TI 9 Saved Me Again

After installing the latest windows security(?) update and the July Malicious Software Removal I discovered that I'd lost my internet connctivity. Note that the association of events only occurred after several long hours. I began to consider the possiblity when my wife's laptop also lost internet connectivity. Interestingly, I could ping DNS server from both no problem. After exhausting everything I could think of (no restore since I image every night), I decided to restore my C partition using my BartPE/Acronis cd. Bingo! Came right back and never missed a beat. Used Windows Restore on my wife's laptop and she too is back in business.
So if you find yourself chasing a ghost (no pun intended) don't overlook the obvious--even (?) M$ misses sometime.

OTC

 

OTC:

Are you by chance running Zone Alarm? I just helped my daughter solve the same problem. If you are, turn it off and your internet connectivity will return. There is some kind of incompatibility between ZA and the Windows Updates of Tuesday, July 8. Check the ZA web site to see if they've got a fix yet.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10789_3-9986625-57.html?hhTest=1

 

Hi Mark,
Matter of fact both machines have the ZA update. Since I've already rolled back the Windows update, think I'll wait for one or both of the companies to come up with a fix.

By the way, how did you figure this out? I tore my hair out before I got suspicious of the MS update--never even thought of ZA since I've never had an update problem with them.

OTC

 

Like my daughter said to me this morning, "How did you know to try that"? What she didn't know was that about 15 minutes before she called I had read an article online describing the issue.

Psst: Don't tell her...

 

oldtimer, fwiw, on my XPSp2 systems (laptop and desktop) I never do any MS updates. Whatever updates were on the Sp2 CD that MS gave out are the only ones on those two systems. I just make sure my antivirus is up-to-date and my firewall is running. And I run CCleaner and RegSeeker about every two weeks. I've never had problems with spyware, trojans, viruses and I don't run the risk of a MS update not playing nice with some other piece of software (like they often do) ..... works for me.

 

Also, to put in a plug for TI, having a recent image is a good strategy. I have TI set to automatically do a scheduled backup on the morning of Patch Tuesdays just in case. As Curt found out, being able to undo software updates that cause unintended side effects is one of TI's strengths.

 

I found it was generally prudent to suspect ZA and test for that 1st when anything went wrong. It's why I finally gave it up after being a loyal user. ;-)