Workers' Edge

Microsoft usually releases patches for Windows on the second Tuesday of the month. But last Thursday, the company sent out an update that was too important to withhold for two more weeks. If you have your PC set to download and/or install Windows updates automatically, you've already received this patch. (You'll find more on managing Windows updates at this previous Worker's Edge blog post.)

In Vista, you can make sure you've got this update by pressing the Windows key, typing Windows Update, and pressing Enter. Click "View update history" in the left pane and look for an entry labeled Security Update for Windows Vista (KB958644) and dated 10/23/2008.

Make sure Vista has the most recent Windows patch.

(Credit: Microsoft)

The patch is even more important for Windows XP PCs, which lack some of Vista's built-in defenses, such as User Access Control (yes, it's good for something). You can open Windows Update by clicking the applet's shortcut on XP's Start menu, or assign the shortcut a key combination to open it from your keyboard .

To do so, right-click the Windows Update shortcut on the Start menu, choose Properties, click in the "Shortcut key" box under the Shortcut tab, and press your desired key combination--I chose Ctrl-Alt-U.

In XP's Windows Update applet, click "Review your update history" on the left and look for an entry with the Knowledgebase (KB) number 958644 (see the screen above).

If you have trouble downloading or installing this or any other Windows update, see Scott Dunn's information on troubleshooting Windows Update. (Scroll down to "Tips for installing recalcitrant updates" about halfway through the article.)

Microsoft's most recent update for Windows caused many people using Check Point's ZoneAlarm firewall to lose their Internet connection. The patch fixes a potential DNS-related security breach that affects servers and clients alike, so I'm sure Microsoft was compelled to release it as quickly as possible.

That's little consolation for the many ZoneAlarm users who struggled to regain their network connection. Read more about the problem, and find a link to Check Point's solution, at Robert Vamosi's Defense in Depth blog.

The fact is, even with potentially serious security holes such as this appears to be, you can usually wait a day or two before installing the update to make sure the fix doesn't cause some problems of its own. Simply set Windows Update to download updates automatically but prompt you before installing them, or to alert you when an update is available for download so you can decide when to fetch it and implement it.

In Windows XP, click Start > Run, type sysdm.cpl, and press Enter. Click the Automatic Updates tab and choose either "Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them," or "Notify me but don't automatically download or install them." You can also choose "Turn off automatic updates," but I recommend either of the semi-automatic methods. When you're done, click OK.

Choose either option that prevents Windows updates from being installed automatically.

(Credit: Microsoft)

To change your Windows Update settings in Vista, press the Windows key, type windows update, and press Enter. Click Change settings in the left pane, and choose either "Download updates but let me choose whether to install them" or "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download or install them." As with XP, I caution against selecting "Never check for updates (Not recommended)." This is one of the few points on which Microsoft and I agree.

Now get into the habit of watching the tech news wires each Wednesday after Microsoft's Patch Tuesdays to determine whether an update is going smoothly before applying it manually. Sometimes being first isn't such a good idea.

You try to do the right thing by setting your PC to update Windows automatically, only to be stopped in your tracks by some error message or--more likely--a hung browser. Usually there's a simple explanation for the update hiccup. But not always. The steps below for resuscitating a stalled Windows update begin with the simplest solution and end with the trickiest.

Make sure you're logged in an administrator account. To find out if your current account has administrator privileges, click Start > Control Panel > User Accounts (in Vista's standard Control Panel view, click User Accounts and Family Safety, and then choose User Accounts). If the account you're currently using isn't labeled "Computer administrator" in XP, or "Administrator" in Vista, log into an administrator account and try the automatic update again.

If Windows won't update, check the User Accounts Control Panel applet to make sure you're logged on as an administrator.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Temporarily disable your security software. Overzealous firewalls and antivirus programs may inadvertently block Windows Update from downloading and installing necessary OS patches. Right-click the program's icon in your system tray and choose Exit or Disable (you may have to open the program's management console and close it from there).

Unfortunately, the only way to disable some security programs, such as Symantec's Norton 360, is to open Task Manager and disable them there. To do so, press Ctrl-Alt-Delete, click the Processes tab, find and select the process for the program (it likely uses a variation of the product's name), and click End Process. The process will restart automatically the next time Windows loads, or restart it manually by clicking its Start menu shortcut to reopen it.

Check Microsoft's update-troubleshooting site. The first time I visited the Windows Update Troubleshooter, I expected to find a great tool that automatically scanned my PC and fixed whatever was blocking Windows from updating. Instead I opened a page with a long list of links to articles intended to help you figure out the problem on your own. You can find much the same information by copying the error code that appears when Windows Update fails and pasting it into your favorite Web search engine to discover information about it, and possible a solution.

Run the Windows Update Fix batch file. The CastleCopsWiki offers a downloadable batch file that automatically addresses many of the causes for a stalled update. Use it by unzipping the download file and double-clicking the file named WUFix.bat. This is far from a guaranteed fix for update woes, but if everything else has failed to resolve the problem, it's worth a try.

Tomorrow: the best alternatives to Adobe Acrobat.

I had occasion to open the C:Windows folder on my old XP machine, and was immediately struck by the number of folders whose names began "$NtUninstall". They were from several hundred kilobytes to 10 megabytes in size, and there were more than 150 of these bad boys just taking up space on my hard drive. There were also a few multi-megabyte files whose names began with "$MSI31Uninstall" or "$NtServicePackUninstall". Some of these folders dated back to when I bought the machine in 2003.

If Explorer won't show you the contents of the C:Windows folder, click Tools > Folder Options > View, select Show hidden files and folders in the Advanced settings window, and click OK.

