tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24624483.post-1145208515919203912006-04-16T17:10:00.000Z2006-04-28T17:28:08.706ZI received a call from a customer around lunchtime today.<br /><br />For some reason, they couldn't open any websites, yet for some reason their PC was still opening his default homepage without any problems.<br /><br />The quick indicator to the problem was several instances of <span style="font-weight: bold;">verclsid.exe</span> in Task Manager.<br /><br />A <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=verclsid.exe&amp;btnG=Google+Search&meta=">google search</a> quickly identified that this file was connected with a recent Microsoft Windows Update, <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=908531">KB908531</a> which is supposed to help verify ActiveX controls and close a security loophole.<br /><br />However, it seems that the patch was very poorly written and also succeeds in preventing Windows users from accessing websites and network resources correctly.<br /><br /><a href="http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=495636">Some comments suggest that it may be connected with HP equipment or software</a>. This may have been the case with our client earlier today, who has an HP scanner.<br /><br />The advice provided by others online certainly helped to identify the problem, a bad Windows update - and the consequent solution, remove said update, however there doesn't seem to be any word yet on a permanent solution.<br /><br />The post on the IE6 newsgroup (see quote below) is of little use for those who want to see this issue resolved.<br /><br />Our advice to our customers for the moment is to surf the web sensibly and to miss out update KB908531.<br /><blockquote><br /><blockquote></blockquote> We've determined that the majority of the issues people are having with<br />MS06-015 / KB908531 are due to a bad interaction between the security update<br />and a software component included with various HP hardware devices,<br />including but not limited to printers, scanners, and cameras.<br /><br />Here are two fixes which should fix problems caused by the interaction with<br />the HP software:<br /><br />Option 1 - Modify the registry<br />------------------------------<br /><br />- (If you have multiple user accounts set up) Log onto the computer using an<br />account with Administrator privileges<br /><br />- Click the Start button, then click Run and type "regedit" at the prompt,<br />without the quotes; this will start Registry Editor<br /><br />- Locate the<br />HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows<br />\CurrentVersion\ShellExtensions\Cached key in Registry Editor<br /><br />- Right click on the key and select New / DWORD Value<br /><br />- Rename the resulting value "{A4DF5659-0801-4A60-9607-1C48695EFDA9}<br />{000214E6-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} 0x401", without the quotes<br /><br />- Right click the value, select Modify, and type "1" into the Value Data<br />field<br /><br />- Close Registry Editor<br /><br /><br />Option 2 - Kill the HP process<br />------------------------------<br /><br />- Wait until Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer, or whichever component is<br />encountering problems is in an unresponsive state<br /><br />- Click the Start button, then select Run and type "taskmgr" at the prompt,<br />without the quotes; this will start Task Manager<br /><br />- Locate any instances of hpgs2wnd.exe or hpgs2wnf.exe in Task Manager, then<br />right click on them and select End Process<br /><br />Notes:<br /><br />- Option 2 this may disable some HP device-specific functionality until you<br />restart your computer.<br /><br />- Option 2 will correct the problem for the logged-in user, but not for all<br />users on a computer with multiple user accounts. For that reason, Option 1<br />is the preferred option.<br />~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />If your computer is not currently unresponsive, you should only have to do<br />Option 1 or Option 2, not both. If your computer is currently unresponsive,<br />you should be fixed by doing Option 2.<br /><br />I'm very sorry about the inconvenience this has caused you all; hopefully<br />this will get things back on track. Please note that MS06-015 fixes a<br />critical security vulnerability, so it's very important that you reinstall<br />it as soon as possible if you've uninstalled it. Please also keep in mind<br />that disabling Auto Update will leave your computer unprotected even after<br />we release security updates. I understand that this experience has been<br />very frustrating for many of you, but I really must still strongly recommend<br />that you leave [Automatic Updates] enabled for your own safety.<br /><br /><a href="http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6.browser/msg/094143b42d0c3ca2"><span style="font-size:78%;">http://groups.google.com/group/<br />microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6.browser/msg/094143b42d0c3ca2</span></a></blockquote><br />Update: 28/4/06<br /><br />Microsoft is to release a new version of its patch, in order to patch the previous one.<br /><br />If you had downloaded the problematic patch, the new one will be automatically downloaded and applied.<br /><br />More information at <a href="http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/windows/0,39020396,39265040,00.htm">ZDNet</a>.<br /><br /><br /><blockquote></blockquote>Support Loungehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494213138492275895noreply@blogger.com