WINDOWS UPDATES:

Belarc Advisor says I'm missing 7 updates; yet, it seems not to be an easy/intuitive method of finding them. HOW does one go about this, exactly?

 

I would make a note of the KB numbers of the patches Belarc says are missing and then go to Windows Updates and check my installation History.

If that confirms that the patches are missing (or failed to install), use the 'Custom' option at the Updates site to select, download and install the patches you need.

You may need to look in both the 'Critical' and 'Optional' sections, depending on exactly what is missing.

 

Note that if an installation failed for whatever reason but was later successful, the history will show both tries with their respective results.

Too bad MS wouldn't fix that, so a successful install deletes the earlier reference to the unsuccessful one.

 

Togg;

Thanks for reply/info.

Seems Belarc may not be bulletproof.

Looking at this PC's updates, seems I had/have some of those that Belarc thought to be missing and in one case today, MS updates stopped 1 install saying that my browser didn't match ver. on the update (so maybe that was for past browser ver.) But, if so, I'd think Belarc would/should know that.

The other "Q" fixes Belarc says I should have all seem to do with MS Office etc., that I don't have tho' I do have their MS Word Viewer so those 4 missing updates may have to do with at least the Viewer app, perhaps.

The Belarc report on the 4 missing "Q" items, re 8/14/07 MS Security Bulletin, Bulletin lead to these pages:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q920813
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q934041
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q934180
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q936048

Best, SG1 (Pat)

 

MikeBCda;

Agreed; lot less confusing if MS would cancel out past failed install, when you did then later get an update.

It shows numerous fails I had trying to get IE7 (which I seldom use), as dipstick here was defeated by PG. Best to DISABLE that puppy before starting! Doh! I may learn yet.

 

Although Belarc is a useful tool, it is not much use if you don't get the updates it needs to keep track of Microsoft's monthly patches (of course, if Windows was a secure OS, it wouldn't need such frequent updating, but that's another issue!).

If you keep an eye on the Updates alert thread in the Security Software Forum here at Wilders you will see when the various Belarc updates are available, I got one yesterday (Friday), and got a clean bill of health from the Secunia Software Inspector after I installed it.

I have Office XP(Word?) and I think there may have been an update for me on 14th August but, after spending some time on various MS sites, failed to find it and so gave up. It is useful to bear in mind that many of the exploits these patches are intended to defeat are theoritical and depend on the user doing something silly, like using IE, so I am happy to rely on my other security programs to protect me if I can't find some patches.

PS. If you don't already know about the Secunia Software Inspector you can find it here; http://secunia.com/software_inspector/ It needs an up to date version of Sun Java to work (but not the accursed Active X). If you aren't sure if you have Sun Java, (or which version you have - old ones should be uninstalled), you can use this test page; http://www.javatester.org/ Interestingly, you can also find out which JavaScript plugin your browser has, 1.7 or 2.1. There seems to be a lot of confusion between Java and JavaScript. You could probably get by without Sun Java but probably not without JavaScript.

 

Togg;

Again recently I came across Belarc, got new ver. as I'd fallen behind on updates some time back; so, yes, tracking it again more faithfully as it can be of some help.

* I too finally tried the MS Update locale that whoops some "integrated" dealie-bob into task bar or regular MS update and notification app which finally got me to alleged missing Office apps/updates that I do not have, and those updates then failed - since I don't need it/don't have those apps. And, for good or ill, broke down/allowed IE7 to install one ActiveX control, for that update method. <sigh>

Heard of/hadn't gone to Secunia; but, when I did, it was an eye opener so after passes through there and MS updates, I think I'm finally in good standing all around (for the moment at any rate). Good of you to mention their site.

BUT, tell me this, please: after updating Add/Remove still indicates Macromedia Flash as being ver. 8, the old stuff but I think it's IE7 (that I rarely use, which seems to show the current ver.)

A search/text file report shows this:

Flash 0 8/18/2007 8:54 PM C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed
flash.inf 6,351 8/4/2004 7:00 AM C:\WINDOWS\inf
Flash.ocx 939,368 4/8/2004 5:51 PM C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\HOLD OLDER VER I THINK
flash.PNF 11,404 11/9/2005 6:18 AM C:\WINDOWS\inf
Flash8.ocx 1,435,272 8/27/2005 1:38 PM C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\HOLD OLDER VER I THINK
Flash8a.ocx 1,443,464 1/2/2006 11:13 AM C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\HOLD OLDER VER I THINK
Flash8b.ocx 1,443,464 3/31/2006 11:45 AM C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\HOLD OLDER VER I THINK
Flash9c.ocx 2,267,368 2/20/2007 3:34 PM C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\HOLD OLDER VER I THINK
flashconfig.xdr 4,089 8/4/2004 7:00 AM C:\WINDOWS\Provisioning\Schemas
flashconfigdevice.xdr 9,924 8/4/2004 7:00 AM C:\WINDOWS\Provisioning\Schemas
FLASHGOT.EXE-0336E509.pf 14,516 8/18/2007 9:06 PM C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch
flashplayer.xpt 856 6/11/2007 2:20 PM C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash
FlashUtil9c.exe 190,696 2/20/2007 3:34 PM C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash
INSTALL_FLASH_PLAYER.EXE-224E4C0F.pf 19,764 8/18/2007 8:54 PM C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch
NPSWF32_FlashUtil.exe 190,696 6/11/2007 3:34 PM C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash
swflash.inf 5,019 3/27/2006 1:00 PM C:\WINDOWS\Downloaded Program Files
swflash.inf 5,065 8/27/2005 1:30 PM C:\WINDOWS\inf
swflash.PNF 8,380 11/10/2006 5:30 PM C:\WINDOWS\inf

SO... do I use Add\Remove to del. what appears to still be listed as the old ver., AND/OR, at least manually del. some of the older 8x controls, would you say?

AND, what is the deal with latest J2SE being NOT COMPAT. with Firefox, do you know? OR, is there some setting I missed as I think I read something about AdBlock or other FF add-on that can gum up the works there?

 

I got myself into a mess over the Secunia Inspector constantly reporting that I had an insecure flash version because I also had the up to date one (9.0.47.0 - I think!).

I finally got it sorted by downloading and running the uninstaller that is available at the Adobe site (although it needed to be run than one once!).

I then d/l and installed both new versions (because there seems to be one for IE and one for the other browsers). I only got the one for IE because I didn't want IE to have any more weaknesses than it already has, I have no intention of using it. Confusingly, both downloads seem to have the same number, but I think one is slightly larger than the other.

I don't know anything about Firefox and JRE problems because I'm an Opera user. It is one of the potential drawbacks of additions made by dozens, if not hundreds, of enthusiastic open source coders who may not always get everything compatible with everything else.

I assume that disabling the extensions one at a time should help you find the culprit. There could also be something about it at the Mozilla site.

 

I just checked my Downloads folder and found the Active X version. It does have the same number, but is a bit smaller than the Firefox,Mozilla,Netscape and Opera version (1.15MB compared to 1.34MB).

The uninstaller can be obtained from the foot of the Adobe downloads page; http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html

 

With regard to Firefox and Sun Java, only the java console has a compatibility problem, and so far (as far as I know) I've never had occasion to use that. I suspect it's primarily used by developers rather than the average end-user.

The rest of Sun's RTE works just fine with Firefox, loading, running, and (if you choose to do so) caching applets.