ED#04 : Microsoft's April Fool's Day Load Of Patches!

No, no... It's NOT an April Fool's day joke! Microsoft really, REALLY has a bunch of updates for you! Check them out :-

814033 - Cannot Install Driver Updates from the Windows Update Web Site

- You may be unable to install driver updates from the Microsoft Windows Update Web site. When you try to do so, the installation is unsuccessful.
- This problem may occur if you have a large number of INF files in your %windir%\Inf folder. In this case, Windows incorrectly searches the whole INF folder for information about which drivers to update instead of searching only for currently installed drivers.
- More info here!

Affected Software
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
- Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition
- Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

Download Link
Click here if you are using Windows XP!
Click here if you are using Windows 2000!

 

814078 - Flaw in Windows Script Engine Could Allow Code Execution

- An attacker may exploit a vulnerability in Windows Script Engine by constructing a Web page that, when visited by a user, runs code of the attacker’s choice with user credentials. The attacker can host the Web page on a Web site or send the page directly to the user by e-mail.
- This problem occurs because of a flaw in the way that Windows Script Engine for JScript processes information.
- More details here!

Affected Software
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
- Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
- Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
- Microsoft Windows 98
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Terminal Server Edition
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0

Download Link
Click here if you are using Windows XP or Windows 2000!
Click here if you are using Windows NT 4.0 or Windows NT 4.0 TSE!
Click here if you are using Windows Millenium Edition!
Click here if you are using Windows 98 or Windows 98 SE!

 

331953 - Flaw in RPC Endpoint Mapper Could Allow Denial of Service Attacks

- There is a vulnerability in the part of the remote procedure call (RPC) functionality that deals with message exchange over TCP/IP. The vulnerability results because of incorrect handling of malformed messages. This particular vulnerability affects the RPC Endpoint Mapper process, which listens on TCP/IP port 135. The RPC Endpoint Mapper service allows RPC clients to determine the port number currently assigned to a particular RPC service.
- Microsoft has provided patches to correct this vulnerability for Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Although Windows NT 4.0 is affected by this vulnerability, Microsoft cannot provide a patch for this vulnerabilty for Windows NT 4.0. The architectural limitations of Windows NT 4.0 do not support the changes that would be required to remove this vulnerability. Windows NT 4.0 users are strongly encouraged to employ the workaround that is discussed in the MS03-10 Security Bulletin. You can use this workaround to protect the Windows NT 4.0 system with a firewall that blocks Port 135.
- More details here!

Affected Software
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
- Microsoft Windows XP 64-Bit Edition
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0

Download Link
Click here if you are using Windows XP Home or Professional!
Click here if you are using Windows XP 64-bit Edition!
Click here if you are using Windows 2000!

 

815411 - Programs Run Slower After You Install Windows XP SP-1

- After you install Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1), your programs may take as much as ten times as long to start.
- This problem may occur if the programs you run frequently allocate and deallocate large blocks of memory. Changes in Windows XP SP1 in the memory management system have caused this operation to take significantly longer than with pre-SP1 Windows XP.
- More details here!

Affected Software
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP1
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP1

Download Link
Warp2Search Mirror Site

 

814995 - Some Program Compatibility Fixes Stop Working After You Install the 328310 Update

- After you install the Windows XP update that is described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article, some program compatibility fixes (also known as "shims") that you have configured may not work.
- Also, if you configure a Setup program to check the results of the InstallShield DoInstall function during a program installation, your program installations may not work because the DoInstall function always returns a non-zero result.
- This problem occurs because the 328310 package for Windows XP installs an earlier version of the Application Database File, Sysmain.sdb. This file contains both program-matching information and compatibility fixes.
- More details here!

Affected Software
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Download Link
Click here!

 

Microsoft Processor Driver Version 5.1.2600.1152

- It's a PowerNow! update for Mobile AMD processors
- Although it has no effect in desktop processors, you can safely install it.
- Thanks for the info, L.F.!

Affected Software
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Download Link
Click here!

Well, that's it for today! Remember, it may be April Fool's Day today but Microsoft ain't fooling around with the updates above! It is recommended that you update as soon as you can!

If you have any questions or comments about this editorial, please feel free to post them here! We look forward to hearing from you! :)