Buggy KB 4039884 Win7 patch of a patch returns with no explanation

It’s baaaaack.

The buggy patch of a buggy patch, KB 4039884, which was pulled yesterday, suddenly re-appeared today, with a different date and a new title… and absolutely no explanation for the shennanigans.

In theory, KB 4039884, now titled “August 30, 2017—KB4039884” fixes the multi-monitor bug introduced in this month’s Win7 security patches, KB 4034664, KB 4034679, and KB 4034670.

Personally, I wouldn’t touch it until we hear back from the unpaid beta testers.

Note:

Before you install this update, you must uninstall any previous version of KB4039884. Then install KB4034664 or KB4034679 before installing this current update of KB4039884.

Now that’s customer-friendly.

Patch Alert

I’m starting a new series in Computerworld that specifically deals with problematic patches. There are so many of the furshlinger things, that I need to put it all in one place.

Here’s the first one.

If you come up with a new patch problem, or you know of one that’s been fixed, please post it here.

I’ll trim off the older posts in this topic from time to time and put them in the Code Red forum.

23 tips for the care and feeding of Windows 10

Some of you will note the decidedly cheery tone of this slideshow. Don’t be too put off. I’m still skeptical of Windows 10. But in a couple of years, it’ll be the only viable Win game in town.

Also, please forgive the overlap in versions — some of the article deals with 1607, some with 1703. But there’s a lot of solid info for all Win10 users.

Computerworld.

Alexa and Cortana talking to each other….

… and why I don’t care.

Here’s an overview from Paul Thurrott, if you’re interested.

Microsoft’s sales pitch:

Cortana users will be able to have Alexa shop on Amazon.com and manage their Amazon orders and access many of Alexa’s third-party skills by asking Cortana to open Alexa, just as Alexa users will have access to Cortana’s world knowledge and helpful productivity features such as calendar management, day at a glance and location-based reminders simply by asking Alexa to open Cortana.

I can envision some people, in some situations, wanting to use Cortana to get to Alexa. In very rare instances I can see using Alexa to get to Cortana. But for most people most of the time – and certainly for me – it’s a big meh.

Cortana’s “world knowledge” doesn’t hold a candle to Google’s, as any seven-year-old can attest. As for calendar and location-based anything, Google’s way out ahead on those fronts, too.

Microsoft’s losing the Augmented Reality wars. They’re losing the voice assistant wars. Personally, I use Alexa for home stuff and Google Assistant for everything else that’s voice-friendly. It works. And I don’t have to wait for 20-minute blackouts while my PC updates itself, or bob and weave through mediocre updates.

Downright distressing for somebody who’s been with Windows since version 286.

UPDATE: Great article from John Brandon in Computerworld:

Cortana and Alexa can talk to each other, but it isn’t really a conversation or integration — simply a way for one bot to open the other. Yawn.

Is Firefox going into a tailspin?

Just got this note from @jnperlm

While this was covered back in June: Mozilla execs clash over whether Firefox has a future, I think you might want to reframe it for your followers as it didn’t seem to garner much attention at the time.

First, Firefox is going to start collecting more data.

Second, come some time in November 2017, most of Firefox’s extensions will no longer be supported by Firefox. In fact, I’ve lost some already.

A way of extending availability of extensions is to convert, even now (I have), to Firefox ESR (I got the extensions I “lost” back), but that too will lose extensions some time in 2018.

I think many of your readers should take another, or a closer, look at this topic.

It seems to me that ghacks.net will be the go-to web site to see how this unfolds and which alternatives to Firefox seem to be most effective. By going ESR now, one is stable after November 2017, and can monitor how things shake-down with the alternatives before one has to pull the trigger, when ESR is upgraded to the point where the majority of Firefox’s extensions will no longer function.

Yet another reason why you should avoid Automatic Update – KB 4039396

If you’re running Win10 Anniversary Update, Microsoft released a fix yesterday that’ll clean everything up — as long as you didn’t install the original cumulative update, which was released on August 8.

Computerworld Woody on Windows.

Undocumented KB 4033637 pushed onto Win10 1607 machines

Another completely undocumented patch just went out the Automatic Update chute.

Computerworld Woody on Windows.

Thanks to Günter Born.

Microsoft patches buggy Windows 7 patch, KB 4039884 solves the dual-monitor rendering problem – UPDATE: It’s been yanked

It only took ’em two and a half weeks.

Late Friday night, Microsoft released a hotfix for the dual-monitor rendering problem I described two weeks ago in Computerworld Two of this month’s Windows 7 patches cause second-screen problems.

In short, if you installed either of the August Windows 7 security patches KB 4034664 (the monthly rollup, installed by Windows Automatic Update) or KB 4034679 (the manual security-only patch), and you have two monitors, the second monitor will start acting up. Günter Born had a full writeup, and Christian Schwarz not only nailed the problem, he wrote a “proof of concept” program demonstrating exactly what was happening and when.

Friday night, with little fanfare, Microsoft released a hotfix for the problem. It’s KB 4039884, and it’s only available through the Microsoft Update Catalog. I only learned about it from an anonymous poster on AskWoody.

If you’ve already installed the August patches for Win7, and you have multiple monitors, it would behoove you to download and install the hotfix.

UPDATE: It looks like there are bugs in the bug fix. Who woulda thought? Get the latest in Computerworld Woody on Windows.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Microsoft has pulled the patch. Without any offered reason or documentation, of course. Computerworld Woody on Windows.