Microsoft updates causing havoc for users.

Hi,

I tend to come from the old school of computing where a computer was set up and once working, left to work. On a regular basis updates which had been tested, were then applied across all the computers. The approach was very reliable and the computers very stable. It took me a while to warm to the new school of thought of constant updates. Whilst the constant update approach has advantages, it also has disadvantages.

Last night a family member asked for assistance with their computer. After the latest Windows XP update the computer would no longer connect to the network and thus the Internet. The network card had been disabled. Enabling the network card caused the infamous blue screen of death.

The short term solution was to perform a restore using the Windows XP restore facility. That took the computer back before the update and it was working fine. I also advised them to review and simplify the number of products on the computer such as the anti-virus/firewall programs.

In this case the issue turned out to be a conflict with ZoneAlarm. The following is a link which indicates how to fix the problem (issued by ZoneAlarm). Another solution of course is to remove ZoneAlarm and the person had actually disabled ZoneAlarm in a second computer which avoided the problem.

I regularly see updates from Microsoft causing problems and it makes me wonder is this always connected constant updating world we now have, not causing us more problems than it cures.

This type of repair would often be a $100 plus support call out. I suspect quite a bit of money will be spent by people to solve this problem and the sad thing is it shouldn't be necessary.

If your computer after an update suddenly stops working as it should, you may consider the built-in restore feature of Windows XP to be your friend. You can find it under Accessories, System Tools.

The family member has now taken my suggestions and removed unnecessary security products based on a quick review of their set-up and their computer is again working.

Happy computer - Kelvin