Last Week's Patches Causing Some Problems

Published: April 19, 2006

by Alex Woodie

The round of patches that Microsoft released last week, including the mega patch for Internet Explorer, is causing some problems for Windows users. Over the weekend, the software giant issued a KnowledgeBase article that provided a workaround for the problems in MS06-15, which fixes the critical Windows Shell Vulnerability that leaves all versions of Windows open to remote code execution attacks. Some users were reportedly also having trouble with the mega-patch, MS06-13.

Microsoft issued five patches last week, including the one mega patch that fixed 10 critical security problems in its Internet Explorer Web browser (see "Microsoft Patches 10 Critical IE Flaws").

However, one of those patches was causing problems, as Microsoft explains in a KnowledgeBase article posted Saturday called "Problems in Windows Explorer or the Windows shell after you install security update MS06-015".

Microsoft says users are reporting problems with several programs and devices after installing the patch, including Hewlett-Packard DeskJet printers, HP scanners, HP cameras, and HP PhotoSmart software. Microsoft gives users instructions on how to edit the registry to work around these problems.

Users of Sunbelt Software's Kerio Firewall have noted it is flagging certain Windows actions unnecessarily, Microsoft says. Microsoft's workaround to this problem is to configure the firewall to allow a certain action to execute without prompting.

Windows and Office users are also reporting some bizarre post-patch behavior, including no longer being able to access the "My Documents" or "My Pictures" folders; Office applications that freeze when a user tries to save or open a document using "My Documents"; typing an address into Internet Explorer's address bar has no effect; the right-click "Send To" option stops working; the plus (+) sign beside a folder in Windows Explorer stops working; and third-party programs fail when files are opened using the "My Documents" folder.

Microsoft is expected to fix these, and the other problems caused by the MS06-15 patch, with an update to the patch.

While MS06-15 appeared to be causing the most trouble, gremlins also invaded the computers of users who applied last week's mega patch, MS06-13. One (of many) of things this patch did was to change how IE renders ActiveX controls, this change came in response to an ongoing patent dispute between Microsoft and Eolas Technologies. Now several vendors' products that use ActiveX controls are having trouble digesting the change.

Among the products that aren't working correctly following MS06-13 are Google's Toolbar and Oracle's Siebel 7 CRM software, according to PatchLink, a patch management company.

Applications that use ActiveX controls, and which were written in Java Platform, Standard Edition 1.3 or 1.4, may also be susceptible to problems.