Microsoft Pulls Broken XP Update

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Microsoft Pulls Broken XP Update

Posted by michael on Wednesday May 28, 2003 @12:15AM from the repatch-and-sin-no-more dept.

Cally writes "Yahoo! reports that Microsoft have pulled a Windows XP update from the Windows Update servers after it killed network access for some users of the claimed 600,000 who installed it. (Does this mean only 600,000 XP users trust Windows Update?) The story hints that the problem was something to do with VPN or IPSec drivers clashing with Symantec software - however I haven't found anything about this on the Microsoft KnowledgeBase (the link Yahoo provide goes to the generic support home page.) Anyone got more info?"

27 of 478 comments (clear)

windows update by satanicat · 2003-05-28 00:18 · Score: 5, Funny

windows mustive been getting too stable. .

Do they have any sort of quality control?=)

--
How Now Brown Cow
1. Re:windows update by Anonymous Coward · 2003-05-28 01:31 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  No shit. As the CEO, CTO and CIO of Standard Oil Co. I can confirm that when we replaced our Firewall with a Tandy TRS80 colour computer running TRSDOS our hacking attempts were reduced by 105%. Our revenue streams have also increased 97% and the junior messenger in block 3E has gotten laid. I uncovered the Ark of the Covonent after an epic battle of good and evil with 4th Reich Nazis in the Nirobi desert, and my ex-wife has taken a vow of silence as a Bhuddist Nun.
  
  Without the Tandy Color Computer none of this would have been possible. You just cant equal that with Debian or Gentoo!
2. Re:windows update by Debian+Troll · 2003-05-28 01:57 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Damn, I just re-read your post and realised I'm feeding a troll... Oh well: tough. Yeah, you'd sorta figure the name 'Debian Troll' would give it away, huh?
3. Re:windows update by Sazarac · 2003-05-28 05:24 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  As an IT professional/developer with 130 wintel boxes in my charge, I just want to say thanks to Microsoft for giving me something to fill up the otherwise boring hours of my employment with endless regression testing to make sure everything works with everything else. It's not as if I'm AT ALL busy with keeping everything running anyway. Not to mention writing new code that compiles and runs fine on Win2K but randomly throws exceptions on NT.
  != ("Not!")
  Sheesh... I'm gonna quit my job and start a new thrash band called Rage Against The Butterfly
  
  --
  This sig is exempt from disclosure under the privacy Act of 1974.
4. Re:windows update by El · 2003-05-28 06:05 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Do they have any sort of quality control?
  Yes, they've got a huge installed user base that reports problems very quickly... why should that pay people to find bugs, when there are 600,000 people willing to pay them for the priviledge of beta-testing their software?
  
  --
  "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
If only they had apt-get by Debian+Troll · 2003-05-28 00:19 · Score: 5, Funny

I am currently porting apt-get to Windows. This will mean that these types of embarassing security breaches never happen again. apt-get is the answer to all of today's problems.
1. Re:If only they had apt-get by Debian+Troll · 2003-05-28 00:42 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I got tired of apt-get blowing up my unstable Debian, so I wrote this to make it transactional:
  Your code looks very interesting, and would make a fine addition to the new Windows version of apt-get which I have almost finished writing. It is crafted in MMX/SSE accelerated x86 assembler, so it runs really fast! You will, however, need to port your nice Java program to assembler. I am also looking for people to help out with the GUI front-end to win-apt-get, which is based around a helpful paper clip character called 'Klecker'. When the user requires an update, they 'Klick' on 'Klecker', and he helpfully tells the user to "Fuck off and read the manual you filthy Windoze luser", or to "Take a fucking number and wait for win-apt-get stable to be released in 2017".
2. Re:If only they had apt-get by subreality · 2003-05-28 01:01 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Hah, you BSD people are so behind the times.
  subreality@underminer:~$ apt-get cure-world-hunger
  Your ports tree can't do that. No wonder BSD is dying.
  :-)
3. Re:If only they had apt-get by phoenix_rizzen · 2003-05-28 06:06 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  # pkg_add -r world-peace
  
  Works like a charm here.
4. Re:If only they had apt-get by tres · 2003-05-28 06:22 · Score: 4, Funny
  Yeah, but try this with apt-get
  
  /home/tres:$ sudo pkg_delete osama_bin_laden-1.2
  pkg_delete: couldn`t entirely delete package (perhaps the packing list is incorrectly specified?)
  
  oops...
  well then, we have:
  
  /home/tres:$ sudo pkg_delete saddam_hussein-1.4_4
  pkg_delete: couldn`t entirely delete package (perhaps the packing list is incorrectly specified?)
  
  hmm... well we couldn't get those done right, but we can fix some other things:
  /home/tres:$ cd /usr/ports/us/liberty
  /usr/ports/us/liberty: $ make install clean
  ...
  can't find dependency: bill_of_rights.so
  
  I know it was there just a little while ago. grr...
  Ha! I know how to fix it!
  /home/tres:$ sudo portupgrade president-43_b
  
  Oh yeah! Try that with apt-get :-)
  --
  Notes From Under *nix: blas.phemo.us
Re:Maybe its not on KB because nobody is at work? by BabyDave · 2003-05-28 00:21 · Score: 5, Funny

It is 5am in the morning.
Which is different to 5am in the afternoon ...
In Tomorrow's News by AndroidCat · 2003-05-28 00:23 · Score: 5, Funny

A new worm has begun infecting XP systems that didn't install the latest patch. "It's their own fault, they should have kept up to date" said BG.

