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Thanks JoeP517. I’ll give that a try, although in the past my experience with Microsoft support has been more akin to Sudo15’s or worse, as in, “Uninstall Windows and reinstall it”, when the problem is a minor tweak.

Presently neither of the updates I uninstalled are showing up as available in PC Settings > Update and Recovery. Only KB3177723, which was released after the updates I uninstalled, and I didn’t write the uninstalled numbers down before I uninstalled them. Dang. I’ll try downloading them as you suggest, but later. For today I’m going to catch up with project by using my restored browsers.

Sudo15 Made me “Laugh out loud LOL,” to quote Monk.

Thanks Sudo15,

On Saturday when I installed the Windows updates, there were 42 Security Updates for MS Office Enterprise 2007, 1 MS Office 2007 SP3, and 7 Windows Security Updates. I figured that most likely the MS Office updates were not going to be changing how 64-bit browsers work, so I started uninstalling the Security Updates. I lucked out. The first one I uninstalled restored Waterfox’s full functionality. Curiously, it did not have any effect on Vivaldi. The second one I uninstalled fixed Vivaldi. I haven’t fixed ESET yet, but that might take an uninstall/reinstall dance.

My question now is what do I do about the Security Updates I just uninstalled? Is there a way I can let Microsoft know about the conflicts? Should I reinstall the updates and hope that the versions I originally downloaded and installed were corrupt?

It’s good to have my browsers fully functioning again. Thanks for your help.

Thanks for your suggestion Sudo15. I wasn’t sure I could selectively uninstall the updates, particularly the cumulative ones.

I also have a laptop that has been upgraded to Windows 10 and further updated to the latest version of Windows 10. Both ESET and Waterfox work normally on the laptop.

A couple of years ago my daughter’s iTunes account was hacked like yours. Her account was hit for two $200 gift certificates. Like you, Apple would not give us any information without a formal request from the police department on the departmental letterhead. That’s different than Apple requiring a subpoena. I filed a complaint at our local sheriff’s office, and Apple accepted a Faxed request from the sheriff’s office. Faxing both to and from Apple (iTunes) speeded up the process considerably. At the time, my daughter and I were 2,000 miles away from home, but there were no hitches in getting the bank, the sheriff’s office, and Apple to communicate smoothly. The result was that we were able to track the transaction — to a point. The transactions were made from Phoenix, about 1,000 miles away from our home, but the gift certificates were sent to an e-mail address in China, a bit further away from our home and impossible for sleuthing any further.

Financially, my bank reimbursed our checking account (my daughter was a minor at the time, so we were both named on the account) for the full $400 plus all fees involved, and Apple reimbursed the bank for the $400. iTunes was able to cancel the gift certificates before they were used, so Apple was not out $400. In all, it was a hassle for us, the sheriff’s department, the bank, and Apple, but in the end the hackers did not succeed.

Apple’s refusal to give information stems from federal privacy requirements, not just from being ornery. My suggestion if your account is hacked — file a complaint with your local law enforcement agency and get the tracing information from Apple, iTunes, or whichever company where your account was hacked.