14 DAY TRIAL // The December 2018 Patch Tuesday rollout also included new monthly rollups for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, along with the typical security-only updates shipped for these two platforms.
First of all, Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 are provided with update KB4471318 and security-only KB4471328.
There are just two different lines in the official changelog in this case, as the update resolves a bug in Media Player causing the seek bar to work incorrectly with some specific files.
The other one concerns the security improvements that it includes, as Microsoft has patched vulnerabilities in Microsoft Graphics Component, Windows Storage and Filesystems, Windows Wireless Networking, and Windows Kernel.
What’s very important to know is that there’s also a known issue in KB4471318, as the update could break down the network connection.
“After you apply this update, the network interface controller may stop working on some client software configurations. This occurs because of an issue related to a missing file, oem.inf. The exact problematic configurations are currently unknown,” Microsoft says.
The company recommends users to launch the Device Manager and in the Other Devices section rediscover the NIC to install the correct drivers and restore network functionality. A fix will probably be provided in the next monthly rollup for Windows 7.
What’s new for Windows 8.1 users?
The December 2018 patching cycle also brought us update KB4471320 for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2, as well as the security-only update KB4471322.
The changelog is very similar to the one for Windows 7 users, as Microsoft resolves the Windows Media Player glitch, while also delivering a bunch of security improvements similar to the ones mentioned above.
There are no known issues in these two updates, so they should install correctly on all supported systems.