IE6 crashes in Windows XP: fixing the fix

Yet again, a bug fix created a new problem. This time it occurred with Internet Explorer 6 and 7 on Windows XP and Vista.

The problem is that Internet Explorer crashes after viewing a web page. Not all web pages though, I was able to successfully view about half of those I tested with IE6. One site that crashes it pretty quickly is Microsoft's own msn.com (they offered it as an example).

It wasn't hard to find information online about this problem which was introduced in the December 11th round of bug fixes to Windows.

According to Computerworld, reports came in immediately after the release of the December 11th patches, about problems with Internet Explorer. I was just hit with this because I always wait a bit before installing new bug fixes. This wasn't the first time that a poorly tested fix created a new problem.

To document the problem Microsoft created Knowledge Base article 946627.

On December 18th, Microsoft offered a work-around in the form of a registry zap. Not your most user-friendly undertaking.

On December 20th, however, they incorporated the registry zap into a downloadable EXE file, and updated the Knowledge Base article with a link to the file.

Uninstalling

Rather than fix the fix with a registry zap that seems to target the symptom rather than the underlying problem*, my first reaction was to un-install the buggy bug fix.

Control Panel Add Remove Programs in Windows XP

Windows XP users can do this using the "Add or Remove Programs" applet in the Control Panel (see above). At the top of the window, turn on the checkbox for Show updates and sort by date last used. Then, scroll to the bottom and look for KB942615.

Warning about un-installing the buggy bug fix

When I did this however, I was scared off by the warning message shown above. Even if I was willing to risk breaking two other bug fixes, I want no more to do with the Adobe Flash player. If you try this, please leave a comment below about the patches and applications, if any, that you get warned about.

Installing

You can download the automated registry zap here . The file is WindowsXP-KB946627-x86-ENU.exe, and running it starts up a Wizard (below) that walks you through a simple, standard installation process.

The wizard to install the registry zap

I suggest making a restore point before installing anything. Can't hurt. In my case, the fix was immediate, there was no need to restart Windows.

According to this Microsoft Security Response Center blog posting the newly automated fix has been incorporated into windows update.

<sarcasm>
Considering how so few people use Internet Explorer and even fewer use Windows XP and Vista, combined with the limited resources of the company that produced both products, it's no surprise that quality assurance for the original bug fix might be lacking.
</sarcasm>

* According to Heise Security, "the update does not really fix the problem..."

See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.

[Thevigilante]

The dialog box you said scared you off is shown on all windows update installs, and shows everything installed after the update. I think it's just a failsafe for Microsoft in case uninstalling one DID happen to break something else. Chances of it are really small though.

[mhinnewyork]

To: Thevigilante
Thanks for the heads up. My guess was that it was just showing anything installed after the patch being removed, but that was only a guess based on the fact that the two applications it showed, CCleaner and the Flash Player plugin were the last two things installed on that machine.

[Conneriscool]

do you write about Macs too?

[mhinnewyork]

To: Conneriscool
No, I'm not a Mac user.

[Conneriscool]

well you wouldn't have to bother with any of this stuff if you did get a Mac. Seriously its so much eaier than Mac and it rarely has bugs or viruses. Windows disgusts me

[frasercrane]

Hold on there, big fella! You have proudly proclaimed you don't and won't use Vista but that hasn't kept you from blogging Vista to death. In fact, looking at your profile, as I do of all bloggers, I see you tried to blog on a product (Asus EE PC 4g) you never even used and was prevented from doing so.

[berock]

Recently, possibly because of the MS original "fix", MS IE6 continually crashes ("Not Responding"). I installed this fix of a fix and noticed NO improvement whatsoever. MS IE6 continues to crash in the middle of essential web-based transactions. I, for one, intend to shift to Mozilla Firefox as an immediate solution. In the longer-term, MS IE poor reliability has convinced me that there's ZERO future in MS and will shift to web-based and Apple OS X based solutions. MS, you finally pushed it to the point of losing me!