The initial automatic updates is said to begin in January 2012 for customers in Australia & Brazil who have turned on automatic updating via Windows update. They will see the auto-updating first if the feature is turned on in Windows Update. It also said that Automatic Updates will start in Korea on February.
A rollout schedule in the US and some territories is unknown at this point, but Microsoft's Ryan Gavin said in a company blog that, like the release of IE9 earlier this year, Microsoft will take a measured approach, scaling up over time. Microsoft's first priority is to get customers using older versions of Internet Explorer forcibly updated to the latest stable build. This is also to make the web safer for personal and commercial usage:
“We want to make updating to the best protection possible as fast and simple as we can for Windows customers. IE is how millions of Windows customers connect to the Web, so keeping that part of Windows updated at all times is critical to keeping them safe online. With automatic updates enabled through Windows Update, customers can receive IE9 and future versions of Internet Explorer seamlessly without any “update fatigue” issues. ”However, Businesses and individuals that don't want the upgrade, will still have the control. Microsoft provides automatic update blocker kits for IE8 and IE9. The Blocker Toolkit helps ensure that IE9 is introduced to PCs at the right time. Microsoft says customers who have declined previous installations of IE8 or IE9 through Windows Update will not be automatically updated.
