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Microsoft Pulls Broken XP Update

Posted by michael on 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?"

11 of 478 comments (clear)

  1. First Post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Always wanted to do that...

  2. microsoft by logicalstack · · Score: -1, Troll

    microsoft = DOS

  3. Microsoft Security by SkArcher · · Score: -1, Troll

    Possibly becoming more of an Oxymoron than Microsoft Works?

    So not only does this intended 'fix' not do its job, but it also prevents .net access entire? any word on what they are doing for the 600,000 people who got their access fried?

    Repeat after me 'fdisk, format, reinstall'

    --

    An infinite number of monkeys will eventually come up with the complete works of /.
  4. Re:windows update by Debian+Troll · · Score: -1, Troll
    Do they have any sort of quality control?=)

    I propose a multi-level system of releases, arranged something like this:

    Unstable This version will support the latest and greatest features, but will not have undergone rigorous testing by the community. Basically it's an untested pile of crap only fit for 36-year olds who live in their parent's basement and have never had sex.

    Testing No-one really knows that this does, but it's good to have something labelled 'testing'. It makes it look like the developers are actually doing something instead of spending all day reconfiguring their apt.sources file and trying to recover their 'mission critial' 486s and Pentium MMX 'supercomputers' from broken packages in unstable.

    Stable This is rock solid, but also like a rock, it just sort of sits there and grows moss on it. You could use it to prop open a door, or to hurl through the window of one of those newspaper vending machines and steal yourself a copy of USA Today. Either way you'll probably be fired for using it on the company firewall when you should have used Gentoo instead

  5. Clarification by BigBir3d · · Score: -1, Troll
    Microsoft officials said Tuesday the update -- which had been available as an option since Friday on its "Windows Update" Web site -- apparently was incompatible with popular security software from other companies, such as Symantec Corp.

    Seems to me that Symantec et al should be the ones that have to fix their software. Nice to see Microsoft will pull it until this gets worked out. Maybe things are getting better...?
  6. Re:Maybe its not on KB because nobody is at work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Let me check. I'm sat at a desk in front of a computer. These people sat around me look like my collegues. I'm pretty sure I've just ate launch. I'm definatly at work and its 2pm. Oh, thats because I'm in a different timezone to you, moron!

    Mr Rumsfeld acknowledged that Iraq may have destroyed all its chemical munitions and weapons of mass destruction before the US-led invasion last March.

  7. Re:windows update by Debian+Troll · · Score: -1, Troll
    Gentoo on the firewall? What a great idea As the CIO for a Fortune 500 company, you can take it from me that our recorded break-in attempts went down 97% over a 3-month period after we upgraded our firewall from Debian to Gentoo. Hackers (or hax0rs, as we experts call them in the IT industry) were basically after updated .deb packages, since new ones were so few and far between on the Debian site.

    Admittedly, some of the Gentoo configuration tools aren't all that user-friendly, but my staff are currently working on installing Linuxconf daemons, webmin, and the tftp server on the firewall so we can enjoy point and click administration from anywhere on the net. You jusy can't equal that with Debian.

  8. Re:windows update by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    "I'd offer you a room for a night, but you'd think I was weird, and my mom would think you were a pedophile." - Me

    Self-quotes are pretentious.

  9. Re:windows update by satanicat · · Score: 0, Troll

    Actually I'm Canadian eh?

    --
    How Now Brown Cow
  10. Said it before and I'll say it again... by Stonan · · Score: 0, Troll

    Windows XP = Windows eXtortion Program.

    --
    The GEEK shall inherit the earth...
  11. Re:windows update by cpparm · · Score: 0, Troll

    Or maybe they have outsourced the update software to India, which means they have no quality control