Defender update have more than bargained for?

[gene]

Out of the blue last night, my incoming email started going to MS
Outlook instead of my default setup of Mailwasher and Sylpheed, even
though no user settings had changed anywhere that I could find. This had
never happened before. The only thing that was new yesterday
(Wednesday) was the latest Defender update, which I installed without
checking the contents. On another MS-related newsgroup, someone said
this Outlook switch was the result of a programming error in one or
more of the Office/Outlook updates. I've apparently solved it for now
by deleting everything Outlook and Outlook Express related from start
up, but am wondering if there was anything in yesterday's or a very
recent Defender update that could have involved Outlook?

Gene

 

[Bill Sanderson]

This would be related to an update for Office and Outlook, not a Windows
Defender update.

I don't think it is accurate to say this is the result of an error--my
impression is that it is intentional--it has happened with other Outlook
updates.

You might open WindowsUpdate and click on the link on the left to view
history--and see whether an Outlook update was, in fact, installed at a
relevant time--perhaps it downloaded earlier and installed overnight?

 

[gene]

This would be related to an update for Office and Outlook, not a Windows
Defender update.

I don't think it is accurate to say this is the result of an error--my
impression is that it is intentional--it has happened with other Outlook
updates.

You might open WindowsUpdate and click on the link on the left to view
history--and see whether an Outlook update was, in fact, installed at a
relevant time--perhaps it downloaded earlier and installed overnight?

The last Office system update was May 15. Anything that changes the
default mail program outside of user control is an error or worse, if
that's what happened. I have Office 2007, but according to another
post there's an MS bulletin: KB933450 "Outlook 2003 is incorrectly
configured as the default mail client every time that you perform an
Office installation or Office update that modifies
Outlook" (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933450).

The files I mentioned taking out of startup had
been there causing no problems for years. I only asked in this group
because the timing was apparently with Defender and not with Office.
Thanks.

Gene

 

[Bill Sanderson]

I think that KB article can help prevent the issue--I saw another post
referencing it today, but haven't read it yet!

I'd look deeper for the timing issue--I can't imagine any way that Defender
updates could cause this issue.

One thought: Look for the kbxxxxxx.log files.

On XP, these are in %windir% which is typically c:\windows.

at a command prompt, if you do dir kb*.log /od you will get a good
representation of the absolute timing and installation order of
patches--check the last few and see what you find out?