I specifically remember trying to update a Ubuntu distro to 8.10. After it finished the machine rebooted, only to halt on the next boot complaining that it could not locate some file. Had I been using this machine for anything important, I would have been royally screwed. Updates “can” break installs or software on ANY OS. That’s the nature of computer software. Problems with Windows will always seem worse since there are more Windows machines in use.

Try upgrading your Amiga 500 to OS 3.1, which includes having to replace a ROM chip, then find out your favorite game won’t work. Computers are complex machines. To assume you will never have problems using some other OS or hardware platform is purely delusional.

For the record, in 12 years of using Windows machines, I have never had any update or security patch cause any serious problems. That includes the machines owned by my parents and sister. At the very worst, I might have had to update an older piece of software for some odd reason, but again…. that’s normal.

Yes, several (privately) vulnerabilities. Where?
Windows kernel!
2000, XP, 2003 Server, Vista.
An unpatched Windows computer is a serious problem since the moment everyone knows about it. In the MS/Windows world this situation can take months even years until all computers become patched!
How long MS (privately) know about this problem?
Or, how long MS (privately) know about many problems without caring for a patch?

So people just don’t trust Microsoft patches.

You’d think only a small percent of people wouldn’t have this patch already, but it seems about 30% of Windows users haven’t patched. North Americans will weather it better than Asians as most North American systems are patched while the big numbers of no-patch are in Asia, S. America etc.

I immediately checked my Windows Update, and Lo and behold, the update was there.

NOT INSTALLED.

It’s now installing at 55% complete.

So people actually have to go through and check the machines. I had to do this at work (we have some Windows boxes for proprietary software that’s a required part of our production chain; we’re not happy about this). Ridiculously tedious.

Furthermore, the patch last year only patches the Internet transmission vector for Conficker – it doesn’t actually disable the memory stick or CD vector (the autoplay problem).

[And may I say also how much autoplay sucks. I have a 500GB drive full of ripped CDs in FLAC - I plug it into a Windows XP box and it pauses for a minute while it tries to work out how to autoplay the thing. WHAT.]

If you had read this post carefully, then you would realise that you are mixing together two completely isolated parts of it (Vista vulnerability and Conficker).

The vunerability used by Conficker is NOT a critical vunerability for Vista.
It is only critical for windows XP !!!!

This blog is really a disgrace full of disinformation and lies !!!

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sup_01_18_10_I_20_96.html

I’m guessing their situation is horrible, but can you actually patch Windows against all the bugs at once, or will the different patches undue work done in other patches as these holes are moved around?

[I think the answer is that the above is true for some holes but not all. When you don't engineer for security, you have to crudely keep redefining names and numbers to keep the malware guessing.]