Windows Update Kills Internet Explorer
This months’s Microsoft Patch Tuesday update apparently did not sit well with Internet Explorer. Microsoft has confirmed it is investigating reports that a security update issued last week has rendered Internet Explorer useless for some users.
Numerous reports surfaced late last week from users who were suddenly unable to connect to the internet using either IE 6 or IE 7, and in some cases, were unable to open the application at all.
While Microsoft is busy trying to track down the problem and issue a fix, you might want to take a look at this post in the Vista forums which suggests a possible temporary way around the problem:
I suspect the KB942615 update should be coded to force a reboot and does not. Consequently, some part of the update that requires a reboot before the update is fully applied does not get done.
As a result, installing this update without the reboot causes IE6 to run in a “half-updated/half-not-updated” mode - which causes the problem described above to occur.
For those experiencing this problem, please try moving to a blank opening page — and then reboot your machine again after the KB942615 update is installed. Once this is done, restore your default homepage. See if this procedure resolves your problem.
I can’t vouch for these instructions since I haven’t had any problems with IE (which is to say I don’t use it). As a last resort there’s always the option to uninstall the update (MS07-069).
We’ll be sure to let you know when an official fix is available from Microsoft.
[Update: The official word from Microsoft can be found here and an updated tech note here. There doesn’t seem to be an fix just yet, though there’s a tool free number listed (1-866-PCSAFETY) if you have questions.]
[via ZDNet]
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