Newsletter Archives

• Born: Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool update KB 890830 causing problems

  Posted on April 12, 2017 at 19:18 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Günter Born, posting on his Born’s Tech and Windows World blog, lists several problems with this month’s MSRT.

  Access violations during install error 0xc0000005

  Blocks other updates

  Collides with other AV software

  Born has links to Norton, Avast, and a discussion on Bleeping Computer.

  Windows Patches/Security April Black Tuesday, KB 890830, MSRT

• MS-DEFCON 4: Watch out, but go ahead and install April patches

  Posted on April 24, 2009 at 08:52 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  The crop of April Black Tuesday patches looks reasonably stable. The SANS Internet Storm Center reports that Symantec has raised an alert about possible MS09-013 / KB 960803 based infections – “but it could also be old vulnerabilities from 2002 (both Apache and IIS).” MS09-013 and MS09-014 are the (now expectable) monthly humongous Internet Explorer patches.

  There are known problems with all of the following:

  MS09-010 / KB 960477 Wordpad and Office converter patches may refuse to install, and they change the way Wordpad handles Word 6 and Write files. When you install this patch, go ahead and install the new Office Compatibility Pack immediately after. I haven’t seen any advice as to whether the new Compatibility Pack eliminates the need to install MS09-010 or not, so to be safe, install the patch, then the new converters.

  MS09-014 / KB 963027, the massive Internet Explorer patch, may trigger a bogus “Connection Denied” message which requires a Registry change to eliminate. Of course, you’re using Firefox, so you aren’t overly concerned. Go ahead and patch.

  MS09-015 / KB 959426 has an interesting problem: if you install the patch on a Windows 2000 computer, you have to dig into the Registry to make the patch work. Kinda makes me feel warm and fuzzy about the testing that goes into these patches…

  At any rate, I’m moving us to MS-DEFCON 4: There are isolated problems with current patches, but they are well-known and documented here. Check this site to see if you’re affected and if things look OK, go ahead and patch.

  I still recommend that you HOLD OFF on these patches:

  KB 951847 is a mess of a patch of a patch of a patch of the .NET Framework in Windows XP. I’m beginning to think that it’ll never get fixed – you’re better off waiting until you upgrade to Vista or (better) Windows 7, which have .NET baked in, or wait until Microsoft releases a new version of .NET.

  KB 960715, the ActiveX killbit update, still breaks many programs. I don’t think the cure is any better than the disease. Of course, you’re using Firefox (or Chrome) – or any Web browser that doesn’t directly expose your machine to ActiveX infections, right?

  KB 967715, the Conficker-killer that doesn’t work, is worth installing, but make sure you understand its limitations, as I posted in mid-March.

  I’m still ambivalent about Windows XP Service Pack 3, KB 936929. If you’ve been keeping up on all of your patches, it’s a toss-up. If you decide to install it, and you have problems, be sure to check out Microsoft’s Knowledge Base article KB 950718.

  I’m also ambivalent about Internet Explorer 8. Mark Edwards has a good analysis of the situation on the Windows Secrets web site.

  Uncategorized, Windows Patches/Security April Black Tuesday, Internet Explorer 8, KB 936929, KB 950718, KB 951847, KB 959426, KB 960477, KB 960715, KB 960803, KB 963027, KB 967715