Damn Windows Update!

alfaniner

Penultimate Amazing
alfaniner
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So I downloaded the two files for Windows Update, the current security patch (still going after all these years) and the Malicious Software Removal Tool. I always do manual control over these rather than allowing them automatically.

I felt little alarm bells when I had to agree to the EULA for the MSRT to install, but I thought I'd done it before and it can't be that uncommon an update, so I allowed it.

So for the next two hours I tried to get back on the Internet...

I went to System Restore, for which the Update had made a Restore Point. Of course it didn't work, even though I had done nothing on my computer other than try to access the internet, reset the modem, et.al. I was really pissed that an update created and almost forced by Microsoft, can not be backed out with its own goddamn restore program.

I finally figured out it had something to do with ZoneAlarm. After doing the MSRT, it currently forces me to set the blocking to Medium rather than High where I had it, and prefer it. However, setting it back to High prevents me from getting to the net!

Any (useful) suggestions?
 
Damn AutoUpdates ..

Not sure what it is on my system, either.. Two Office 2003 updates are unable to install, and keep retrying.. -- and suddenly I can't run Zonealarm, and connect to the net at the same time..
 
That must be the one that installed last night/this morning.

I've given up on "customizing" my computer and pretty-much run vanilla MS products, on the theory that MS updates are designed specifically for them, with the fewest possible accomodations for other products. So far, I haven't had any update or other compatability issues.

OTOH, I'm going back to SpyBot and F-Prot as my defensive software.
 
That's the very reason I don't have any of my Windows systems set to automatically update.

Regarding the Zonealarm problem, I read over here that you should set Internet Security Zone to HIGH and check Allow outgoing TCP Ports:80,443. I haven't tried that out yet though, so exercise caution.

RayG
 
ShowerComic said:
Damn AutoUpdates ..

Not sure what it is on my system, either.. Two Office 2003 updates are unable to install, and keep retrying.. -- and suddenly I can't run Zonealarm, and connect to the net at the same time..
Click to expand...


I know some of my machines at work can't do the Office SP3 update, something about the verification of the install packare.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
Get a Mac.
Click to expand...

See, now that's not a very useful suggestion. I already have a Windows XP PC, with several programs and files on it. There should be a way to alleviate my problem rather than buying an entirely new computer on which I would have to reinstall several of my programs, which probably wouldn't run on it anyway. I also don't have room for another computer, nor am I prepared to switch operating systems.


btw, thanks uk_dave -- I'll check that out.
 
RayG said:
That's the very reason I don't have any of my Windows systems set to automatically update.

Regarding the Zonealarm problem, I read over here that you should set Internet Security Zone to HIGH and check Allow outgoing TCP Ports:80,443. I haven't tried that out yet though, so exercise caution.

RayG
Click to expand...

I can confirm that this fixes the internet connectivity problem. I can't say what other effects it may have, so if a troupe of marauding chimps comes and steals your carpets, don't blame me..
 
Arrgh. -- Though I had to re-assemble my PC for other reasons anyway.
-- Gotta love backups.

Thanks all. -- Hopefully the ZoneAlarm patch will fix my issues, and yes as soon as I reinstalled ZoneAlarm I'm back to the same problem.....
 
OK. Yah.. -- Zone Alarm & Firefox are happy together again, without the MS Patch, which was causing the issues.
Zone Alarm's comment

We are investigating the issue with the MS update KB951748.
For the time being we suggest you uninstall KB951748 until the issue has been resolved.
Click to expand...
Zone Labs Forum

Couldn't quickly find the work around they mentioned.
 
alfaniner said:
So I downloaded the two files for Windows Update, the current security patch (still going after all these years) and the Malicious Software Removal Tool. I always do manual control over these rather than allowing them automatically.

I felt little alarm bells when I had to agree to the EULA for the MSRT to install, but I thought I'd done it before and it can't be that uncommon an update, so I allowed it.

So for the next two hours I tried to get back on the Internet...

I went to System Restore, for which the Update had made a Restore Point. Of course it didn't work, even though I had done nothing on my computer other than try to access the internet, reset the modem, et.al. I was really pissed that an update created and almost forced by Microsoft, can not be backed out with its own goddamn restore program.

I finally figured out it had something to do with ZoneAlarm. After doing the MSRT, it currently forces me to set the blocking to Medium rather than High where I had it, and prefer it. However, setting it back to High prevents me from getting to the net!

Any (useful) suggestions?
Click to expand...

Back in the good old mainframe days, IBM had a product called SMP/4. It tracked every update, could back it out, and ensured you never got caught up in this sort of situation. Of course, PCs turned up, and promised you never had to worry about all that expensive mainframe overhead, like SMP/4. :rolleyes:
 
a_unique_person said:
Back in the good old mainframe days, IBM had a product called SMP/4. It tracked every update, could back it out, and ensured you never got caught up in this sort of situation. Of course, PCs turned up, and promised you never had to worry about all that expensive mainframe overhead, like SMP/4. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

And better yet there was a whole group of people -- 4, 6. 8 or more who looked after all this stuff (and mostly understood it or at least talked like they did). Now everyone has to manage their own systems and be their own experts.

Right now I'm installing an IP phone. The whole installation went perfectly. Out and in calls work great. But, and there is always a but, the internet connection to my network comes to a halt when the phone adapter is between the modem and the router. My first guess is some IP conflict. I expect I'll spend at least an hour figuring it out -- not including any calls to the support line.
 
a_unique_person said:
Back in the good old mainframe days, IBM had a product called SMP/4. It tracked every update, could back it out, and ensured you never got caught up in this sort of situation. Of course, PCs turned up, and promised you never had to worry about all that expensive mainframe overhead, like SMP/4. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Nice thing about a Mac is Time Machine. I can back out ANY update, even one to the windows emulation... And if the OS is unbootable, you can restore the disk to any point with the Time Machine volume and the installation disk.

The only thing I wish Apple would do is rotating TM volumes so that you have two volumes in case one goes bad, but I've actually hacked that into my system using rsync -E from a cron job.
 
Gord_in_Toronto said:
And better yet there was a whole group of people -- 4, 6. 8 or more who looked after all this stuff (and mostly understood it or at least talked like they did). Now everyone has to manage their own systems and be their own experts.

Right now I'm installing an IP phone. The whole installation went perfectly. Out and in calls work great. But, and there is always a but, the internet connection to my network comes to a halt when the phone adapter is between the modem and the router. My first guess is some IP conflict. I expect I'll spend at least an hour figuring it out -- not including any calls to the support line.
Click to expand...

Simple solution; Get a four port switching hub and put it in there... But I suspect the real reason is that your modem-to-router cable has to be an uplink cable (RX/TX pairs reversed from the usual cable) and only one of the cables you are using is like that. On many routers there is a little pushbutton near the uplink port you can use to change this expectation.
 
Yup, backing out that patch worked. I was suspecting the wrong culprit. I didn't see that notice on the ZA page when I checked it out.

I should remember that my basic rule is never, never to install something from Microsoft until some other poor sucker has had the chance to beta test it first.
 
Got stuck with this one as wellon my gaming box. ping/tracert worked well, only when trying to use protocols higher up in the stack did it fail (no telnet, ftp, http, etc). Luckily I remembered windows update patching stuff to do with security, uninstalling it worked.

But thanks to this thread I learned that it was problems with ZA, and going to ZoneLabs site I found an update fixing the problem.
 
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