I normally have Windows set to automatically install updates, but for some reason I just had a quick look to see if any were pending.
There was one.
It is listed as an “Important Update”, so it would have been automatically installed tonight. It is described as providing a browser choice for EEA users – explained in greater detail here. In a nutshell, the idiots in Brussels have argued that including Internet Explorer with the Windows Operating System is anti-competitive and have forced Microsoft you provide this bloody update which gives you a choice – via an add-on – that you always had anyway.
It is worth pointing out that when I worked in tech support, one of the many, many potential problems users could create for themselves (apart from buying a Mac) was installing software simply because they could. Browsers were no exception – you’d get some middle-aged comedian (on more than one occasion, various of my relatives have fallen into this category) who decided he was an expert, and who’d read that it was cool to hate Microsoft, install Firefox or Opera, and then not be able to use his antiquated machine which hadn’t had a clean install since Windows 95 was first released.
Anyway, I am perfectly happy with Internet Explorer, so I right-clicked the update and chose to “hide” it. I am presuming that it will remain hidden (and completely uninstalled) unless I choose to “unhide” it and install it.