Powerpoint 2007 viewer won't update

Last June I posted here and began a case with Microsoft about a needed
security update to the Powerpoint 2007 viewer installed on two of my
computers running WinXP SP3 and Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007. I
still don't have that update.

On both computers, I have PPTVIEW.EXE version 12.0.6414.1000, dated
11/20/08. According to the following Microsoft website, the current version
is 12.0.6502.5000, dated 3/28/09:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/970059

I tried downloading the update manually from

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

but it wouldn't install. I got the message "There are no products affected
by this package installed on this system."

What more can I do?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

Jo-Anne wrote:
> Last June I posted here and began a case with Microsoft about a
> needed security update to the Powerpoint 2007 viewer installed on
> two of my computers running WinXP SP3 and Microsoft Office Home &
> Student 2007. I still don't have that update.
>
> On both computers, I have PPTVIEW.EXE version 12.0.6414.1000, dated
> 11/20/08. According to the following Microsoft website, the current
> version is 12.0.6502.5000, dated 3/28/09:
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/970059
>
> I tried downloading the update manually from
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en
>
> but it wouldn't install. I got the message "There are no products
> affected by this package installed on this system."
>
> What more can I do?
>
> Thank you!

Why the cross-post to security.homeusers?

If you have "Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007", why do you need
"Powerpoint 2007 viewer"?

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/pr...635841033.aspx
* Notice: Powerpoint 2007 is included in that version of Office.

My suggestion is to uninstall all Microsoft Office "viewers", reboot.
Uninstall all Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 products, reboot.
Install all Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 products. Reboot. Clean
up your update system using the following instructions and you will update
everything at the end...

Fix your file/registry permissions...

Ignore the title and follow the sub-section under
"Advanced Troubleshooting" titled,
"Method 1: Reset the registry and the file permissions"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949377
*will take time
** Ignore the last step (6) - you said you already have SP3.

Download/install the "Windows Installer CleanUp Utility":
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

After installing, do the following:

Start button --> RUN
(no "RUN"? Press the "Windows Key" + R on your keyboard)
--> type in:
"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Installer Clean Up\msizap.exe" g!
--> Click OK.
(The quotation marks and percentage signs and spacing should be exact.)

Reboot and logon as administrative user.

Download/Install the latest Windows Installer (for your OS):
( Windows XP 32-bit : WindowsXP-KB942288-v3-x86.exe )
http://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/d...displaylang=en

Reboot and logon as administrative user.

Download the latest version of the Windows Update agent from here (x86):
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=91237
.... and save it to the root of your C:\ drive. After saving it to the
root of the C:\ drive, do the following:

Close all Internet Explorer windows and other applications.

Start button --> RUN and type in:
%SystemDrive%\windowsupdateagent30-x86.exe /WUFORCE
--> Click OK.

(If asked, select "Run.) --> Click on NEXT --> Select "I agree" and click on
NEXT --> When it finishes installing, click on "Finish"...

Reboot and logon as administrative user.

Visit this web page:

How do I reset Windows Update components?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058

.... and click on the "Microsoft Fix it" icon. When asked, select "RUN",
both times. Check the "I agree" box and click on "Next". Check the box
for "Run aggressive options (not recommended)" and click "Next". Let
it finish up and follow the prompts until it is done. Close/exit and
reboot when it is.

You should now perform a full CHKDSK on your system drive (C...

How to scan your disks for errors
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265
* will take time and a reboot

You should now perform a full Defragment on your system drive (C...

How to Defragment your hard drives
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314848
* will take time

Reboot.

Uninstall any and all third-party firewall applications (ZoneAlarm, etc)
and utilize the built-in WIndows Firewall only.

Reboot.

Log on as an user with administrative rights and open Internet Explorer
and visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and select to do a
CUSTOM scan...

Every time you are about to click on something while at these web pages -
first press and hold down the CTRL key while you click on it. You can
release the CTRL key after clicking each time.

Once the scan is done, select just _ONE_ of the high priority updates
(deselect any others) and install it.

Reboot again.

If it did work - try the web page again - selecting no more than 3-5 at a
time. Rebooting as needed.

The Optional Software updates are generally safe - although I recommend
against the "Windows Search" one and any of the "Office Live" ones or
"Windows Live" ones for now. I would completely avoid the
Optional Hardware updates.

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

"Shenan Stanley" <> wrote:

> Jo-Anne wrote:

[...]

> Why the cross-post to security.homeusers?

Why didn't you fix that? Done.

> If you have "Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007", why do you need
> "Powerpoint 2007 viewer"?

To have the smaller and less vulnerable Office viewers registered as
default applications for their appropriate document formats?!
Just in case that someone sends you an infected *.pp* (or *.doc or *.xls),
as protection against VBA code or macros etc?

