Microsoft Pushing Fake Updates To Windows 7 RC

Microsoft will be testing Windows 7 update infrastructure by pushing up to 10 dummy updates for release candidate installations worldwide as of tomorrow.

A post on Microsoft Update Product Team Blog says that the exercise is part of the verification of some update scenarios to ensure that when real updates are sent, the process will run smoothly.

Some of the updates will need human intervention to be installed and, the post continues, "one of the updates will test a new update notification feature that provides detailed information about available updates that need to be installed manually".

Users will also be able to hide the updates by checking the "hide update" button. The test though will only take place amongst existing Windows 7 RC users, which account for a tiny fraction of all Windows users. This means therefore that the Microsoft's update system is very unlikely to be fully stressed.

Back in February 2009, Windows 7 Beta users received a series of test updates, which overwrote existing system files with duplicates.

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