Recent Microsoft Critical Updates...

[peterbeaumont]

...about a dozen MS critical security updates downloaded yesterday and afterwards, my machine has gone haywire. (I had no problems at all on Tuesday evening and I've not changed, added or deleted anything). I am using XP Pro.

Command prompts won't work, various program shortcuts I try to open say they have no linked file associations, Windows Firewall is showing as being turned off, the machine keeps locking up, can't access my network connections and about 10 other things seem to be awry...

Any ideas, please?

[Lance]

I think the best idea would be to use the system restore and take it back to before the updates installed.

Once restored, check everything is as expected and then install the updates one by one, rebooting after each and hopefully you will identify the dodgy one!

Anther option, once restored, is to sit tight and see if any futher updates come out to correct the updates! 

[Gary]

I had 15 downloads in all and have had no issues at all, I would search and see what's been said about issues on Google, but so far all is well here.

[quandam]

I had 18 downloads without problem (so far ) I too am on XP Pro.

[Sebby]

We had 15 hotfixes on our Vista machines at work. No problems (so far).

[sobranie]

Just d/l the updates.  Internet extremely sluggish for a while but things picked up to normal after 1/2 hour or so. jftr Google refused to run for around 10 minutes but OK now. 

[Simon]

No problems here.   

[peterbeaumont]

I did a system restore back to a point where everything was working ok, then all but one of the latest updates were installed.

There is just one that keeps failing now - KB 953297 - with an error code of 0x66A, (but at least my machine seems to be back to normal for the moment). I've googled and found some "solutions", but none of them has cured it.

[zappaDPJ]

Apart from a rude and unannounced reboot while I was in the middle of a Photoshop session the only issue I've had is that my main monitor has a habit of starting up at around half brightness. A reboot solves the issue but I can't as yet track down the problem.

[Gary]

I did a system restore back to a point where everything was working ok, then all but one of the latest updates were installed.

There is just one that keeps failing now - KB 953297 - with an error code of 0x66A, (but at least my machine seems to be back to normal for the moment). I've googled and found some "solutions", but none of them has cured it.

System restore is not the best answer really it can mess things up, you really need software that can make an image, even Vista Ultimates inbuilt one works well.

Clear out your update folder out it has probably become corrupt using system restore, you will loose you update log but NOT the updates, see here for advice http://www.techspot.com/vb/all/windows/t-47332-windows-update-stuck.html

[somanyholes]

tried this ? http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistawu/thread/ed025d8a-98af-47d7-a2c9-1cc10a547d06

[Simon]

Good link, So. 

[peterbeaumont]

I finally managed to download all the updates, after removing the earlier .net framework versions, as per the Microsoft instructions...

But I still have problems with opening anything from the "Start" button - just keep getting the message that ..."this program does not have a file association to open it..."

Anyone any suggestions, please?

[Gary]

I finally managed to download all the updates, after removing the earlier .net framework versions, as per the Microsoft instructions...

But I still have problems with opening anything from the "Start" button - just keep getting the message that ..."this program does not have a file association to open it..."

Anyone any suggestions, please?

This may help http://www.sensible-computer-help.com/file-associations.html

[peterbeaumont]

Sorry, I probably explained badly...

It's not Programs from the start button, it's things like Start - Settings -Printers, Start - Documents - My Documents, Start -Settings - Networks...that give the error message about not having file associations.

So I am still at a loss as to what to look at...

[brabus]

Hi all i too have had problems down loading crical updates 11 of them i tried various sugestions but nothing worked, so after a while i shut myself in a darkend room and breathed into a brown paper bag , then i rember i recently up dated my  zone alarm pro!! so i shutdown my zone alarm and started to download the 11 critical updates and bingo they all downloaded Ok!! i  hope this will help some one with the same problem, kind regards brabus. ps i run windows xp2 pro     

[Rik]

Thanks for sharing.

[zappaDPJ]

Since 9.00am this morning there's been so much background activity on my PC web pages are taking 10 seconds or more to render.

There seems to be a huge number of Microsoft updates coming down the wire. So far I've had five separate notifications that my PC is about to reboot.

[Rik]

Curious. I'll go and do a manual update.

[Ray]

Nothing on Win 7 only had an update to IE 64 bit version yesterday.

[Rik]

Just the one on XP SP3.

[zappaDPJ]

I've had 7 updates (Vista) included two updates for IE 8 and a 'Platform Update for Windows Vista' which is described as 'a collection of runtime libraries that make it easier for developers to target a wider customer base'  

[Rik]

Sounds a bit like they are trying to move Vista towards 7.

[Simon]

I had several nags to reboot for updates on XP this morning too, but they will have to wait till later.

[Sebby]

I've had 7 updates (Vista) included two updates for IE 8 and a 'Platform Update for Windows Vista' which is described as 'a collection of runtime libraries that make it easier for developers to target a wider customer base' 

Yeah, I quickly hid that one as it sounded of no benefit to me!

[zappaDPJ]