Stefan

"Shenan Stanley" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Jo-Anne wrote:
>> Last June I posted here and began a case with Microsoft about a
>> needed security update to the Powerpoint 2007 viewer installed on
>> two of my computers running WinXP SP3 and Microsoft Office Home &
>> Student 2007. I still don't have that update.
>>
>> On both computers, I have PPTVIEW.EXE version 12.0.6414.1000, dated
>> 11/20/08. According to the following Microsoft website, the current
>> version is 12.0.6502.5000, dated 3/28/09:
>>
>> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/970059
>>
>> I tried downloading the update manually from
>>
>> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en
>>
>> but it wouldn't install. I got the message "There are no products
>> affected by this package installed on this system."
>>
>> What more can I do?
>>
>> Thank you!
>
> Why the cross-post to security.homeusers?
>
> If you have "Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007", why do you need
> "Powerpoint 2007 viewer"?
>
> http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/pr...635841033.aspx
> * Notice: Powerpoint 2007 is included in that version of Office.
>
> My suggestion is to uninstall all Microsoft Office "viewers", reboot.
> Uninstall all Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 products, reboot.
> Install all Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 products. Reboot. Clean
> up your update system using the following instructions and you will update
> everything at the end...
>
> Fix your file/registry permissions...
>
> Ignore the title and follow the sub-section under
> "Advanced Troubleshooting" titled,
> "Method 1: Reset the registry and the file permissions"
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949377
> *will take time
> ** Ignore the last step (6) - you said you already have SP3.
>
> Download/install the "Windows Installer CleanUp Utility":
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301
>
> After installing, do the following:
>
> Start button --> RUN
> (no "RUN"? Press the "Windows Key" + R on your keyboard)
> --> type in:
> "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Installer Clean Up\msizap.exe" g!
> --> Click OK.
> (The quotation marks and percentage signs and spacing should be exact.)
>
> Reboot and logon as administrative user.
>
> Download/Install the latest Windows Installer (for your OS):
> ( Windows XP 32-bit : WindowsXP-KB942288-v3-x86.exe )
> http://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/d...displaylang=en
>
> Reboot and logon as administrative user.
>
> Download the latest version of the Windows Update agent from here (x86):
> http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=91237
> ... and save it to the root of your C:\ drive. After saving it to the
> root of the C:\ drive, do the following:
>
> Close all Internet Explorer windows and other applications.
>
> Start button --> RUN and type in:
> %SystemDrive%\windowsupdateagent30-x86.exe /WUFORCE
> --> Click OK.
>
> (If asked, select "Run.) --> Click on NEXT --> Select "I agree" and click
> on
> NEXT --> When it finishes installing, click on "Finish"...
>
> Reboot and logon as administrative user.
>
> Visit this web page:
>
> How do I reset Windows Update components?
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058
>
> ... and click on the "Microsoft Fix it" icon. When asked, select "RUN",
> both times. Check the "I agree" box and click on "Next". Check the box
> for "Run aggressive options (not recommended)" and click "Next". Let
> it finish up and follow the prompts until it is done. Close/exit and
> reboot when it is.
>
> You should now perform a full CHKDSK on your system drive (C...
>
> How to scan your disks for errors
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265
> * will take time and a reboot
>
> You should now perform a full Defragment on your system drive (C...
>
> How to Defragment your hard drives
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314848
> * will take time
>
> Reboot.
>
> Uninstall any and all third-party firewall applications (ZoneAlarm, etc)
> and utilize the built-in WIndows Firewall only.
>
> Reboot.
>
> Log on as an user with administrative rights and open Internet Explorer
> and visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and select to do a
> CUSTOM scan...
>
> Every time you are about to click on something while at these web pages -
> first press and hold down the CTRL key while you click on it. You can
> release the CTRL key after clicking each time.
>
> Once the scan is done, select just _ONE_ of the high priority updates
> (deselect any others) and install it.
>
> Reboot again.
>
> If it did work - try the web page again - selecting no more than 3-5 at a
> time. Rebooting as needed.
>
> The Optional Software updates are generally safe - although I recommend
> against the "Windows Search" one and any of the "Office Live" ones or
> "Windows Live" ones for now. I would completely avoid the
> Optional Hardware updates.
>
> --
> Shenan Stanley
> MS-MVP
> --
> How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>
Thank you, Shenan! This is more than I thought I'd need and possibly more
than I'm qualified to do, especially when it involves the registry. A few
more notes and questions, though:

* I posted in both places because both Secunia PSI and Windows Secrets
newsletter reported that PPTVIEW.EXE dated before March 2009 is a security
issue--and what I wanted was a Microsoft update to close this security hole.