--
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Um by Obiwan+Kenobi · 2003-05-28 00:29 · Score: 2, Funny

(Does this mean only 600,000 XP users trust Windows Update?)

Or does it mean that after a hundred thousand complaints they pulled it from the site?

*SLAP*
Re:Before you all complain about auto update... by Timesprout · 2003-05-28 00:35 · Score: 5, Funny

What the hell are you doing !! Get a hold of yourself man and stop trying to point out the facts in this story. Most posters so far have already managed to increase MS's few reported cases to 600,000 broken updates. Let them have their fun.

--
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
Microsoft KnowledgeBase by leeroybrown · 2003-05-28 00:37 · Score: 3, Funny

It's moments like this that prove that the phrase "Microsoft KnowledgeBase" may in fact be the ultimate oxymoron.
XpP by soliaus · 2003-05-28 00:41 · Score: 2, Funny

Thankfully, I uh.. well, lets just say that windows update would cause information about my machine *caugh*cd key*caugh* profile to be 'exposed'. So, like any self respecting geek, I killed update at the machine level. Now your thinking...insecure? No bug fixes? C'mon, its windows for gods sake! RAID couldnt kill THAT bug.

--
Speaking at Defcon 12 - Credit Card Networks Revisted: Pen
DRM by Root+Down · 2003-05-28 00:41 · Score: 5, Funny

It's not a bug, it's digital rights management preventing illegal file sharing!
Obligatory Matrix reference by Zog+The+Undeniable · 2003-05-28 00:44 · Score: 4, Funny

What good is a Knowledge Base article, Mr Anderson? If you're unable to surf?

--
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
Re:Microsoft Security by zm · 2003-05-28 01:06 · Score: 3, Funny

See, there's this new technology called "the telephone".... :)

--
Sig ?
Re:Not News by mobiGeek · 2003-05-28 01:28 · Score: 2, Funny
In real life, people don't trust MS patches until they've tested them on their own systems with their own application mixes.
- Since when does a properly managed IT infrastructure qualify as "real life"?
...knowledgeable system admins, responsible for managing lots of Windows systems...
- Since when does a knowledgeable system admin manage an MS-Windows system?
- Since when does a system admin manage lots of MS-Windows systems (unless you define the terms lots or manage very differently than do I...)
:-)
--
...Beware the IDEs of Microsoft...
Re:What a bunch of crybabies here by clonebarkins · 2003-05-28 01:43 · Score: 2, Funny

First you people complain that MS ships buggy OS's and no one knows how to update it. Now that they put in an auto-update feature for the newbie, everyone complains that it's also bad.

You're right -- the expectation that a product should work as intended is entirely unfounded. Thank you for freeing me from the ignorant cave in which I have been hiding all these years.

--

"The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it." -- Ayn Rand
Re:Automatic Updates by clonebarkins · 2003-05-28 01:47 · Score: 4, Funny

This is at least the 2nd or 3rd time that I've read a story on /. about a Windows XP/2000 patch that was no good.

Only 2nd or 3rd? Don't visit /. much, do ya?

--

"The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it." -- Ayn Rand
Re:That's the problem with automatic patching by Helmut+Kool · 2003-05-28 01:49 · Score: 5, Funny

"Security improvement"? I guess it improves security dramatically if it kills the network access. Thanks, Microsoft!
Re:Unfortunate = Flame War? by Davak · 2003-05-28 03:08 · Score: 2, Funny

Hmmm... while tempted to launch into the whole PC vs Apple debate, currently I don't have the time...

I've got to get down to the pro-choice rally before I go lobby for my right-to-bear arms. After lunch I am attending the pro-captital punishment rally. Then hopefully tonight we can attend the fund raiser for the statue of Al "i invented the internet" Gore.

Here are the flame war rules. Please print them out for later reference.

Davak (in asbestos underwear)
Re:That's the problem with automatic patching by Alsee · 2003-05-28 05:00 · Score: 2, Funny

I hear their next patch improves on this already impressive security, it shorts your power supply causing the PC to turn off, you can't get much more secure than that!

Sure you can! Don't you know that 90% of all security vulnerabilities lie between the chair and the keyboard? The Third Generation Security Patch eliminates this vulnerability by shorting the powersupply to the keyboard before it destroys the computer.

-

--
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
Re:Old news by Blue+Stone · 2003-05-28 05:20 · Score: 3, Funny

"I don't know where you're from, but no one uses that term in North America"
and
"Don't be so arrogant."
Let me introduce you to the concept of irony.

--
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
Re:That's the problem with automatic patching by CoolQ · 2003-05-28 11:35 · Score: 2, Funny

> "Security improvement"? I guess it improves security dramatically if it kills the network access. Thanks, Microsoft!

How much do you want to bet that it still allows inbound SMB and Windows Messenger? :)

--Quentin