MSO-026 and MSO3-030 Security Bulletins

[Sam]

I have a Dell Dimension 8200 with windows XP Pro installed. Has anyone
experienced any problems installing the MSO3-026 (823980)security update? I
getting a bit gun shy with the updates, especially since the 811493 update.

Regarding the MSO-030 (819696), if a person does not use their computer for
games, would they need the Security upgrade for DirectX on their computer??
Additionally, has this been a safe security upgrade? Thanks for any help,
Sam.

 

[Mike]

I posted a similar question a few days ago regarding whether or not all of
the updates from Windows Update are necessary. One way of looking at things
regarding keeping your PC up to date with patches, security vulnerabilities
etc. is to read the detailed description/technical details of the
patch/update and decide whether or not you think it applies to you. I'm
currently in the process of uninstalling each and every update to eliminate
why when I open certain applications like Outlook, Norton Antivirus 2003
Professional my hard drive access light is on solid for up to 10 seconds.
It's like as if something is being cached into memory or Windows is scanning
the hard drive looking for something. It never used to do this before. I
can't do anything until it finishes. I will endeavour to find what it is,
I'm sure it's one of those damn updates. Until..

 

[Mike Truitt [Microsoft]]

Sam,

Please recognize my obvious bias. I would highly recommend the security
updates, especially 026. For a more impartail source discussing this
security fix, visit; http://www.minasidownloads.com/nws0307.htm. As for
what to install from Windows Update, I would go with how the fixes are
grouped. The critical, I would automatically select. The recommended I
would pick and choose the ones that apply to the specific environment. (do
you really need journal viewer if nobody around use has a Tablet PC?) As
for the drivers, that is where things get sticky. I personally install the
drivers from Windows Update; however if I run into problems, then I go
directly to either the OEM or the driver manufacturer and look for one of
theirs.

Best regards,

Mike Truitt
Microsoft Corporation

 

[Lemon Jelly]

PA Bear - typed:

From personal experience, I suggest you first uninstall NAV and see
if doing that alone makes things improve.

OK, if it does, what then? Sam states that both NAV & Outlook worked
fine before the updates. Please forgive my jaundiced view here but my
experience has been that regular but circumspect updating has caused
more problems than have been solved. 821557 if installed, kills my CD
drive shortcuts & creating new ones doesn't work.

I'm not suggesting that security is secondary but it /is/ far less
tangible than the fixes that actually break parts of the OS or
applications that run on it. I often suspect my system was running the
most sweetly just after SP1 & has declined since.

Regards

 

[PA Bear]

Number one, I was replying to Mike and his particular situation. IMHO NAV
is a resource hog and slowed down *my* system noticeably. After I'd
uninstalled it, my system ran much faster.

Number two, Q821557 *does* have the very bug you remarked upon. MS is aware
of it, is working on a fix, and the topic has been discussed at great length
in the M newsgroups: http://snurl.com/1y7c.

Number three, having your AV app running while you're installing *anything*
can cause untold problems.

AFAIK only two of the gazllion updates released this year have caused
far-reaching problems: Q821557 and Q810847 (whichi took over 4 months to
fix, BTW). I'm certainly not defending MS and very few MVPs would but I
think the company has an excellent track record.
--
HTH...Please post back to this thread

~Robear Dyer (aka PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE)
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[Lemon Jelly]

PA Bear - typed:

Number one, I was replying to Mike and his particular situation.
IMHO NAV is a resource hog and slowed down *my* system noticeably.
After I'd uninstalled it, my system ran much faster.

I didn't upgrade my copy of NAV2002 to 2003 but just the definitions. I
suspect any AV s/w will slow down any machine to some extent by the
nature of how they work. I was surprised how little impact NAV2002 had
when I 1st installed it. I can't comment on the impact 2003 has over &
above my version. I would not like to run without AV software just so
the security & recommended fixes don't break stuff. NAV has saved my
bacon on several occasions when using OE on some of the alt groups. Sam
also mentioned problems with Outlook.

A possible alternative for Sam is to disable NAV Autoprotect & its
corresponding Service & run the engine manually at suitable intervals or
from Task Scheduler rather than uninstalling it.

Number three, having your AV app running while you're installing
*anything* can cause untold problems.

I rarely bother unless prompted to like the nVidia installer. I haven't
knowingly had problems. Perhaps I should disable Autoprotect when
installing apps.

AFAIK only two of the gazllion updates released this year have caused
far-reaching problems: Q821557 and Q810847 (whichi took over 4 months
to fix, BTW). I'm certainly not defending MS and very few MVPs would
but I think the company has an excellent track record.

There was a hotfix that froze OE causing the loss of newly composed
messages. The Identity switching problem was fairly minor. There was
another patch that caused a few hiccups. I wouldn't use the words
excellent track record, security & MS in the same sentence. MS has got
better rather than being good IMO. The problem I have is that many
security threats are somewhat theoretical but broken apps etc are very
obvious.

 

[Sam]

Mike, would very much appreciate any comments about the second question I
had. My second question (and expanded) was as follows:.

Regarding the MSO-030 (819696), if a person does not use their computer for
games, would they still need the Security upgrade for DirectX on their
computer??
Is the DirectX function ever used in normal Internet surfing? Additionally,
has this
been a safe security upgrade

P.S. I should note that I installed MSO3-026 this morning and so far, no
problems!! I hope that by completely disabling ZAPlus 6, NAV 2003, SS, and
BoClean before I installed the security update, helped in having a good
install. Thanks, Sam.