Dear Forum Members

I don't know if there are others out there like me but every time MS releases updates, security or otherwise, I have subsequently found that something goes wrong with my PC, i.e. something goes wrong with one of my browsers or Internet enabled applications.

I have written about some of the previous problems I have had before but the latest problem actually caused my modem/router to exhibit some strange behaviour.

Some of which are:

1) Switch off my wired ethernet connection after 3 or so minutes while the wi-fi connection to my son's PC remained intact.

2) Switch off my son's wi-fi connection when I managed to connect to the Internet then subsequently switch off my wired connection, so I loose my Internet connection as well.

There are some others but I cannot lay those problems at MS's door.

Anyway, I can only suggest the problem was caused by an MS update overwriting and taking over a memory space/register normally used by my modem's software. But there is no way I can prove this theory one way or the other.

However, I did manage to solve both problems in the following manner:

Problem 1) I found my modem's latest updating utility on the Internet, not the actual new firmware, and ran it to see what it was like. To my surprise, my wired ethernet connection came on and is now back to the way it was before I installed the MS updates.

Problem 2) Using the utility again I this time installed the latest (i.e. last) firmware update for my modem/router, this solved my son's wi-fi disconnection problem as well as adding extra facilities.

Even though I am a careful PC user, I do not update for the sake of updating, and I try not to do anything to destabilise or compromise my PCs security however I always seem to be caught out by those pesky (but necessary) security updates.



UK Bob

don't know what to say UK....

I can't remember any time I've had any issues with any M$ updates since I got past using 98se....presently using XP and have been since SP1 came out for it...

now...since you live in the UK, with some very intrusive attitudes by the authorities, perhaps some of M$'s malicious software removal tool's actions are causing your issues (i.e. perhaps your modem is spying on you)

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Hi Peerless

Although said with "tongue in cheek":You are not far off the point, I know that all international communications go through a central point, just like in China, and are monitored.

That said, I do believe that the various updates MS produces have a tendency to wipe out other products or take memory space used by non-MS applications, for example do you remember WinXP had a faxing utility called MS Fax. However, after a number of updates it vanished and I was then forced to find an alternative, i.e. I now use MightyFax V3.63.

Maybe it's just me but even as an experienced WinXP Pro SP3 user MS updates always cause me problems.



UK Bob

ermm...well I will say I was not intending any insult, but at the same time was rather serious...

I've paid attention to your various posts about the attitudes of the ISP's and the law in your country, and have seen various reports elsewhere on the general subject...

so, perhaps going out on a limb here, I can definitely see the concept that the ISP's (perhaps on the behalf of the government..perhaps on their own nosy initiative) have intrusive spyware in the firmware of their products and M$'s updates (intended to keep computers clean of such things) are disabling them...then the companies figure that out and do their own update to deal with the new M$ software....

going further into the ol' conspiracy theory attitude, perhaps this doesn't happen to US computers because M$ has their own deal with the manufacturers of US snoopware and things go more smoothly (this concept of course implies their is no communication between M$ and your government...considering the animosity between the EU and M$ this makes some sense)...

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So Long and Thanks for All the Files
_____________________________________________

Beware of the big 3 insurance companies in Texas! Read your policies carefully (maybe you'll need a lawyer) Allstate, Farmers & State Farm are overextended and their 'coverage' is worthless...a true waste of your money Read This

Hi Peerless

Just to clear up a small transatlantic misunderstanding, when I said "tongue in cheek" it basically means "joke" or "said as a joke", not "insult". So I did not believe, or intend to imply, that you threw in an insult.

Moving on, although I cannot say whether MS has struck a deal on spying with the EU or any individual government within the EU but there is one thing I do know and that is most British governments has always wanted to hide information or to know everything the public is doing and thinking.

And to make things worse, the Home Office (similar to the US DHS) was conspiring with Phorm (a former secret spy and ad-ware planting company) to allow British Telecom (biggest ISP in the UK) to plant tracking ad-ware on their customers Internet communications, and so breaking EU law.

The last British (Labour) government at one stage wanted to pass a law forcing all UK, and some non-UK, ISPs to store a copy of all emails sent and received within the UK. However, that daft suggestion fell at the consultation stage, the government could not find anyone that supported this proposal out side of the sycophantic civil service.

The next daft suggestion, again proposed by the last government, was that all ISPs must keep a log of all telecommunications (telephone calls, emails, instant messages. any and all methods of electronic communications) for inspection by any organisation deemed to be in authority. This would have become law if a general election was not called at the time it was, even though there was organised opposition, both political and otherwise, against this invasive proposal.

The current (Con/LibDem) government is, at the moment, more interested in drastically cutting the UK's economic deficit rather than spying on it's citizens.

You know, all western governments have been looking for ways and excuses to spy on their citizens that their populace will accept. And in some cases 9/11 has given them or has been used as an excuse to do just that.

I believe that western governments do not need to spy on all of it's citizens in order to keep tabs on terrorist because they already have the necessary laws in place. I think that they want to spy on us so that they can turn our thoughts and feelings into their own political gain.



UK Bob