Bad firmware updates are teaching PC users the wrong habits

Trust is the whole lot. I’m not an IT knowledgeable, however I’ve spent many years fielding questions and tending to units belonging to family and friends. They know I’m going to look out for his or her finest pursuits.

But typically after I’m referred to as to motion, I uncover my nearest and dearest have been making choices that may hurt them. For instance—not putting in safety patches or different firmware updates. And it’s as a result of their suspicion of an organization outweighs their perception in me.

I can’t at all times speak them out of the habits, both. That’s particularly the case when the state of affairs is like that with HP printers. Earlier this 12 months, HP doubled down on its so-called “dynamic security” coverage, issuing firmware updates for its printers that blocked the use of third-party ink. Instead of warnings about supposed bootleg ink, the printer simply received’t work.

Understandably, folks have been put out (together with a few folks I do know) about these new draconian measures. They have been much more infuriated after they realized that the solely factor being protected is HP’s backside line.

PCWorld

“The purpose of dynamic security feature is to protect HP’s innovations and intellectual property, maintain the integrity of our printing systems, ensure the best customer printing experience, and protect customers from counterfeit and third-party ink cartridges that do not contain an original HP security chip and infringe HP’s intellectual property,” is how HP explains dynamic safety on certainly one of its official help pages.

Adding insult to harm was HP then bricking a few of its printers with further firmware updates, with no repair but in sight.

Not all HP printers are affected by dynamic safety—as my colleague Mark Hachman particulars, you’ll be able to reverse this habits for choose fashions. But it provides one more merchandise to a to-do checklist, and for most individuals, determining in case your printer qualifies for the workaround is an undesirable headache. Far simpler to simply ignore the replace (in the event you can catch it earlier than it rolls out), and in the event you can’t, aggressively disabling future updates and even blocking your printers and different units from on-line entry in pissed off response.

I’ve seen this occur from the sidelines. It makes me chew my nails in anxiousness, as a result of I get the place this response comes from. But then I’ve to untangle and clarify to them why they’re caught with a bug, lacking options, or worst of all, uncovered to a safety vulnerability.

Brother

If you need to be trusted, it’s a must to be reliable, and when firms like HP poison the properly with anti-consumer restrictions, it teaches folks to treat firmware updates with suspicion (or in the case of that one pal of mine, open hostility). It’s self-defeating habits, as a result of eroding that relationship with prospects imply they received’t apply updates that hold merchandise working optimally. (Cue a rise in indignant customer support calls, discussion board feedback, and social media posts.) Meanwhile, people in the casual help trenches have to purchase hair dye at quicker price.

Or they simply do what I’ve ended up doing—recommending different merchandise. I personally purchased a laser printer awhile again, and all I’ve to do is purchase a third-party toner alternative. I drop new cartridge in, see that it really works, and go about my life once more. I inform my family and friends about this expertise, too. It’s a reminder they’ll take their enterprise elsewhere—no want to alter their safety habits.

Author: Alaina Yee, Senior Editor