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Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2019 07:50:00 -0800<\/strong><\/p>\n Microsoft continues to hold Windows 10 version 1809 close to the chest. While all of the other Win10 versions have had their usual twice-a-month cumulative updates, the latest version of the last version of Windows, 1809, still sits in the Windows Insider Release Preview Ring.<\/p>\n For most people, that\u2019s excellent news. It seems that Microsoft is willing to hold off until they get the bugs fixed, at least in the 1809 releases. May I hear a \u201challelujah\u201d from the chorus?<\/p>\n You\u2019ve heard me talk about KB 4023057 many times, most recently in January<\/a>. It\u2019s a mysterious patch that Microsoft calls an \u201cupdate reliability improvement\u201d whose sole reason for existence, as best I can tell, is to blast away any blocks your machine may have to keep the next version of Windows (in this case, Win10 1809) from installing on your machine.<\/p>\n KB 4023057 and its predecessor KB 4022868 have gone through 50 or so versions over the past three-plus years, and it\u2019s always been distributed stealthily \u2013 you get it when you install updates, unless you go to great pains to block it. @PKCano has a thorough description<\/a> of the tortuous procedure for preventing its installation.<\/p>\n Now comes word from @abbodi86<\/a> that on Thursday, for the first time, KB 4023057 has appeared in the Microsoft Update Catalog<\/a>. It\u2019s not clear why the old bete noire has been elevated to Catalog status \u2013 and I doubt Microsoft will ever tell us.<\/p>\n February\u2019s earlier Windows patches wreaked havoc on old Access databases. In January, Access 97 file format databases got clobbered<\/a> by all of the Windows updates. Then Access 95 databases got the shiv. It\u2019s almost as if nobody tests the Win10 cumulative updates against older databases, wouldn\u2019t you say?<\/p>\n As of this writing, all is well (apparently), except for Win10 version 1809, which hasn\u2019t yet received the Access 95 inoculation.<\/p>\n Word to the wise: If you have an older database program that you really need to use, watch out.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a smattering of new bugs introduced by the Patch Tuesday patches, and subsequently fixed by Third Tuesday patches. The most entertaining of the lot is the Internet Explorer backslash bug. Of course, you don\u2019t use IE, but for those who do\u2026<\/p>\n February\u2019s Patch Tuesday patches for Win7 and 8.1 contained this weird, acknowledged, bug:<\/p>\n After installing this update, Internet Explorer may fail to load images with a backslash () in their relative source path.<\/p>\n That bug, and several others, were fixed in the Third Tuesday Monthly Rollup preview patches \u2013 but those aren\u2019t distributed through normal channels. You have to wait until later in March, when the Monthly Rollup Preview patches will (presumably) be added to the March Monthly Rollups. Got that? A bug in the February security update is fixed by a patch in the next month\u2019s (presumably non-security) monthly rollup.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s where things get weird. On Feb. 19, Microsoft released KB 4491113<\/a>, a \u201cCumulative update for Internet Explorer: February 19, 2019,\u201d which is a silver bullet patch with one intent:<\/p>\n This cumulative update includes improvements and fixes for Internet Explorer 11 that is running on Windows 8.1 or Windows 7, and resolves the following issue:<\/p>\n Internet Explorer cannot load images that have a backslash () in their relative sources path.<\/p>\n So we have a cumulative update, KB 4491113, that fixes a bug introduced in this month\u2019s Monthly Rollups, but which is also fixed in this month\u2019s Monthly Rollup previews. The previews fix other bugs as well, but I guess this one was problematic enough to warrant a single silver bullet.<\/p>\n Except\u2026 now comes word (from an anonymous poster<\/a>) that KB 491113 is causing problems:<\/p>\n FWIW, this \u201csilver bullet\u201d isn\u2019t quite ready to be fired; it caused problems with the game Halo: Spartan Strike by omitting some of the sound and then letting the game hang after a few minutes. It may also have caused some problems with videos on Firefox. Upon uninstalling, the Spartan is again killing Covenanters and Prometheans with full sound.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re using Win10, the bug was fixed in the Third Tuesday patches \u2013 except for Win10 1809, which doesn\u2019t yet have a Third Tuesday patch.<\/p>\n Moral of the story: Internet Explorer isn\u2019t a browser. It\u2019s a decorative appendage.<\/p>\n To further complicate matters, the Win8.1 Monthly Rollup Preview, which fixes this bug, introduces a truly bizarre bug<\/a> that enables Location Services and makes a nuisance of itself in the Notification (er, Action) Center.<\/p>\n Microsoft changed its terminology<\/a>, again, but it hasn\u2019t yet officially declared that version 1809 is ready for business deployment. You can think of that as CBB, or SAC-not-T, SP1, or VGBS (venerable gray beard status), but whatever hokey name you put to it, the fact remains that Microsoft has not yet come out and said that Win10 version 1809 is suitable for mass consumption.<\/p>\n The official Windows 10 release information page<\/a> still lists it as \u201cSemi-Annual Channel (Targeted),\u201d which is old terminology but with a judicious nod and wink \u2013 and with a dearth of additional reassurances \u2013 it\u2019s clear that Microsoft isn\u2019t yet recommending that businesses move onto the latest and greatest.<\/p>\n Hard to say when that\u2019ll happen, but there\u2019s lots of pressure to brand Win10 1809 as \u201cready for business\u201d (CBB, SAC, SP1, VGBS, whatever) before Win10 1903 arrives\u2026. which should be in 3\u2026 2\u2026 1\u2026<\/p>\n Keep up on the parts of Windows that matter on the <\/em>AskWoody Lounge<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.computerworld.com\/category\/security\/index.rss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2019 07:50:00 -0800<\/strong><\/p>\n Microsoft continues to hold Windows 10 version 1809 close to the chest. While all of the other Win10 versions have had their usual twice-a-month cumulative updates, the latest version of the last version of Windows, 1809, still sits in the Windows Insider Release Preview Ring.<\/p>\n For most people, that\u2019s excellent news. It seems that Microsoft is willing to hold off until they get the bugs fixed, at least in the 1809 releases. May I hear a \u201challelujah\u201d from the chorus?<\/p>\n You\u2019ve heard me talk about KB 4023057 many times, most recently in January<\/a>. It\u2019s a mysterious patch that Microsoft calls an \u201cupdate reliability improvement\u201d whose sole reason for existence, as best I can tell, is to blast away any blocks your machine may have to keep the next version of Windows (in this case, Win10 1809) from installing on your machine.<\/p>\n<\/p>\nMystery update bulldozer KB 4023057 hits the Catalog<\/strong><\/h2>\n