A couple of weeks ago I posted a warning about Windows XP Service Pack 3.
It now looks as if things are even worse than was first reported. ComputerWorld reports that the upgrade also clobbers some network cards and connections, and fills the registry with junk entries.
Two weeks ago, after Microsoft launched Windows XP SP3 on Windows Update, users started reporting that their network cards and previously crafted connections had mysteriously vanished from Windows after updating with the service pack. The Device Manager had been emptied, they said, and Windows' registry, a directory that stores settings and other critical information, had been packed with large numbers of bogus entries.
Most users who posted messages on Microsoft's XP SP3 support forum said that the errant registry keys — which started with characters such as "$%&" and appeared corrupted at first glance — were located in sections devoted to settings for Symantec products. Not surprisingly, they quickly pinned blame on the security company.
Earlier this week, Symantec denied that its software was at fault and instead pointed a finger at Microsoft.
On Thursday, Cole said Symantec engineers had connected the current problem to a Microsoft file named fixccs.exe. According to information on the Web, fixccs.exe stands for "Fix CCS MaxSubkeyName mismatch," and appears to be part of both XP SP3's and SP2's update packages.
Cole wasn't sure exactly what function fixccs.exe serves. "But it caused similar problems with the Device Manager after SP2. It looks like it's reared its head again," he said.
Two Microsoft support documents — KB893249 and KB914450 — both describe a problem remarkably similar to what users have reported recently. "After you install Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) on a Windows XP-based computer, the Device Manager window is blank or some devices no longer appear," reads KB893249.
The fixccs.exe file attempts to make changes to the registry, said Cole, but in some cases, it also adds large numbers of unnecessary keys. When asked why so many users had reported seeing the errant entries in sections reserved for Symantec products, Cole called it "the luck of the draw. We have a fair number of keys in the registry, and we're on a lot of systems. This is not exclusive to Symantec."
Others have noted that too. A user identified as MRFREEZE61, who posted the first message on the Microsoft support forum thread two weeks ago and later came up with a workaround, said as much today.
"The reported problems are not just limited to those using Symantec products," wrote MRFREEZE61 in a comment added to the original Computerworld story. "Folks on the forum report this specific registry corruption with no Symantec products installed at all. Some find this corruption in device control set enumerators associated with UPNP (Universal Plug and Play) and other 'legacy devices,' others from users of Avast [Antivirus]."
I've already disabled automatic updates to Windows. They're going to stay disabled until Service Pack 3 is fully debugged and reliable.
One would think Microsoft would have at least some concern about their customers, and the reliability of their systems . . . but it's becoming increasingly clear that they don't. They're focusing on getting Windows Vista on as many systems as possible. Those of us who don't want to upgrade can be left to dangle in the wind, at the mercy of any buggy upgrade they care to release. After all, if we're not upgrading, they're not making any more money off of us - so why should they care?
Peter
3 comments:
I've said this elsewhere, but it does bear repeating loudly & often.
M$ did the same thing to Win98SE some years ago after the introduction of WinME. Until that time my Win98SE install was reasonably stable; the updates from that time on increasingly made the system unstable, and the last update I ever tried for 98SE crashed the installlation entirely. I re-formatted, re-installed, re-updated - same story.
As you say, M$ want us all to put our hard-earned into their revenue stream; in return we get a slow, clunky, unreliable piece of resource-hungry crapware which causes me more support call-outs than a well set up XP system currently does.
Thanks for nothing M$.......
I guess they're trying to get people to upgrade to Vista by making XP too buggy to use.
I can report that Vista isn't any better. If anything, it's worse. At least XP lets you download things it deems dodgy. Unless you manage to override it by Administrator fiat, Vista can and will refuse to download anything that it doesn't like the look of.
It will also, at least to begin with, notify you about every. little. thing. A process started running? Vista will tell you about it, and then ask if you want it to run. You opened a browser? Vista will inform you that the browser just opened and ask you if you want to continue.
If you've seen the Mac/PC commercials where the security dude plays the part of Vista? It's exactly like that.
Unfortunately, I was forcibly upgraded when I got my laptop; the store had no copies of XP left, and the sales clerk told me that the Mac would have the same issues as Vista.
I'm now wishing I'd gone with a Mac anyways; it'd probably have some of the same issues, but I bet they'd have been a lot easier to resolve and wouldn't, in some cases, require the technical equivilant of "wave a dead chicken wearing a garlic necklace over the laptop and pray."
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