Newsletter Archives

• MS-DEFCON 3: Please read carefully before patching

  Posted on August 30, 2013 at 19:02 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  I’ve held everybody back on applying automatic updates for two months now, and some of the botched Windows patches are still causing havoc.

  Some of the good news: Microsoft pulled, fixed and re-released the really bad .NET patches we saw in July. They apparently install properly now, for most people, most of the time.

  The Windows Media format runtime patch, MS13-057/KB 2803821 was also pulled, fixed and re-issued.

  There’s a problematic patch for Windows 8 roving around, KB 2862768.  As far as I know, the only symptom is that installing the patch gives you bogus “Sorry this App is No Longer Available” messages when trying to access the Windows Store. It’s a pain in the neck, but it won’t bring your system crashing to its knees. I’m going to write about it more early next week, if Microsoft doesn’t straighten up its act.\

  Finally, the old bugaboo KB 2859537 — the patch that drove me last week to offer to help Microsoft — hasn’t been fixed. In face, I just heard from someone who spent two days on the phone with a Microsoft tech who knew what he was doing, and they couldn’t figure it out. But the good news is that KB 2859537 appears on the Automatic Update list with its box UNchecked.

  So here’s what I suggest you do.

  Go ahead and apply all the outstanding Microsoft updates BUT… BUT don’t go into the Automatic Update list and check any boxes, OK? Let KB 2859537 just sit there until Microsoft gets its act together.

  Also, if you’re using Windows 8, uncheck the box next to KB 2862786.

  I know those are complicated instructions, and for that I apologize: I almost always give a blanket red light/green light. The past two months have been chock full of problems. Better to get the good patches applied.

  I’m moving us to MS-DEFCON 3: Go ahead and patch, but watch out for potential problems. 

  Windows Patches/Security August 2013 Black Tuesday, July 2013 Black Tuesday

• MS-DEFCON 2: Give the July patches a pass, for now

  Posted on August 5, 2013 at 20:55 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  I’m going to get a lot of flak over this one, but…

  The July Black Tuesday patches are still screwed up. It looks like Microsoft has fixed a couple of them, but the .NET patches, in particular, are causing lots of problems.

  If you’re willing to go through and choose specific KB article numbers to patch, you should consider applying these: 2848295, 2846071, 2845187. If you don’t want to mess around with individual patches — and I can hardly blame you — I say wait out July’s mess, and don’t patch at all. (Yuhong Bao, one of our readers, has caught specific bugs in KB 2846071 as well. They don’t appear to be widespread, but why bother?)

  None of those three “OK” patches are particularly important. The really important ones are, predictably, the ones that MS has messed up.

  I’m thus advising you to hold tight for another month, and see if MS can get its patching mess caught up. (Of course, you should install Microsoft Security Essentials and Windows Defender patches, right away, as always.)

  We’re staying at MS-DEFCON 2: Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don’t do it. 

  I’m still recommending that Windows 7 users go ahead and install Internet Explorer 10 — although Susan Bradley, notably, disagrees with me. And I wouldn’t touch Office 2010 Service Pack 2 just yet.

  Windows Patches/Security July 2013 Black Tuesday

• MS-DEFCON 2: Make sure Automatic Update is turned OFF

  Posted on July 9, 2013 at 16:36 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  We have a really messy Patch Tuesday coming. The Register has a good overview.

  Make sure you have Automatic Update turned off, and let’s see what hits the fan this month.

  I’m moving us up to MS-DEFCON 2: Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don’t do it.

  Windows Patches/Security July 2013 Black Tuesday