KB967715

[Roger Fink]

Even though Microsoft considers the security issue critical enough to
release this patch in between "Patch Tuesdays", I'm reluctant to install
KB967715. The reason is that what I've read about it, including at WU,
either implies. or doesn't refute, that once installed you will not be able
to read an external drive off of Windows Explorer. On the other hand, I
could be misinterpreting things. Can somebody enlighten me on this?

 

[Dave Patrick]

Did you mean this article?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823732/



--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

 

[Roger Fink]

Possibly. Not being flip here, I'm really not sure. If you read the full
description in WU there is this link within it:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967715

 

[Roger Fink]

I have to confess to more than a little confusion here. In a security column
in a mainstream publication, which I unfortunately can't remember, there was
a warning of some sort that implied, as I interpreted it, that Microsoft had
put out a fix for a problem but that once installed you wouldn't be able to
read a flash drive or a back-up external hard drive. When I went to Windows
Update there was only KB967715. Maybe it's not related, but I do the updates
manually every month and KB967715 is the only one being offered off
schedule.

 

[Dave Patrick]

You can ask them. No-charge support is available by calling 1-866-PCSAFETY



--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

 

[Roger Fink]

I think the one you cited is the relevant one. Is the purpose of that to
prevent someone, say on a corporate lan, from reading an external drive on
another computer?

 

[Dave Patrick]

That may be one of several possibilities.


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

 

[Andrew Rossmann]

Even though Microsoft considers the security issue critical enough to
release this patch in between "Patch Tuesdays", I'm reluctant to install
KB967715. The reason is that what I've read about it, including at WU,
either implies. or doesn't refute, that once installed you will not be able
to read an external drive off of Windows Explorer. On the other hand, I
could be misinterpreting things. Can somebody enlighten me on this?

The patch fixes autorun blocking, which apparently wasn't always
working, allowing viruii/trojans to infect computers. The patch itself
doesn't disable external devices. I have an external drive and it still
works fine after the patch.

 

[Roger Fink]

The patch fixes autorun blocking, which apparently wasn't always
working, allowing viruii/trojans to infect computers. The patch itself
doesn't disable external devices. I have an external drive and it
still works fine after the patch.

I think I confused that patch with another one. It would be pretty illogical
for it to affect an external drive, not that logic always governs.

 

[Sid Elbow]

The way I read the one that Dave quoted is that it simply allows you to
turn off specific users' access to USB drives ... not that it prevents
access to those devices generally.

 

[DaffyD®]

I use an external USB hard drive for storage. Is this anything I need to be
concerned about? This is my home computer.

 

[Roger Fink]

Nope. OP was Lost in Space.

I use an external USB hard drive for storage. Is this anything I
need to be concerned about? This is my home computer.

 

[Roger Fink]

I think I confused that patch with another one. It would be pretty
illogical for it to affect an external drive, not that logic always
governs.

(Update) "...not that logic always governs":
".....Microsoft also released a non-security update [to] further disable the
"Autorun" feature in Windows. This feature, on by default in Windows, is
what's responsible for displaying the contents of a removable drive -- such
as a USB stick or CD-Rom -- when users insert the devices into a Windows PC.

Malicious software writers have long abused this feature of Windows to
spread their creations. More recently, this method of spreading made
headlines with the emergence of the Conficker worm, which has spread to
millions of PCs around the globe...."

The above is an excerpt from a computer security column in the Washington
Post:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/02/microsoft_warns_of_attacks_aga.html#more

The patch to disable autorum is the one I originally cited, KB967715. I'm
not saying that once installed you won't see your flash drive, but, based on
the language in the excerpt, I have a little more sympathy for my own
apparent misreading.

The writer of this column is generally pretty good IMO. But I'm wondering if
what he says about the connection of autorun and displaying a removable
drive isn't just a 3:00 a.m. error, with nobody on staff qualified to
proofread it.