Here is the sad and sorry story.
Client has a HP Laptop running Windows Vista SP1. About 4 months ago, she was able to surf the Internet but was unable to login to secure websites such as Yahoo Mail, Hotmail and Online Bank sites.
Anyway, after a lot of investigations, I found out the problem was an update that was installed, namely, update KB974455 (MS09-054: Cumulative security update for Internet Explorer). After, I uninstalled the update, everything was fine. I hid the update so it would not be downloaded again and kept Windows update at the default setting of download and install updates automatically.
4 months later I get a call and guess what, the same problem of not being able to login to secure websites was occuring again. When I check the laptop again, I could not see any evidence that the KB974455 update had been installed again. However, I did notice that it was no longer a hidden update so it theoretically could be downloaded and installed again.
Anyway, after uninstalling a bunch of updates that had been recently installed, I found the culprit, namely update KB976325 (MS09-072: Cumulative security update for Internet Explorer). As you can see, this update supersedes KB974455. This would probably explain why the update was no longer hidden. Both updates are referred to as "a cumulative security patch for Internet Explorer".
Well, feeling very proud of myself that I had once again defeated Windows Updates, I noticed that Avast 4.8 Free was not updated. I tried to update it though the management console and got a message of "cannot connect to 767sl.avast.com". I downloaded the latest definitions file on another computer and then run the update executable on the problem laptop. The update worked and AVAST was up-to-date. I then tried a full uninstall and reinstall but same proplem was occuring.
During troubleshooting, I noticed that IE was now totally broken with all pages coming back as "DNS error". I then uninstalled AVAST and IE was working perfectly again.
I decided to try out AVG Free to see if it was an AVAST problem. Well, guess what, same problem, AVG cannot update automatically or through management console. However, at least with AVG, IE still performs normally so at this stage it is the preffered option.
Where to from here guys?
I have tried a "sfc /scannow" with no luck. I am thinking of installing IE8 and then SP2 for Vista but I hate the fact of having to install more updates to correct previous buggy updates.
I really am over Windows updates completely and have started disabling them on most of my client's (home user) machines. From my experience, for the average home user, most updates are redundant and provide little security improvement.
The only thing is, my business is now suffereing because all my client's machines are running flawlessly now that auto Windows updates have been disabled.
Usually, I update the major updates manually. These would include the following:
1) Service Packs for Windows
2) IE8
3) Junk e-mail filter for Outlook
4) Windows Media player for multimedia users.
Sorry for going of track guys but I have been wanting to say this for ages.
Anyway, your ideas of how to proceed would be appreciated.
Client has a HP Laptop running Windows Vista SP1. About 4 months ago, she was able to surf the Internet but was unable to login to secure websites such as Yahoo Mail, Hotmail and Online Bank sites.
Anyway, after a lot of investigations, I found out the problem was an update that was installed, namely, update KB974455 (MS09-054: Cumulative security update for Internet Explorer). After, I uninstalled the update, everything was fine. I hid the update so it would not be downloaded again and kept Windows update at the default setting of download and install updates automatically.
4 months later I get a call and guess what, the same problem of not being able to login to secure websites was occuring again. When I check the laptop again, I could not see any evidence that the KB974455 update had been installed again. However, I did notice that it was no longer a hidden update so it theoretically could be downloaded and installed again.
Anyway, after uninstalling a bunch of updates that had been recently installed, I found the culprit, namely update KB976325 (MS09-072: Cumulative security update for Internet Explorer). As you can see, this update supersedes KB974455. This would probably explain why the update was no longer hidden. Both updates are referred to as "a cumulative security patch for Internet Explorer".
Well, feeling very proud of myself that I had once again defeated Windows Updates, I noticed that Avast 4.8 Free was not updated. I tried to update it though the management console and got a message of "cannot connect to 767sl.avast.com". I downloaded the latest definitions file on another computer and then run the update executable on the problem laptop. The update worked and AVAST was up-to-date. I then tried a full uninstall and reinstall but same proplem was occuring.
During troubleshooting, I noticed that IE was now totally broken with all pages coming back as "DNS error". I then uninstalled AVAST and IE was working perfectly again.
I decided to try out AVG Free to see if it was an AVAST problem. Well, guess what, same problem, AVG cannot update automatically or through management console. However, at least with AVG, IE still performs normally so at this stage it is the preffered option.
Where to from here guys?
I have tried a "sfc /scannow" with no luck. I am thinking of installing IE8 and then SP2 for Vista but I hate the fact of having to install more updates to correct previous buggy updates.
I really am over Windows updates completely and have started disabling them on most of my client's (home user) machines. From my experience, for the average home user, most updates are redundant and provide little security improvement.
The only thing is, my business is now suffereing because all my client's machines are running flawlessly now that auto Windows updates have been disabled.
Usually, I update the major updates manually. These would include the following:
1) Service Packs for Windows
2) IE8
3) Junk e-mail filter for Outlook
4) Windows Media player for multimedia users.
Sorry for going of track guys but I have been wanting to say this for ages.
Anyway, your ideas of how to proceed would be appreciated.