* Are you saying that since I have POWERPNT.EXE on my computer, I don't need
PPTVIEW.EXE? If that's the case, I suspect it was installed before I
installed the Office suite, probably through one of the Windows Updates--and
maybe that's why it doesn't update.

* I tried to uninstall PPTVIEW.EXE, but I could find no way to do it. It's
not listed in Add/Remove Programs; when I right-clicked on it, there was no
option to uninstall it; and when I ran it, there appeared to be no option to
uninstall it. Could you tell me how to uninstall viewers?

* Probably because I haven't installed the Office suite on my newest
computer, I do have the most current PPTVIEW.EXE on it. Would it be OK for
me to either (a) copy the newer version from one computer to the others; or
(b) simply change the insecure PPTVIEW.EXE to something like
PPTVIEW.EXE.BAK? Or maybe PPTVIEW.BAK? I haven't used the PowerPoint viewer
and probably won't, so it wouldn't bother me not to have it.

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne

Jo-Anne wrote:

> Thank you, Shenan! This is more than I thought I'd need and possibly more
> than I'm qualified to do, especially when it involves the registry. A few
> more notes and questions, though:

You probably don't need to go through Shenan's process, as Microsoft have
confirmed that the problem you describe is at their end; i.e., there isn't
anything wrong with your Windows Update installation - or if there is it is only
by coincidence!

> * I tried to uninstall PPTVIEW.EXE, but I could find no way to do it. It's
> not listed in Add/Remove Programs; when I right-clicked on it, there was no
> option to uninstall it; and when I ran it, there appeared to be no option to
> uninstall it. Could you tell me how to uninstall viewers?

PPTVIEW.EXE is included with Powerpoint. I don't think you can remove it.

> * Probably because I haven't installed the Office suite on my newest
> computer, I do have the most current PPTVIEW.EXE on it. Would it be OK for
> me to either (a) copy the newer version from one computer to the others;

Yes. This is the workaround Microsoft recommended.

Harry.

--
"I wish that, just once, some terrorist would try something that you can only
foil by upgrading the passengers to first class and giving them free drinks."
- Bruce Schneier
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archive...ting_expl.html

"Stefan Kanthak" <postmaster@[127.0.0.1]> wrote in message
news:O$...
> "Shenan Stanley" <> wrote:
>
>> Jo-Anne wrote:
>
> [...]
>
>> Why the cross-post to security.homeusers?
>
> Why didn't you fix that? Done.
>
>> If you have "Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007", why do you need
>> "Powerpoint 2007 viewer"?
>
> To have the smaller and less vulnerable Office viewers registered as
> default applications for their appropriate document formats?!
> Just in case that someone sends you an infected *.pp* (or *.doc or
> *.xls),
> as protection against VBA code or macros etc?

Normally a good idea. In this case a viewer (rather than a full blown
viewer/editor) is what is supplied as the default program for 'viewing'
in the full blown application I believe - and for the reasons you
mentioned. I still think the "Word" viewer is needed as the default for
avoiding the full blown "Word" application's macro threats.

"Harry Johnston [MVP]" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Jo-Anne wrote:
>
>> Thank you, Shenan! This is more than I thought I'd need and possibly more
>> than I'm qualified to do, especially when it involves the registry. A few
>> more notes and questions, though:
>
> You probably don't need to go through Shenan's process, as Microsoft have
> confirmed that the problem you describe is at their end; i.e., there isn't
> anything wrong with your Windows Update installation - or if there is it
> is only by coincidence!
>
>> * I tried to uninstall PPTVIEW.EXE, but I could find no way to do it.
>> It's not listed in Add/Remove Programs; when I right-clicked on it, there
>> was no option to uninstall it; and when I ran it, there appeared to be no
>> option to uninstall it. Could you tell me how to uninstall viewers?
>
> PPTVIEW.EXE is included with Powerpoint. I don't think you can remove it.
>
>> * Probably because I haven't installed the Office suite on my newest
>> computer, I do have the most current PPTVIEW.EXE on it. Would it be OK
>> for me to either (a) copy the newer version from one computer to the
>> others;
>
> Yes. This is the workaround Microsoft recommended.
>
> Harry.
>
> --
> "I wish that, just once, some terrorist would try something that you can
> only
> foil by upgrading the passengers to first class and giving them free
> drinks."
> - Bruce Schneier
> http://www.schneier.com/blog/archive...ting_expl.html

Thank you, Harry! I updated the file on both computers, and they're no
longer showing PPTVIEW.EXE as insecure. I'm relieved.

Jo-Anne