Microsoft accidentally deploys Skype via Win Server update
updated 11:03 am EDT, Thu June 28, 2012
Network admins to remove network-wide Skype installs
Microsoft has accidentally deployed a Skype update to Windows clients that never had it installed before. The update, via Microsoft's Windows Server Update Services, installed Skype on all connected machines, forcing system administrators to manually remove the software from computers affected by the error.
System administrators typically use WSUS to manage multiple machines over a large network, where numbers of computers are too great to perform updates individually. WSUS allows administrators to minimize the load on the network, controlling which updates get installed onto the network, but admins who allowed machines to receive updates without explicit administrator approval found Skype to be installed as a non-security update early on Wednesday morning.
Microsoft has since marked the update as expired, meaning it is no longer being deployed by the WSUS servers. Administrators affected by the issue have complained about the issue on Microsoft's own support forums, providing a solution for quick network-wide workstation removal of the update. [via H Security]
