14 DAY TRIAL // It’s a well-known fact that some of the updates released by Microsoft as part of every Patch Tuesday rollout actually cause more harm than good on a number of PCs, so the company then has to look into every report and develop a fix for its fix.
This was the case with a patch KB3005628 for Windows 8, 8.1, Server 2012, and Server 2012 R2, which, although it might seem to bring new out-of-band improvements for these platforms, does nothing more than to remove some botched bulletins released by Microsoft in August.
Two months ago, as part of Patch Tuesday, the software giant released KB2966827 and KB2966828 to address some issues in multiple .NET Framework versions, including 2, 3, 3.5, and 3.5.1.
Soon after that, however, it emerged that both these patches were actually causing more problems on computers deploying them, so Microsoft decided to develop a fix that would actually remove all their files.
More of a “Fix it” solution
As Woody Leonhard of InfoWorld writes, this new release is more of a “Fix it” tool and less of a fully featured patch because it does nothing more than to remove the buggy bulletins.
Here’s the full description of the patch, as provided by Microsoft:
“This update resolves an issue that prevents the Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 feature from becoming enabled after security update 2966827 or 2966828 (described in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS14-046) is installed for the Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5. This update applies to Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8.1, and Windows 8.”
“Update 3005628 removes security update 2966827 or 2966828 from any system that does not have the .Net Framework 3.5 feature content installed on Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8.1, or Windows 8. After the release of update 3005628, security updates 2966827 and 2966828 will be offered only to applicable systems that have the .Net Framework 3.5 feature enabled.”
Just another out-of-band patch
Another odd thing about today’s bulletin is its release date, as Microsoft preferred not to wait until the upcoming Patch Tuesday cycle taking place next week and roll it out right now.
This is indeed surprising despite all reports pointing to problems caused by the botched updates, but it could also be a sign that Microsoft is actually working on a completely new schedule that would bring security fixes on the second Tuesday of each month and fixes for its botched updates on the first of next month.