Update for Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0

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Thoughts on this one ?? I’m not certain I understand what it is patching or protecting us from.

My sense is that if we don’t install this we may be blocked from some sites.

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Thoughts on this one ?? I’m not certain I understand what it is patching or protecting us from.

My sense is that if we don’t install this we may be blocked from some sites.

I see no reason not to install it if WU says it is needed.

Joe

--Joe

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I see no reason not to install it if WU says it is needed.

Joe

If WU were a reliable source, I’d agree with you Joe. But how many updates have been run down the pipe that trashed people’s systems that WU said you needed.

When I’m not sure, I ask. And when I ask, I hope to get some information to support the answer and not the company line to just install it because we say you need it.

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If WU were a reliable source, I’d agree with you Joe. But how many updates have been run down the pipe that trashed people’s systems that WU said you needed.

When I’m not sure, I ask. And when I ask, I hope to get some information to support the answer and not the company line to just install it because we say you need it.

I’ve applied every patch from WU/MU on patch Tuesday and out-of-band patches on multiple systems and multiple OSes at work and at home for at least 5 years with no systems being trashed. I’ve had two instances that I recall where I’ve had patches not install and had to do some debugging to figure it out.

I believe Hans is another who routinely applies patches that are released via WU/MU and has had no problems for quite a while.

If you are concerned about the reliability of WU recommendations, then I suggest you make a backup of your system before install patches.

Joe

--Joe

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I’ve applied every patch from WU/MU on patch Tuesday and out-of-band patches on multiple systems and multiple OSes at work and at home for at least 5 years with no systems being trashed. I’ve had two instances that I recall where I’ve had patches not install and had to do some debugging to figure it out.

I believe Hans is another who routinely applies patches that are released via WU/MU and has had no problems for quite a while.

If you are concerned about the reliability of WU recommendations, then I suggest you make a backup of your system before install patches.

Joe

I understand your position Joe. And, given your track record and level of expertise, I’m sure that you have every confidence in the update process. I do not and probably never will. Although I have noticet that Woody seems to be letting his patch reliability page die on the vine for lack of updates.

Your suggestion that I make a backup of my system everytime I want to apply a patch to my system is pretty absurd. Why would I even consider that ?? I’d switch to a Mac before I would do anything that rediculous.

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I understand your position Joe. And, given your track record and level of expertise, I’m sure that you have every confidence in the update process. I do not and probably never will. Although I have noticet that Woody seems to be letting his patch reliability page die on the vine for lack of updates.

Your suggestion that I make a backup of my system everytime I want to apply a patch to my system is pretty absurd. Why would I even consider that ?? I’d switch to a Mac before I would do anything that rediculous.

Given your lack of faith in the update process, I’d think that would be a part of the normal process. It is usually once a month for Microsoft products. Daily backups by a Windows Home Server are part of my routine at home. Backups and continued update success on multiple systems are why I’m not particularly worried by the patch process.

Joe

--Joe

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Your suggestion that I make a backup of my system everytime I want to apply a patch to my system is pretty absurd.

Wow Doc, that’s pretty serious stuff you’re saying! The VAST MAJORITY of us do NOT have any problems in making patches and updates, although in my case I’m not usually “Johnny on the spot” and typically run updates behind everyone else.

But, it ain’t such a bad idea to make a backup, run updates (and/or defrag or registry cleaners or whatever) on some kind of regular or periodic schedule. It ain’t as though the world is gonna end if you run a MS supplied patch, especially if you’ve BACKED UP beforehand.

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I agree with Joe. However some comments:

As you have seen before, MS do update the different MSXML services every now and then. I believe that for MSXML4, Service Pack 3 is the latest, and last, service pack level; your mentioned patch is for MSXML4 SP2. MSXML4 SP3 was released some months ago, I think. But it is old and on its way out.
A quote from here: Download details: MSXML 4.0 Service Pack 3 (Microsoft XML Core Services)

MSXML 4.0 Service Pack 3 (SP3) is a complete replacement of MSXML 4.0, MSXML 4.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and MSXML 4.0 Service Pack 2 (SP2). MSXML 4.0 SP3 provides a number of security and reliability bug fixes. Support will end for MSXML 4.0 SP2 in 4/13/2010.

