Microsoft's Problematic Updates

Windows Updates sometimes cause more harm than good. What's the best way to handle them?

There's good news, there's bad news, and then there's even worse news.

The good news is that Microsoft has an extremely active Windows Update service, delivering a steady stream of bug fixes, patches, and updates for Windows and its essential subsystems, such as Internet Explorer.

The bad news is that Microsoft needs this service to be extremely active, because there are a lot of problems in Windows software and because malicious hackers work harder to find exploitable security flaws in Windows than in any other type of software.

The worse news is that, sometimes, Microsoft patches and updates cause more trouble than the problem they're trying to remedy: The cure can be worse than the disease.

For example, it happened again just in the last couple of weeks with security patch 811493; an NT/Windows 2000/XP update designed to correct a security problem in the Windows kernel.

For suggested fixes and workarounds and how to manage your Windows Updates read the full article by Fred Langa.

View: How to handle updates