Second wave of Windows 7 updates tomorrow, but they won't be for real

The big difference in using Verizon Wireless over its competitors, its current wave of TV ads suggest, is that every user is backed up by "the network." With Windows 7, Microsoft is working to create a similarly distinguishing value proposition. It'll be given its biggest test to date tomorrow, as "the network" from Microsoft pushes out a series of 10 placebo system updates, to see how well it can handle the heavy Patch Tuesdays yet to come.

As the Windows Update Product Team blogged on Friday, the boatload for the Win7 RC's first Patch Tuesday will contain ten update patches. Nine of them will run automatically and should run flawlessly. One won't, but that's part of the plan.

"One of the updates will test a new update notification feature that provides detailed information about available updates that need to be installed manually," the team writes. "Windows 7 RC users will be prompted to install this update and provided more information about this feature -- it will not install automatically."

Though this was supposed to have been the premiere of updates for Microsoft's new platform, an episode last week stole the spotlight, as a new feature in Internet Explorer 8 turned out to be too sensitive in reporting what appeared to be hung tabs -- Web pages that timed out. The patch the company delivered was not to IE8, but rather to the Win7 System Registry, adding a key that disabled the feature.