windows update KB890830 seems to cause internet explorer 6 problems

[SeanC]

Hello all-

I have a laptop running XP Home edition with SP2. After downloading
the windows update "KB890830" (malicious software removal), internet
explorer is able to connect to some webpages, and not to others. The
problem seems to be pretty clearly related to this windows update -
before downloading it this problem did not occur, and directly after it
does occur.

I have searched for hours on Google groups, and have tried a number of
things, including all the standard cached file deleting, resetting
security parameters to default values, pinging DNS servers, running
spybot S&D, etc, etc. This computer does not get a lot of use and has
been recently wiped clean and upgraded to SP2. The anti virus and anti
spyware has been diligently updated, so it is highly unlikely that this
is a virus or spyware problem.

Anyway, I'd love some help! I did see a posting in this group titled
"Critical Update KB890175 and KB890830 " that seemed to be the same
problem, but with no solution.

again, the problem here is that about 50% of websites i am unable to
connect to and receive the standard "This Page Cannot be Displayed"
error page with "Cannot find server or DNS Error" at the bottom.
any help would be appreciated!

 

[Guest]

Does the problem persist if you uninstall the tool? If not, I would just go
ahead and leave the thing uninstalled, particularly if you've got Spybot
(and/or AdAware) and some sort of A/V installed and updated.

It's downloaded as a "critical patch," but it's really just Microsoft's way
to attack the problem of virulent malware -- doing the same thing as
spybot/adaware.

--LB

 

[Torgeir Bakken \(MVP\)]

I have a laptop running XP Home edition with SP2. After downloading
the windows update "KB890830" (malicious software removal), internet
explorer is able to connect to some webpages, and not to others. The
problem seems to be pretty clearly related to this windows update -
before downloading it this problem did not occur, and directly after it
does occur.

Hi

The tool itself doesn't do any changes to the system, unless it
removes any detected malicious software (then the system change
is the removal of that piece of software).

After the tool is finished, it writes the result to a log file.

To see the log file, run the following command from Start/Run:

notepad %windir%\Debug\Mrt.log

If all it states in there is "No infection found.", it is very
unlikely that your problem comes from running this tool.

 

[Torgeir Bakken \(MVP\)]

Does the problem persist if you uninstall the tool? If not, I would just go
ahead and leave the thing uninstalled, particularly if you've got Spybot
(and/or AdAware) and some sort of A/V installed and updated.

It's downloaded as a "critical patch," but it's really just Microsoft's way
to attack the problem of virulent malware -- doing the same thing as
spybot/adaware.

Hi

I assume you think about the MS AntiSpyware product that is in beta now
and that is something completely different than KB890830.

The MS AntiSpyware product is not deployed by Windows Update,
but KB890830 is.

Also note that there is no uninstall available for the KB890830 tool:

When using Windows Updates or Automatic Updates, it will automatically
run and you will not get any feedback whatsoever, it runs in quiet mode
and then it just deletes itself.

More info about KB890830 here:

http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;890830

 

[SeanC]

Thanks Torgier-
yeah I had heard that process doesn't actually install anything, and I
looked at the log file which said that it came up clean, no threats.
So i guess maybe its just coincidence that the problem started directly
after that update.

anyway I'm still getting the "this page cannot be displayed" error for
a random smattering of websites, with no obvious correlation between
any of them. when I hit refresh on these sites, IE will just hang for
a logn time. not sure if that is relevant information or not...

I've tried a hundred things, including:
resetting security to default levels in IE
running netsh winsock reset
establishing DNS server responsiveness (its not a DNS problem)
running Spybot

among other little things. unfortunately this is such a common error
in IE, but so far it seems to be an uncommon cause.

-Sean

 

[cdcutlip]

i'm having the same problem. also saw this posting that i'm hoping
will help. doesn't sound like it's releated to kb890830. i'm hoping
it's related to kb890175 and will be fixed when i uninstall it.
good luck. let us know how it works.

 

[SeanC]

yeah ... i tried uninstalling KB890175 too - didn't fix the problem in
my case. glad i'm not the only one with this problem!

-Sean

 

[SeanC]

I've identified this to be a problem with my wireless router...
apparently there have been some problems with D Link routers suddenly
not working. I will next try to upgrade the firmware for the router (D
Link DI-614+)

anyway, just wanted to keep this updated!