But as you say, there are some recent updates (a week ago) to among other MSXML 4.0.

KB973688 for SP2 (the one you mentioned)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=00bcdf28-2299-4150-964d-88a601e25229&displaylang=en

KB973685 for SP3
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e35f3dd3-1bb7-4c74-aed2-49dbae77546b&DisplayLang=en

This recently added update is also for the MSXML6 SP2, KB973686 in that case.

I have not installed this latest update, yet.

There are some different functionalities in the different MSXML versions, and I don’t use (or have applications that use) ver. 4, but as with every other part of the OS or its additions I think it’s essential to keep these MSXML services updated. For example Office 2003 and the following added MSXML5. MSXML6 is included in XP SP3, some .NET, or added by software even if one is using XP SP2 etc.

I don’t know anything about the differences in detail between MSXML4 and MSXML6, but the recommendation is to “upgrade” to (install) MSXML6. And as you know having several of these services is no problem, to quote MS:

MSXML6 will install side by side with MSXML 3 and MSXML4 and will not impact existing applications that use MSXML3 and MSXML4 …

See this blog post about the release of MSXML4 SP3, the recommendation to upgrade to MSXML6: http://blogs.msdn.com/xmlteam/archive/2009/03/06/msxml4-sp3-is-available-now.aspx
And the other link about upgrading from the above blog post: http://blogs.msdn.com/xmlteam/archive/2007/03/12/upgrading-to-msxml-6-0.aspx

Just to give a heads up on the end of support on MSXML4 SP2 and that both SP2 & SP3 are in maintenance mode, restricted to high impact security issues.

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I agree with Joe. However some comments:

As you have seen before, MS do update the different MSXML services every now and then. I believe that for MSXML4, Service Pack 3 is the latest, and last, service pack level; your mentioned patch is for MSXML4 SP2. MSXML4 SP3 was released some months ago, I think. But it is old and on its way out.
A quote from here: Download details: MSXML 4.0 Service Pack 3 (Microsoft XML Core Services)

But as you say, there are some recent updates (a week ago) to among other MSXML 4.0.

KB973688 for SP2 (the one you mentioned)
http://www.microsoft…&displaylang=en

KB973685 for SP3
http://www.microsoft…&DisplayLang=en

This recently added update is also for the MSXML6 SP2, KB973686 in that case.

I have not installed this latest update, yet.

There are some different functionalities in the different MSXML versions, and I don’t use (or have applications that use) ver. 4, but as with every other part of the OS or its additions I think it’s essential to keep these MSXML services updated. For example Office 2003 and the following added MSXML5. MSXML6 is included in XP SP3, some .NET, or added by software even if one is using XP SP2 etc.

I don’t know anything about the differences in detail between MSXML4 and MSXML6, but the recommendation is to “upgrade” to (install) MSXML6. And as you know having several of these services is no problem, to quote MS:

See this blog post about the release of MSXML4 SP3, the recommendation to upgrade to MSXML6: http://blogs.msdn.co…ilable-now.aspx
And the other link about upgrading from the above blog post: http://blogs.msdn.co…-msxml-6-0.aspx

Just to give a heads up on the end of support on MSXML4 SP2 and that both SP2 & SP3 are in maintenance mode, restricted to high impact security issues.

Thanks for that Argus. It sounds like a reasonable explaination of MSXML services and something I should probably install.

When something cannot be removed after it is installed I like to be certain of what I am getting before I do something permanent.

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When something cannot be removed after it is installed I like to be certain of what I am getting before I do something permanent.

I know that, we have discussed MSXML & updates before.

Eh, but to be honest, I’ve not looked closer at this latest update for the different versions: KB973688 for MSXML4 SP2; KB973685 for MSXML4 SP3; KB973686 for MSXML6 SP2 etc. And I’m probably not going to do it. It seems to fix XHTML parsing in some cases.

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We install all updates as they have been released, and have had only one or two that would NOT install, but a day or two later they did.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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I always create a restore point (backup) before downloading any updates I’m not too sure of. Plus, you can usually uninstall the updates anyway. Personally, I wouldn’t be too concerned about an XML update.

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