Are Updates dangerous! [Windows XP]

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From: joe on 12 Feb 2010 08:52

I have win xp pro sp3

I lived in a remote area without internet access so never did any updates
other than the service packs, no internet no threats :-)
I now have broadband and am fully up to date with all Microsoft updates.

However this latest problem with KB977165 has really scared me. I am not too
happy about using the recovery tool and how would I have found out the
solution anyway without a pc to access the Internet? ( I am still in a
remote area with no other pc's around )

So I have a couple of questions for the experts here.

Firstly, why did my update install perfectly when so many others had this
huge problem? Was I just lucky?

Has this kind of thing happened before with bad updates?

Can I feel safe in downloading these updates automatically.

I would feel much better if you guys could give me the benefit of your
experience.

TIA

From: Shenan Stanley on 12 Feb 2010 09:27

joe wrote:
> I have win xp pro sp3
>
> I lived in a remote area without internet access so never did any
> updates other than the service packs, no internet no threats :-)
> I now have broadband and am fully up to date with all Microsoft
> updates.
> However this latest problem with KB977165 has really scared me. I
> am not too happy about using the recovery tool and how would I have
> found out the solution anyway without a pc to access the Internet?
> ( I am still in a remote area with no other pc's around )
>
> So I have a couple of questions for the experts here.
>
> Firstly, why did my update install perfectly when so many others
> had this huge problem? Was I just lucky?
>
> Has this kind of thing happened before with bad updates?
>
> Can I feel safe in downloading these updates automatically.
>
> I would feel much better if you guys could give me the benefit of
> your experience.

First - because your computer did not have whatever problem the other people
have. The source of the problem (at this time) has not been identified with
any certainty. Yes, the patch may expose the issue on some systems - but if
the problem was the patch PURELY - you'd think it'd affected all systems,
wouldn't you?

Definitely - bad things happen. Most of the time the problem has been
something on the computer having a reaction to the update, not necessarily a
bad update. Recall this is a Windows Update - fixing something in Windows.
It cannot know what has been done to your machine in every possible way or
know how every possible program you could have would react when whatever it
is fixing is changed. This has happened with things like ZoneAlarm and some
antivirus applications in the last few years.

Can you? Yes - millions of people do. Should you? Depends on what your
other maintenance tasks are. Do you perform consistent and full backups of
your important data on external media? Do you have all the installation
media and product keys for everything you have installed stored in a safe
place away from the computer itself?

My experience is this:

Lightning can and will strike. It may/may not affect your computer, but if
you are prepared, it won't matter as much.

You're on high-speed now - likely on all the time - what protection do you
have in place keeping someone from hopping on your computer and doing
whatever they want?

How's your door locks? Someone/something always watching the computer?

Outlets well grounded and computer connected to an AVR capable Universal
Power Supply with battery backup?

All that media and product key stuff I spoke of earlier - is it in a
fire-resistant/water-resistant safe of some sort?

There are plenty of things to worry about out there - whether or not a patch
might mess up a computer that you should be backing up and protecting the
important stuff on anyway seems... minor. ;-)

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

From: S K on 12 Feb 2010 09:29

On Feb 12, 8:52 am, "joe" <j...(a)ebox.com> wrote:
> I have win xp pro sp3
>
> I lived in a remote area without internet access so never did any updates
> other than the service packs, no internet no threats :-)
> I now have broadband and am fully up to date with all Microsoft updates.
>
> However this latest problem with KB977165 has really scared me. I am not too
> happy about using the recovery tool and how would I have found out the
> solution anyway without a pc to access the Internet? ( I am still in a
> remote area with no other pc's around )
>
> So I have a couple of questions for the experts here.
>
> Firstly, why did my update install perfectly when so many others had this
> huge problem? Was I just lucky?
>
> Has this kind of thing happened before with bad updates?
>
> Can I feel safe in downloading these updates automatically.
>
> I would feel much better if you guys could give me the benefit of your
> experience.
>
> TIA

Yes, there are problems with updates from time to time. For testing
purposes, some organizations will update non-critical machines to see
if there are any ill effects before flooding all the company's
computers with the update. I usually wait a week or three before
installing updates, waiting to see if my favorite newsletter mentions
any horror stories. It's free and dependable.

http://www.windowssecrets.com/

From: Daave on 12 Feb 2010 10:35

From: Daave on 12 Feb 2010 10:43

One more time...

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/msg/d7a7bbf38fdf9694?hl=en

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