Newsletter Archives

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

  Posted on August 30, 2017 at 14:20 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  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.

  Windows Patches/Security KB 4034664, KB 4034670, KB 4034679, KB 4039884

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

  Posted on August 29, 2017 at 07:15 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  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.

  Windows Patches/Security dual monitor, KB 4034664, KB 4034679, KB 4039884