Safe to boot Windows 8 that hasn't been patched in ~6 months?

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I'm mainly a Linux user, but every now and then have to boot into Windows. So my Windows system can only get patches when I'm booted into it, and at present, that means it hasn't been patched in like half a year or so. Now with worms like WannaCry going around, I have concerns - is it actually safe for me to boot into Windows for long enough to get patched, or is there a chance I might get infected before the process could complete? If there is a risk, is there any way I could defeat it from the Linux side - e.g. by adding / removing / changing files on the Windows filesystem?

KarenRei

Posted 2017-06-01T14:57:57.410

Reputation: 123

Safe? Is Windows ever safe? (joking) Viruses and malware are not just sitting there waiting to infect your machine the second you turn it on, the reality is these things have a very low chance of infecting your machine even in the worst circumstances. I don't see any reason to be concerned unless you are going to go online immediately and surf porn all day. :) – acejavelin – 2017-06-01T15:01:33.497

The worry isn't about "things I'd click on"; obviously I'd immediately update. The worry is a worm like WannaCry which can spread through service exploits (in WannaCry's case, I know it can spread through a Samba bug... I have no clue what Samba if any is enabled). I know that at the peak of the infection that they were saying that a vulnerable machine connected to the net would be infected "within minutes" – KarenRei – 2017-06-01T15:05:36.573

1WannaCry would infect you if you were connected directly to the internet, not behind a NAT, or if another Windows computer in your same network were infected. So, the chance of getting infected just like that are almost 0 – fernando.reyes – 2017-06-01T15:10:07.083

1One thing you could try to be extra safe is to download the update(s) offline installers from another machine (Your Linux one) nad put them onto a thumb drive. Then boot up your Windows 8 machine in safe mode without networking and install them without connecting to the internet. May not be necessary, but its a way to avoid it altogether if you are suspicious. – Cheesus Crust – 2017-06-01T15:14:01.887

I'm not behind NAT. I didn't know that offline installers exist. I looked them up and found something called WSUS, but it's a Windows program that you have to run in order to download the updates to install. – KarenRei – 2017-06-01T17:12:18.923

Answers

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If you have a single Windows PC behind NAT, are not already infected with something else, have no startup programs, and go immediately to Windows Update upon login, you will probably not get infected before completing the update. If you're on a shared network, or in a DMZ, or start downloading emails and browsing the web before the update completes, then your risk goes up. It's not a high risk unless you have infected PCs on the same shared network. It's possible to download Windows Updates manually; search Microsoft downloads for the specific KB #.

Christopher Hostage

Posted 2017-06-01T14:57:57.410

Reputation: 4 751

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I'm not behind NAT, and "probably" isn't much reassurance. But I think this is the patch needed for the vulnerability: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/ms17-010.aspx - so I'll download those and do them offline.

– KarenRei – 2017-06-01T17:15:47.990

Asked: 2017-06-01T14:57:57.410

Viewed: 35 times

Active: 2017-06-01T15:07:58.273