At 08:25 PM 15/04/2006, Aage Johansen wrote:

>Do you know which part(s) of the "updates" that did the "hosing"?
>I've currently a bunch of updates waiting to be installed:
>. Cumulativ Security Update for Internet Explorer for Windows XP (KB912812)
>. Cumulativ Security Update for Outlook Express for Windows XP (KB911567)
>. Security Update for Windows XP (KB908531)
>. Security Update for Windows XP (KB911562)

Those were the updates that were installed on my W2K box and
(something) in there caused the problem[s].

>. Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - April 2006 (KB890830)

I don't have this and Belarc Advisor doesn't list it as missing, so
perhaps it's an XP-only one.

>Although updates caused (obvious) troubles up to now, I am somewhat
>reluctant to install the current ones.
>I don't use IE or OE, and might not need the last one (Windows
>Malicious Software Removal Tool). Maybe a "Windows Removal Tool"
>would be a good idea...

Amen to that. I've got a Ubuntu disk here that would do the trick.
:-) I also have a full box Win XP Pro still in its shrink
wrap. Given the regularity with which I interchange hardware on
these systems, I'm really reluctant to install it on any particular
machine, even though I should have it somewhere for doing QA
testing. Might keep the main Windows machine on W2K and put XP on
the notebook., which has probably had its last hardware
upgrade..followed by the long litany of getting all the security up to date...

>I'm running WinXP Pro SP2, with NVIDIA GeForce 6600.

OK, I've still got the same initial problem occurring as before. If
I unplug the LAN cable from the router before booting up, I don't get
the problem. Maybe I can live with that until M$ sends another
hotfix to fix it...

I'm not ruling out a bad LiveUpdate from Symantec as a player in
this, either. I've got NIS 2003 here, with almost a year's
subscription on it. Symantec refuses to support it because it's more
than 2 years old. I have NIS 2004 on two other machines here, both
licences expiring next month. In both cases, I download the
Intelligent Updater because Symantec insists they are out of
date. So I am biting the bullet. I've ordered 3 copies of Trend
Micro PC-cillin 2006.

Ech, like I've got time to mess about with these gross software leviathans...

Helen