Latest MS Security Patch breaks all Multiplayer Games?

[rezzzman]

This is more of a question than a proclamation.

I have Windows XP and I downloaded the latest security patches this weekend. Afterwards I noticed that Quake4 would "ping test" the first 200 servers and then begin lagging. When I would click "refresh list" it would fail to successfully ping any of the servers.

If I restarted Quake4, it would be fine for the first 200 servers and then crap out again. Also, if I tried to connect to a server, it would connect but my connection was dead.

I then created a shortcut which launched Quake4 with the connect parameter and an IP address. It connected fine.

I had a theory. In an effort to thwart Denial of Service attacks from infected PCs, Microsoft may have put new code into WINSOCK that flags any process that makes more than say.. 200 internet socket connections within 5 seconds as malicious and disables socket access to the program.

I tested this with Gamespy and found the same thing. When it starts up it is fine, but if I try to refresh any of my lists, after a while all ping requests begin failing.

My question is: Has anyone else experienced this? It occures to me that it may be an ISP issue. (But if it was my service provider, I would think that all programs would stop working. However, only the program that tries to perform massive ping operations breaks which leads me to believe it is an OS issue).

Please dont respond unless you know you have the latest XP security patches.

[NOTE: This is a repost. I didn't see the sticky about not posting in online Network Gaming forum until after I posted the first 1]

 

[chuckshissle]

I think the security patch also includes all online activities like media and games, where's it getting vulnerable. Just simply remove and reinstall the game and the latest patches. I got the latest patch I think and don't have any problems.

 

[rezzzman]

I did some testing over the weekend and without a doubt, there is some sort of Data Packet governor present.

A "fresh" process gets about 200 ping requests (within a second) before it is gagged. It then apparently gains the ability to issue a few additional ping requests for every second of "good behavior". Kind of like the way servers gag annoying people who try to message bomb public chat rooms.

Problem is, if I try to connect to a server too quickly after being gagged, my computer can't send enough data packets to complete the connection.

Either my ISP or the Operating system will not allow "too many" packets, likely in an effort to prevent abuse from compromised computers. I tried removing the patches and the limit is still there. (Though I don't know how reliable the MS security update uninstaller is).

I tend to believe it is my ISP (Comcast) as I am not seeing a plethora of responses from other people experiencing the same problem. Anyone with Gamespy could test this by simply downloading a large list of servers and seeing if ping requests begin failing after the first 200. (Little red X next to servers).

Maybe my ISP (Comcast) just happened to upgrade the same weekend I updated by security patches. Only time will tell.