Robert McMillan, IDG News ServiceThu Dec 15,11:00 AM ET
Some users of Microsoft's Software Update Services may be experiencing
a minor annoyance, thanks to a glitch in the company's latest security
patches, released Tuesday. The latest update may be changing the
status of software updates that had been previously approved by
administrators who use the service, according to Microsoft.
"If you synchronize your server after December 12, 2005, all
previously approved updates may be unapproved and the status may
appear as 'updated,'" Microsoft said in a note published Wednesday.
The Software Update Services (SUS) is used by Microsoft administrators
to gain more control over which Microsoft software patches get
installed on their network. When a patch has been tested and
determined to be appropriate for installation, it can be marked as
"approved" and then automatically installed on the PCs being managed
by the service.
Tuesday's glitch disrupts that process.
Simple Fix
The problem is that the latest updates appear to have overwritten a
file that is used to keep track of approved updates, said Russ Cooper,
a scientist at security vendor Cybertrust.
Microsoft's note lists a number of workarounds for this issue, but the
simplest solution is to simply restore this file, called Approveditems.txt,
from a backup copy, Cooper said.
"This shouldn't be a big problem for anybody because you're backing up
that text file, aren't you?" he said. "But if you're not, be prepared
to do a bunch of clicking."
Microsoft plans to release a script that will reset these settings to
a previous state, the company said.
Copyright 2005 PC World Communications, Inc.
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