Comments on: MS-DEFCON 4: The coast is clear, apply all patches now

By: Marty

Marty — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:29:59 +0000

I agree with Maghullyback. I’m not a Mac user, but at least Macs use standardized hardware. In the PC world, with lots of different video cards, motherboards, etc., along with their various drivers, you always have to wonder whether a particular Windows update will break your system. I image my hard drive regularly, back up my data files every day, check the Internet (and Woody’s website, of course) for potential patch problems, and still I hold my breath each time I apply a Windows update. Being conscientious shouldn’t be so nerve-wracking.

By: Maghullyback

Maghullyback — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 10:52:21 +0000

Every time I install patches, I’m as nervous as a space shuttle commander being told to “go with throttle up”.

By: Marty

Marty — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:19:39 +0000

I installed IE8 on three XP machines, two of them with SP2 and one with SP3. The first two went fine; however, the one with SP3 produced a Data Execution Protection error when I ran Windows Update (Microsoft’s own website adversely affects its own browser!). Microsoft has a fix for this — turning off DEP in IE8, but that would appear to increase the security risk with IE8. Ironically, in my preliminary testing, other non-Microsoft) websites did not produce the error.

For Microsoft’s bulletin on this see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd371730(VS.85).aspx

By: jesus

jesus — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:49:47 +0000

I applied all November updates with no problem.Thanks alot Woody.

By: rc primak

rc primak — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:17:29 +0000

All patched up with no significant incidents. I think for most of us, the coast is indeed clear.

By: woody

woody — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:20:56 +0000

Paul - Microsoft has nailed down the problems with KB 969947, as best I can tell. If you have an older video driver, you need to update to a newer one. And the Radeon HD 2400 driver, in particular, has problems. But by and large the mysterious freezes have been figured out, and they aren't widespread. If you have problems, see KB 969947.

By: woody

woody — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:15:23 +0000

Ian -

Interesting. Could you shoot me email (woody at ask woody dot com)? I’ll see if somebody in Redmond wants to take a look…

By: woody

woody — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:14:15 +0000

Jesus -

Go for it.

By: jesus

jesus — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:07:42 +0000

Just wanted to make sure if its ok to use all the updates in November.Even the kb969947 patch?I havent applied or hidden any updates for november.

By: Yuhong Bao

Yuhong Bao — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:37:09 +0000

“Get rid of your antivirus and other bloated and expensive “anti” products. ”
Yep, I already uninstalled AVG Free after seeing slowdowns caused by it, and I know that it caused the slowdowns because I used WinDbg to debug the programs.