Critical Update disaster

[Jeff]

Hi everyone. This is my first message to this group.

I am running XP home. In early July I downloaded and installed the latest
critical microsoft updates - which included among others - a cumulative IE6
update. Since then the PC went berserk! Main problem was that although I
could connect well to my ISP, IE6 could no longer find most URLs, giving me
messages such as "unable to find server" and the like. At times, the whole
Windows would crash with the famous blue screen of death. Restore to prior
to the updates did not resolve the problem

This was a laptop (fortunately 1 month shy of the end of its 1 yr warranty)
so I took it in to service. They replaced both the modem and the
Motherboard (!) without resolving the problem. Finally, I took my courage
in my hands and using Acronis True Image 7 which I had used for backups for
about a year, I restored the C partition from a backup I had made in June
and voila: all is well again.

I have 2 questions:
a) is there a known problem with the XP home critical updates of early July?
b) I went back to windows update and found that there are 8 critical update
to install to bring my system back up-to-date. Needless to say, I did not
install them <grin>, but is there a way to know which one was the
troublemaker without installing each one one at a time to find out?

Thanks.

--

Jeff McPherson
Email address deliberately false to avoid spam
(e-mail address removed)
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free by AVG

 

[Charlie Tame]

Hi everyone. This is my first message to this group.

I am running XP home. In early July I downloaded and installed the latest
critical microsoft updates - which included among others - a cumulative IE6
update. Since then the PC went berserk! Main problem was that although I
could connect well to my ISP, IE6 could no longer find most URLs, giving me
messages such as "unable to find server" and the like. At times, the whole
Windows would crash with the famous blue screen of death. Restore to prior
to the updates did not resolve the problem

This was a laptop (fortunately 1 month shy of the end of its 1 yr warranty)
so I took it in to service. They replaced both the modem and the
Motherboard (!) without resolving the problem. Finally, I took my courage
in my hands and using Acronis True Image 7 which I had used for backups for
about a year, I restored the C partition from a backup I had made in June
and voila: all is well again.

I have 2 questions:
a) is there a known problem with the XP home critical updates of early July?
b) I went back to windows update and found that there are 8 critical update
to install to bring my system back up-to-date. Needless to say, I did not
install them <grin>, but is there a way to know which one was the
troublemaker without installing each one one at a time to find out?

My guess would be that you should try looking for spy / ad ware first. Much
of the newer stuff uses actual vulnerabilities to get in, and if you
subsequently patch the holes it stops working, leaving you with odd messages
about things that can't be displayed.

I hasten to add this is a guess but based on my own recent experiences. Have
been ridiculously busy at work this last few weeks but try searching the
group for solution to adware and stuff...

Charlie