Beware of MS hotfixes KB2735855 and KB2750841

Hi Marcos

No one disputes that ESET has notified MS of the problem and hopefully has continued to follow-up on since Sept 25th.

But as I alluded to earlier the vast majority of endusers just keep downloading the same file(s) over and over till they get lucky and get a non-corrupt d/l never thinking anything about it...or they give up.

More importantly there is no mechanism since the corrupt d/l does not trigger let's say an error report/fault condition within windows that would generate a report to MS (providing the enduser has authorized to send anonymous reports for fixes) so the scope and gravity of just how many endusers "customers" are affected as well as just how many d/l's are corrupted that use http checking A/V like NOD32 or other software is "totally invisible" to MS.

So with only the 3rd Party Vendors complaining and perhaps a few "customers" savy enough to wade thru some trouble forms online there is not really a "loud shout" for MS to fully understand...

The "squeaky wheel" always get's attention!

In this case the wheel is silent (no tangible understanding thru bug reports/error/fault reports direct to MS from customers machines) and my concern is that MS has put on the backburner as well as any potential fixes...

 

i notice something, if i already had endpoint installed, i didnt have this issue, it seems to happend when you install the patchs before installing endpoint

i can be wrong though

 

That's not what we've seen. Doesn't matter the order.

James

 

This post pretty much sums it up.

I would think that the machines that are known to be affected (based on OS, hardware, etc) would at least get a pop-up notification to their eset tray icon, pushed during a regular update, which basically just links to an eset webpage that explains the situation to the end-user, so they can stop banging their heads against the wall trying to find what is wrong with their local machine. I spent the first two weeks blaming the firewall vendor. I would imagine there are thousands of users that have no idea what causes their corruptions, or that it is a known issue, or that there are many other people effected, or that a patch is supposedly in the works. I love eset, been a loyal 10 year customer, but eset is being way TOO QUIET on the issue. There really has been no outreach except for this thread, which is only reactive, and only found by people smart enough to look. You want to blame MS? Great! Blame them in your explanation to your customers, let them know what steps eset has taken, what the timeframes are, etc. Why are you just sticking your heads in the sand?

 

I'm currently downloading a few new hotfixes from Microsoft, I'm assuming since there's no announcement on here none of the hotfixes are for the Eset problem?

 

Unless I am mistaken and the fix was buried in a security update today being "Black Tuesday"...

It would appear that NO FIX has been issued by MS to resolve this corrupt download problem that ESET and other 3rd party Vendors have with their software because of the way the software interfaces/intervenes with the communication in the Windows Filtering Platform layer...

Hence this unacceptable problem remains UN-FIXED~!

I myself will wait only a few more days to SEE if ESET "steps up to the plate" and issues a FIX or provides a reliable timetable that a resolution is forthcoming...from MS. After that I will move on and use another A/V maybe even the FREE Windows Essentials...

Marcos?

 

ot posts removed

 

We will consider displaying a notification for users with the hotfixes in question installed which would also be logged in the Event log.
A KB article about this issue was created in Nov 2012.

 

It looks as if Microsoft KB2789397, released 2013 Jan 9th, addresses this issue.

"Data corruption and network issues when you run a WFP-based application on a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2"

 

Thank you for bringing that to our attention. That seems to be what we all have been eagerly waiting for.

 

Excellent News! - installed the hotfix and will evaluate the results in the next few days and will report back

Thanks to "rdhw" for advising us of this out of cycle hotfix!

POST OP: IT WORKS!@! - I've d/l multiple files ranging from 100mb all the way to 3GB simultaneously and ZERO CORRUPTION! - THANK YOU "rdhw"!!!

 

Thank you for the info, Rdhw .

 

Dear Members:

Since my Post #1 in this forum (October 19, 2012) concerning the troubles with KB2735855, and also my Post #2 (November 14, 2012) describing the same kind of problem with KB2750841, I was impatiently waiting for a solution, as just uninstalling both KBs was IMHO not a smart and definitive one.

After rdhw's post I've proceeded with the following steps:
1) Reinstall KB2735855
2) Reinstall KB2750841
3) Install HotFix KB2789397 (file Windows6.1-KB2789397-v2-x64.msu)
4) Start a simultaneous download of 3 files:
-- PDF file (Acrobat), 100 MB
-- PNG file (Photoshop), 500 MB
-- DWG file (AutoCAD), 3 GB
5) Test the files.

All downloads were smoothly processed and the files worked 100% on their respective applications.

I hope this brief report will help.

Best regards,

Etretat.

 

Anyone know if there is plans for Microsoft to release this for WSUS and Windows update, or to the MS Update Catalog so we can add it to WSUS, so it can deployed easlily to many endpoints?

 

This is a special hotfix - they are not available for the mass public. Each and every update Microsoft pushes goes through different stages - simply said pre-release stage (includes basic testing) and releasing stage (ready for the public - the fix has undergone serious testing and is confirmed safe for the massive public).

As the article says:

• you should install this only in case of emergency
• you should install this only if you are sure you experience that particular problem
• generally ER (emergency/special) fixes are only included for the mass public in the next service pack for the product

Having said that, if you or your workstations encounter this problem, follow the instructions on the article to get the update or contact Microsoft support to receive this update and to have advise how to deploy it in a fast manner. But the general plan for this fix is in Service Pack 2 for Windows 7 / 2008 R2 server. Service Pack 2, when ready and approved, will be available via Windows / Microsoft update service.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Will it probably be in Windows Update someday this week then?

 

Maybe it will be released officially in SP2.

 

There isn't going to be a SP2.

 

In fact
http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-no-plans-for-windows-7-service-pack-2

 

the installers should realy have a blacklist of ms hotfixes, so the installer says "please uninstall KB2735855 & KB2750841 to proceed and a link to the kb article"

 

My original problem with patch KB2735855 was that searches via Internet Explorer would fail with a connection problem. Disabling NOD32 made it work again.

So, for the last few months it has been simple enough to just remove the KB2735855 patch or not install it at all and the problem went away. However, the latest round of PC's that I've received seem to have the KB2735855 patch slip-streamed into the manufacturers image. Upon inspecting the installed patches, it was not listed as installed nor could I uninstall it. It was also not available as a patch via Windows Update. Either the patch was removed from Windows Update or it was already slip-streamed. I tend to believe it was slip-streamed.

The original problem still exists even though the patches are not installed. I tried manually installing KB2735855 and KB2750841 as well as the fix for KB2735855 (hotfix 2789397) but it did not correct the problem. I then tried removing all the patches and the problem still exists. Disabling NOD32 makes the problem cease and all works well again.

What else should I try?

 

Can anyone comment on the MS hotfix? I trust it resolves the problem but has it caused any others for people? 1300 PCs here to deploy and it's not something easy to test.

Thanks,
James

 

FYI, I narrowed this down to a third patch also causing the problem, KB2790655. I posted about it over here.

Kind Regards,
Brett

 

Do these issues affect Windows 8? I have noticed I have some trouble downloading files with ESS installed. I also have DownloadStudio installed and it fails more often than not when ESS is installed. Incompatibility?