Windows Update Broke My Computer… not!

Identification

Yesterday was Patch Tuesday. That’s the monthly release date for Microsoft to push out patches for Windows; it’s always on the second Tuesday of the month. Today, I’m getting phone calls about computers being down.

First call: “When I looked at the computer this morning, the screen said it was shutting down. It just sat there, so I rebooted. Nothing. Blank”

My questions: Does that computer run all the time? (Yes, it backs up at night to an external drive.)

So it hasn’t rebooted in a while? (I guess.)

“OK, unplug the external hard drive and any other USB storage devices, and reboot.” That fixed it.

Why? Because PCs of a certain age, circa 2003-2006, frequently dislike booting with a USB storage device plugged in. The machine is never turned off, until Windows Update comes along and forces a reboot.

Second call: “I thought I broke it. It was just sitting there with a spinning message forever. I let it run and it eventually shut down. My husband says I broke it again. You repaired it last week!”

Answer: LOTS of big patches last night. Slow shutdown was normal; patches were installing.

Hey, Microsoft! Automatic patching is clearly doing more good than evil, BUT clear communications would really help. Like “Your monthly security patches from Microsoft are installing right now. These happen on a regular schedule. Learn more at: (simple link that can be remembered for later)” NOT “Your computer is shutting down” or “Installing… Do not turn off your computer…” Clear messages that say that you’re working to improve their security are better than techie messages that say their systems are going DOWN. 🙁

Don’t scare your customers. That’s the job of the bad guys.

Shockwave 11.5.8.612, Multiple Patches

Patches

There’s a new version of Shockwave from Adobe. It’s now at version 11.5.8.612, updated to block multiple problems that allowed third-party code to run without the appropriate permissions.

Update at http://get.adobe.com/shockwave/

More information at Homeland Security:
http://www.us-cert.gov/current/index.html#adobe_releases_security_bulletin_for8

Adobe Reader moves to 9.3.4, Off-schedule patch

Patches

Adobe Reader has a new patch, moving it to a current release of 9.4.4. This is not on their announced schedule of matching the Microsoft second-Tuesday patch release calendar. This patch requires a system reboot.

According to the Adobe release notes:

These updates resolve an integer overflow vulnerability that could lead to code execution (CVE-2010-2862).

These updates further mitigate a social engineering attack that could lead to code execution (CVE-2010-1240).

These updates incorporate the Adobe Flash Player update as noted in Security Bulletin APSB10-16.

Translation into non-technobabble: Without the patch, bad guys can run their programs on your computer, including malware installers.

In my opinion, all users should also turn off two features in Adobe Reader to reduce the possibility of third-party code running unapproved. In the Tools, Preferences menu, go to Javascript. Uncheck the top box. And in Trust Manager, uncheck the top box. The first option runs scripts, and the second runs embedded documents, including possible macro code. No one uses these features except malware writers.