Topic: More critical Windows updates due

[Clive]

Microsoft's next monthly patch update is due on Tuesday, and will include some critical fixes

Microsoft has 12 security bulletins in store for next Tuesday that address both Windows and Office issues.

Ten Windows bulletins will be released for Windows and two for Office as part of Microsoft's monthly patching schedule. Specific details on the types of issues that the bulletins address were not available, but at least one update for each product is considered critical and some will require a restart, Microsoft said in a notice posted on its Web site.

Last month after Microsoft released its monthly batch of patches, exploits for flaws in its PowerPoint presentation software were released on the Web. Tuesday's patches could be fixes for those issues, but Wednesday might signal the release of other exploits for flaws the company has yet to patch.

On the Windows front, security companies recently noticed a variant of an exploit for a flaw that Microsoft had previously patched, and Tuesday's updates could also contain patches that address that variant.

Microsoft will hold a Webcast next Wednesday to answer customer questions about the latest cycle of patches.

[Simon]

I'm sure they have done something to my machine.  For no explicable reason, I am getting random 'hangs' on the 'Saving your settings' screen when shutting down.  It doesn't do it every time, but when it does, I have to power off with the power button.

[Clive]

Same thing has happened to me Simon.  But I put it down to an Avant upgrade a few months back.   :?

[Simon]

Well, as you know, I don't use Avant, so it must be something else.  I haven't installed anything for months, so it certainly looks like a dodgy Windows Update.  :angry:

[Simon]

Clive, I found this, which I am going to try, to see if it resolves the shutdown problem, which seems to have got even worse over the last couple of days.

[Clive]

Thanks Simon.  I'll report back on it tomorrow.  

[Simon]

It seems to have worked a treat on mine!  

[Clive]

Good find rhen!    Mine actually hangs with a message about Avant.exe and it started on the very night I upgraded to a newer version.  I haven't heard of anyone else having the same problem and downloading an even later version of Avant hasn't fixed it either.  I will be interested to see if mine gets a miracle cure too.  

[Simon]

I'm afraid the miracle was short lived, and it started hanging again later this evening.  I have now tried another method, which is a registry edit:-

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\AutoEndTasks > Modified from 0 to 1 (i.e. Yes rather than No).  

Hopefully, this might force closure of any recalcitrant programs, and thus aid the shutdown process.  We shall see...

[Clive]

Made no difference to mine either Simon.  Maybe I should uninstall Avant and re-install it again.

[Delgado]

I get this all the time. Ive never used Avant. Mine started after I had a re-instal of Windows and I switched my ADSL Modem to Speedtouch.

If I exit the speedtouch icon in the system tray after coming off the net, it closes ok.

 The whole things a mystery to me-Im just living with it!

      

[Simon]

Well, since using the registry edit posted above, mine has shut down properly each time, but it will be a day or two before I can categorically state that it's worked.  I thought mine might have been something to do with Roxio, so I uninstalled it, but the problem still remained.  I am convinced it was something to do with one of the Windows Updates.

[sam]

The US Homeland Security says 'Patch Windows Now' - so is it actually a good idea to do it? LINK

[Clive]

My machines are done and everything seems to be OK.

[sam]

and thats exactlky what the US government are thinking! :-)