14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has released the preview of monthly rollup for Windows 7, allowing users to test some of the improvements it would introduce as part of the February 2018 Patch Tuesday cycle.
Windows update KB4480955 is thus available for systems running Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, being offered as an optional download on Windows Update.
There are two fixes in this preview of the February monthly rollup for Windows 7.
First and foremost, Microsoft has corrected an issue that prevented some applications from displaying the help window correctly. This bug existed in other updates, so in February when the rollout starts, it should be corrected on production devices as well.
Additionally, KB4480955 comes with a bug fix that is specifically aimed at developers still running Windows 7. Microsoft explains:
“Addresses an issue in the Universal CRT that sometimes causes the AMD64-specific implementation of FMOD to return an incorrect result when given very large inputs. FMOD is frequently used to implement the modulo operator in JavaScript and Python implementations that use the Universal C runtime.”
Two known issues
The good news is that this update does not come with any new known issues, and it, in fact, reveals that Microsoft will resolve the bug breaking down Microsoft Jet databases in early February. Most likely, the public rollout of next month’s Patch Tuesday fixes will include the fix for this glitch.
The January 2019 monthly rollup for Windows 7 has caused quite a lot of issues, including the bugs mentioned above, plus a different problem with network shares. The January monthly rollup is KB4480970.
Microsoft resolved the network access issue with a second fix shipped as KB4487345 earlier this month to Windows 7 devices.
The next Patch Tuesday will take place on February 12 and in addition to the fixes mentioned here, the rollup will also include security improvements to resolve vulnerabilities in the OS.