Microsoft has completely taken the end user off of the equation for updating the Windows Vista and Windows XP operating systems, with a set of refreshes made available at the end of the past month. The Redmond company has pushed a collection of 18 updates for both Vista and XP, that installed on the operating systems not only without the users' consent, but also without their knowledge. Furthermore, not even the platforms that had the auto-updates feature turned off dodged Microsoft's new secret releases.

According to Windows Secrets, the updates were downloaded and deployed through the Windows Updates infrastructure. A total of nine files in each operating system were altered as a consequence of the updating process, but without any information being presented to the end users. The updates were simply installed incognito in the absence of a dialog box prompting the user to accept the modification of the platform.

With Windows Vista, Microsoft offers the following options for users, in order to deliver some level of control over the updating process: Install updates automatically; Download updates but let me choose whether to install them; Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them; and Never check for updates. The silent refreshes to Vista and XP made it to the operating systems even if the users had opted for something other than to install all updates automatically. The files modified are intimately connected with the Windows Update infrastructure.

Not only is Microsoft not delivering any information on the updates, but the actual code is unavailable as a standalone download. The Redmond company has also failed to officially comment on the issue, remaining just as mute as the silent Windows updates. And although altering nine files per operating system might seem as an anodyne detail, the fact that Microsoft, via the Windows Update infrastructure, has done so without user authorization, and without bothering to provide any data, raises questions over what else the company has been doing to the users' platforms behind their backs.

Below you will be able to find the complete list of Windows Vista and Windows XP files that have been updated:

Windows Vista:

1. wuapi.dll
2. wuapp.exe
3. wuauclt.exe
4. wuaueng.dll
5. wucltux.dll
6. wudriver.dll
7. wups.dll
8. wups2.dll
9. wuwebv.dll

Windows XP:

1. cdm.dll
2. wuapi.dll
3. wuauclt.exe
4. wuaucpl.cpl
5. wuaueng.dll
6. wucltui.dll
7. wups.dll
8. wups2.dll
9. wuweb.dll