the offical site is unfortunately not in english. There is a more or less official english language thread for it here. When you run it, if the Windows Update service is disabled then WUMT will automatically start it. It then takes control of the service and will only allow it to do what the program tells it to do. This works fairly well, but unfortunately WUMT doesn't automatically shut down and re-disable the servivce again when it terminates. If you do it manually you have to be fairly quick about it, or else Windows will start using the service to do its own stuff after the program shuts down. You also can't trust the Windows service manager to accurately tell you that the service is shut down. I've shut it down manually and disabled it and had it show as both shut down and disabled, but where the process is actually still running. I wrote a script that runs WUMT and then automatically terminates and re-disables the service when WUMT finishes. Even so, after an update session I will reboot the computer to to make sure Windows Update is well and truly dead.
That's what I meant when I said I already have to go through pain to keep control of Windows Update. I have to go through that pain. I don't have to go through the pain for Dropbox, and I refuse to.
If anyone from Dropbox is following this thread, don't laugh off the criminal threat. Ramsomeware is BIG business, and a company that has unfettered admin access to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of computers is a big target.
I still provide Windows support to a few people but I stopped using it a long time ago because it was just too much of a hassle. I don't mind fixing other peoples Windows problems but I expect my system to work. :-) But I want to reiterate my comment about a good firewall. I keep track of where my system is connecting to as much as possible. Most of my applications require approval every time I run them. Which is why I caught Adobe Flash trying to auto update without my approval. It couldn't do it because I was not there to approve the connection. The firewall is a good tool only if you are willing to take the time to be proactive about security. I initially blocked dropbox that way but since I shouldn't have to do that I just uninstalled the program and use other tools to move files in and out.
Anyway, I don't like auto updates and I don't like applications phoning home without my knowledge.
