Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)
Well, it's been over a month since Microsoft unleashed this t*rd of an
update. After 20+ years of using computers (but still a novice at how
they work at the system level) this is the worst computer disaster I
have ever encountered. It is a classic case of “the operation
succeeded, but the patient died,” complete with blue screens. Before I
went out of town for three weeks, I spent more than 50 hours trying to
figure out what was wrong. While out of town I discovered this
newsgroup, and spent more hours pouring over more than 5,000 posts. I
definitely feel sorry for users, like my mom, aged 89, who would not
know a newsgroup from a browser but who might trust that Microsoft's own
Critical Updates would do no harm.
From these posts I learned:
1) The fix is to uninstall KB891711. I did, and everything returned to
normal on the next reboot.
But most questions and suggestions about the cause were never resolved
as far as I could see:
2) The problem seems to affect mostly dial up connections (like mine);
but some cable connections have problems too.
3) The problem may be related to video cards or lack of them (like mine,
I think).
4) The problem may be related to other installed hardware and/or
software not yet identified.
5) The problem is not exclusive to IE, but also affects Netscape and
Firefox machines (like mine).
6) The upgrade may or may not even be needed in Windows 98, depending on
whether you believe what Microsoft initially wrote or what some of its
employees are now saying.
7) Microsoft is aware of the problems and was close to being able to
duplicate them about three weeks ago.
One last thing I have definitely learned from this fiasco is not to
trust Microsoft Updates, no matter how “critical” they are labeled.
My bottom line question is whether there has been any solution yet?
Paul in San Francisco
Well, it's been over a month since Microsoft unleashed this t*rd of an
update. After 20+ years of using computers (but still a novice at how
they work at the system level) this is the worst computer disaster I
have ever encountered. It is a classic case of “the operation
succeeded, but the patient died,” complete with blue screens. Before I
went out of town for three weeks, I spent more than 50 hours trying to
figure out what was wrong. While out of town I discovered this
newsgroup, and spent more hours pouring over more than 5,000 posts. I
definitely feel sorry for users, like my mom, aged 89, who would not
know a newsgroup from a browser but who might trust that Microsoft's own
Critical Updates would do no harm.
From these posts I learned:
1) The fix is to uninstall KB891711. I did, and everything returned to
normal on the next reboot.
But most questions and suggestions about the cause were never resolved
as far as I could see:
2) The problem seems to affect mostly dial up connections (like mine);
but some cable connections have problems too.
3) The problem may be related to video cards or lack of them (like mine,
I think).
4) The problem may be related to other installed hardware and/or
software not yet identified.
5) The problem is not exclusive to IE, but also affects Netscape and
Firefox machines (like mine).
6) The upgrade may or may not even be needed in Windows 98, depending on
whether you believe what Microsoft initially wrote or what some of its
employees are now saying.
7) Microsoft is aware of the problems and was close to being able to
duplicate them about three weeks ago.
One last thing I have definitely learned from this fiasco is not to
trust Microsoft Updates, no matter how “critical” they are labeled.
My bottom line question is whether there has been any solution yet?
Paul in San Francisco
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