Newsletter Archives

• MS-DEFCON 4: Get patched

  Posted on February 3, 2011 at 22:20 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  January was a very light month for patches, and it looks like both of them are going in easily.

  Microsoft has re-issued patch 2412171, the Outlook 2007 non-security patch from late December that was clobbering Outlook 2007 users left and right. I warned against applying the patch a couple of weeks ago. It now appears as if Microsoft has it right – at least, I haven’t heard any loud wailing.

  Bottom line: get your Microsoft products patched now. I’m moving us down 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.

  Windows Patches/Security January 2011 Black Tuesday, KB 2412171

• Microsoft fixes botched Outlook 2007 patch

  Posted on January 14, 2011 at 08:18 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  A month ago, I talked about a botched patch that Microsoft slid out the Automatic Update chute. If you had Automatic Updates turned on, and you were using Office 2007, you got treated to KB 2412171, and it caused all sorts of problems.

  Microsoft pulled the patch about a week later. Damage done to Automatic Updaters.

  Now, a month later, word comes that Microsoft has finally fixed the patch and re-released it. Here’s the official announcement from the Microsoft Office Blog:

  This week, we released an update that fixes the three issues identified in the December Update for Microsoft Outlook 2007. The update released on Tuesday, January 11, was distributed by Microsoft Update and referenced as updated KB article KB2412171.

  If you did not uninstall the December Update for Outlook 2007, then the update released on Tuesday, January 11, will fix the three known issues which you may be experiencing. For more detail about the issues that were identified with the December update for Outlook 2007, see Issues with the recent update for Outlook 2007.

  If you did uninstall the December Update for Outlook 2007, then you can benefit from the new January update.

  To receive the January 11 update you can either:
  § Run Windows Update on your computer
  § Download and install the update directly from the Microsoft Download Center.

  If you have automatic updates enabled, you will receive this update automatically.

  I don’t recommend that you install this patch of a patch. Let’s see what happens to all of the Automatic Update beta testers out there….

  Office Patches/Security KB 2412171, Outlook 2007

• KB 2412171 “Nonsecurity Update” makes a mess of Outlook 2007

  Posted on December 17, 2010 at 23:02 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  If you had the misfortune to install KB 2412171 – a “non-security” patch for Outlook 2007 dated December 14, and delivered via automatic update, you may face one of a number of problems.

  Many people report that switching between folders in Office 2007 slows down to the point of enormous frustration. Others say it breaks Secure IMAP server connections. Others report that archives have been disabled.

  All in all, it’s a mess of a patch.

  I just tried to take a look at KB 2412171, and discovered that the site’s broken: Microsoft.com reports the page isn’t there. No doubt MS is fixing the patch, and judging from the comments I’ve seen, this may be the second or third time the patch has been taken down for repair.

  And you tell me you trust automatic updates? Bah! Humbug!

  UPDATE: Microsoft now recommends that you remove the botched patch.

  UPDATE 2: The KB 2412171 article is back, and it’s now up to version 3.1. The download (linked in the KB article) has been yanked: clicking on the link gives a page that says “We are sorry, the page you requested cannot be found.” Six days after the patch was released, it still hasn’t been fixed.

  Windows Patches/Security KB 2412171