These uninstall folders are intended to roll back the system in the event of a Windows patch gone bad. Obviously, the OS updates they refer to had done no harm to the machine, which is working just fine. The PC's 30GB hard drive has 5GB of free space, which is slightly less than the 20 percent margin many experts recommend to ensure a smooth-running drive. Clearly getting rid of these unnecessary patch fixers would do my system good. To play it safe, I retained the few uninstall folders that were less than a month or two old.

Make room on your hard drive by deleting old Windows update uninstall folders, but play it safe by retaining the most recent ones.

Unfortunately, the files aren't listed by date, and if you click Date Modified in Explorer's Details view, the uninstall folders get mixed up with other folders in C:Windows. Rather than selecting the uninstall folders one by one, I clicked the first one I wanted to delete, then Shift-clicked the last one, and finally Ctrl-clicked the few recent ones I wanted to keep to deselect them.

The fixes will still be listed in XP's Add or Remove Programs Control Panel applet. To remove their entries, open the program, check Show updates at the top of the window, scroll to Windows XP - Software Updates, select each one at a time, and click Remove. You'll get an error message telling you the file has already been deleted. Click Yes and move on to the next one. Just be sure not to accidentally uninstall an update that you haven't already deleted. If the Software Update Removal Wizard opens rather than the "already deleted" error message, click Cancel.

Play it safe by keeping the folders in the Recycle Bin for a week or so. If you experience problems with a Windows patch for which you've deleted the uninstall folder, simply locate it in the Recycle Bin, right-click it, and choose Restore to return it to the C:Windows folder.

I found only two of these patch-uninstall folders in the C:Windows folder on my Vista PC, both of which were empty. I don't know if that means Microsoft figured out a way to safeguard its Vista fixes without cluttering up your hard drive, or if the update-uninstall folders are now stashed somewhere else.

Tomorrow: Using OpenOffice.org's Writer app in a Microsoft Word world.

Windows breaks; it's a fact. Sometimes the only fix you need is a system restart, but other times you may feel like you'll never get your PC working again. While not even a building full of Microsoft engineers can promise solutions to every Windows problem, these tips will help you begin your quest for a cure.

Windows won't update
First, make sure you're logged into an administrator account. Next, open the Windows Update log, which is at C:\Windows\Windows Update.log, and look for an error message, which may include an error code you can search for in Microsoft's knowledge bases. (Make sure you have Windows set to show hidden files: Open Windows Explorer, and in XP, click Tools>Folder Options>View>Show hidden files and folders; in Vista, click Organize>Folder and Search Options>View>Show hidden files and folders.)

Scan your Windows Update log file for clues to your system's update failures.

Now visit the Windows Update Troubleshooter and browse around for an entry relating to the error. If nothing on this page solves the problem, try disabling your antivirus and anti-spyware programs, your firewall, and any Web accelerators you've installed before going to the Windows Update page. Just be sure to reactivate your security programs before you browse anywhere else.

If you're still unable to update Windows, here are three more things you can try:
Check your clock to make sure your PC is set to the correct time and date. Double-click the time in the bottom-right corner of the screen to open the Date and Time Properties dialog box (in Vista, click Change date and time settings).
Log into another administrator account and try to update. If you don't have two administrator accounts, open the User Accounts Control Panel applet, click Create a new account (in Vista, select Manage Another Account first), and step through the wizard, choosing Computer administrator as the account type (Administrator in Vista).
Start Windows in Safe Mode and retry the update. To enter Safe Mode, press F8 after your PC starts but before Windows loads, and choose Safe Mode from the resulting menu.
You'll find more update-troubleshooting options on DTS-L.org's Windows Update Checklist.

The Registry has gone haywire
The fastest and simplest way to repair a garbled Registry is via Windows' System Restore: In XP, click Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore>Restore my computer to an earlier time (likely selected by default)>Next. Choose a restore point on the calendar, and step through the wizard. In Vista, press the Windows key, type "system restore," and press Enter. Vista recommends a restore point; if you approve, click Next>Finish. Otherwise, click Choose a different restore point>Next, make your selection, and step through the wizard.

Vista's System Restore applet chooses a restore point for you, or you can opt to select another.

You always have to be careful when you make changes to the Registry, which is why you should triple-check any Registry-cleaning utilities before you use them. One that has been around for a while is TweakNow's RegCleaner Standard (the company also offers a $27 Professional version).

Windows doesn't know when to quit
Sometimes Windows reboots when you only want it to turn off. This may be caused by the OS thinking a shutdown is actually a crash, which it is programmed to respond to by restarting. To disable this feature, right-click My Computer (Computer in Vista), choose Properties>Advanced (Properties>Advanced system settings>Advanced in Vista), and click Settings under Startup and Recovery. Uncheck Automatically restart under System failure, and click OK.

Stop Windows from restarting automatically after a crash by unchecking Automatically restart in the Startup and Recovery Settings dialog box.

This doesn't address the cause of the "crashes", however. A primary reason for such failures is a hardware or software conflict, so if you've recently installed some device or program, check the vendor's Web site for updated firmware or a new driver (more on fixing hardware conflicts tomorrow).

If your shutdowns are just slow, Windows may be clearing your virtual memory and system-hibernation cache (sleep mode in Vista) when it closes, which adds considerably to the shutdown process. To reset this option, click Start>Run (in Vista, simply press the Windows key), type gpedit.msc, and press Enter to open the Group Policy Editor. Navigate in the left pane to Computer Configuration>Windows Settings>Security Settings>Local Policies>Security Options, double-click Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile, choose Disabled (if it isn't selected already), and click OK.

Tomorrow: Remedies for Windows networking and hardware failures.