Windows Update KB951748 – Surprise! Microsoft Drops The Ball Again

This morning started off pretty much like every morning with part of my routine involving logging onto the internet to review emails and the latest news. But today, my computer decided we weren’t going to do that as it insisted there was no connection available to the Net. Naturally, I tested my connection and checked the network cabling and so forth. But nothing seemed amiss. Apparently my computer had decided it was tired of driving on the information superhighway. No bother – well, not a big bother I should say – as I simply set myself up at another terminal to work on today, and making a mental note to poke around more on the other one to figure out what’s wrong with it.

But as luck would have it, a clue flashed on the screen of this alternate terminal of what might be wrong with my computer. Windows Update was advising me that I had new updates to install on this terminal. New updates . . . . . hmm, I remembered installing updates yesterday on the other computer and that was the only modification made to it. So, I checked to see what exactly these updates were and one of them was Security Update KB951748, an update that was meant to close a security gap that would allow others to access my computer via my internet connection. Ah, the plot thickens. With this information at hand, I opened up my browser and ‘googled’ the term KB951748. And with that, my dear Dr. Watson, the dastardly deed was exposed.

It turns out that this security update Microsoft released yesterday has caused many end users of the XP operating system to completely lose their internet connection. In some cases, it was assumed to be a conflict between this security patch and certain software firewall applications like ZoneAlarm. However, in my case, software firewall or not, my computer had basically turned into a mule that was refusing to budge. And while it was a relief to know that the problem was not some hidden bug that had decided to come out of its shell and party, I still couldn’t help but be annoyed by all this.

The whole purpose of getting these updates from Microsoft is so that we, the end-users of their product, can enjoy a more secure, reliable product. Instead, we were all surreptitiously treated today as unwilling beta testers to prove that once again, they’ve made a release with more bugs than benefits. Remember, this is an operating system we’re talking about here – the equivalent of a city road connecting two places. And let’s face it – when we drive, we focus more on the car that we’re driving than on the surface quality of the road. Unless, of course, it’s littered with potholes. Also, given how quickly XP users realized there was a problem with their computers, and especially determining its source, it’s clear that Microsoft was pretty lax on their QA testing of this patch. I guess they’re all too preoccupied with their latest strategy to try and take-over Yahoo. A reassuring thought indeed.

Today also reminded me of that concept brought forth by futurists 20-odd years ago that “the Computer Age” would hearken a more efficient, productive society. Guess none of them counted on Microsoft’s operating system degradation. Looking at the quantity of people posting on message boards and blogs about this mess, I can’t imagine the untold amounts of wasted productivity as people tried to figure out where the internet disappeared to. I imagine it’s even worse for those who only have access to one computer since there’s no way for them to know what is the cause of this problem.

With absurd little glitches like this interrupting a regular day at the office, I guess I shouldn’t hold my breath that the 21st century will bring us the flying car, especially if the computer inside is going to be running on Windows.

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1. Social-Networking Sites MySpace and Facebook – It’s Time For Some Change
2. Got A Few Minutes? Why It’s Important to Take That Daily Break
3. Telling The Story Of Ourselves
4. Twitter and Me – My Trip ‘Round The Twitterverse
5. Yet Another Breastfeeding Controversy – Here We Go Again
6. Unravelling The Myths of Multitasking and Time Management – Part 1

posted on July 9th, 2008 | 4 Comments » | Tags: KB951748, Microsoft, windows updates, Windows XP, ZoneAlarm |