Re: Blaster & Windows update flaw. Good news, if it get Windows update fixed.

Hello Edwin,

Please verify that the system date and time are correct.

-Chuck

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.


"Edwin Davidson" <> wrote in message
news: m...
> Per:
> http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39115732,00.htm
> Begin Quote"
> Windows Update works by adding an entry into the system registry every
> time it installs a patch. When users log on to the update tool, it
> scans their registry and offers them list of patches that have not yet
> been installed. Cooper said that this mechanism was found to be
> flawed.
>
> "We found that people had got the registry key for the patch, but not
> the file," he said, explaining that the error could be triggered by a
> number of reasons -- from an incomplete installation to a lack of
> system resources.
>
> "If you go to Microsoft's site and say, 'tell me if I am up to date',
> and it says 'you are up to date', but you are not, what are you
> supposed to do?" he said.
>
>
> " end quote
>
>
> There has been people screaming for this to be fixed in this group for
> a very long time now. Will Microsoft finally fix this, please?
>
> I, myself, did a re-install of Win98se ontop of an existing install.
> After the install, Windows update showed I needed 0 patches. I
> checked the file versions on my PC and they were much older versions
> that patches I knew about. My time was correct on the PC, and as new
> updates came out they showed up available to download.
>
> I had to go to Windows update catalog and download all the win98se
> patches manually, and manually install them to get patched.
>
> Searching this newsgroup on Google revealed many others experiencing
> the same problem. This has been going on for some time.
>
> If you have NT 4.0, W2k, or XP then the Microsofts MSBA is the best
> tool to use to check patch levels.
>
> Hopefully the publicity on this issue will get Windows Update site
> working again.

"Chuck Ferring \(Excell\) [MSFT]" <a-> wrote in message news:<>...
> Hello Edwin,
>
> Please verify that the system date and time are correct.
>
> -Chuck
>


I am at a loss at how to respond to this. This must be a forged
posting, as it cannot possible be coming from Microsoft. I am
positive that Microsoft would actually read my post prior to
responding. I am aware that the security certificates require my PC's
system date and time to be within about 30 minutes of actual time,
otherwise Windows update falsely states that there are 0 updates
available. Yet another design of the site that give end users a false
sense of security.

I am not Microsoft bashing. There is a reason that Microsoft owns the
desktop. I am simply pleading for Microsoft to fix Windows update. I
have seen way to many servers and desktops left vulnerable because the
end user simply goes to Windows update to search for updates. I come
along and use your Base Line Security Analizer over their system that
shows fully patched on Windows Update, and MBSA shows me missing OS
patches, Missing media player patches, etc. This is usually from some
software the user installed that back-revs a DLL or other system file
that was patched. I also think that Office Update should be
intigrated into Windows Update. Many folks don't know it exists, yet
this is where many of the worms attack Microsoft products.

Microsoft said that security was to be their #1 priority. These are
simply ways to that end.