back to article Three Microsoft Outlook patches unpatched, users left to DIY

Microsoft has withdrawn at least three of the patches released at the end of June and early July, but left it to users to find out for themselves. The three patches – KB 4011042, KB 3191849 and KB 3213654 – fixed the same file-handling bugs in Outlook's 2010, 2013 and 2016 editions. Attachments containing “...” (ellipsis) or …

  1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

    but... It is not a Tuesday.

    How many sites will have removed them by the time that the good ones appear? (tomorrow)

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is just not on.

    I work in a business supplying Morse code translations and I cannot tell you how many problems this has caused.

    Sort your ... .... .. _ out Microsoft.

    1. oldcoder

      Just barely remembered enough of my morse code..

      :-) :-)

    2. Avatar of They
      Thumb Up

      Well done.

      Good use of a technology that was in wide use when MS last cared about customers.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "any automatic technique for removing the patches"

    If the patches were delivered using WSUS, they can be removed using WSUS as well. If you let you "big fleet" get updates directly from MS, you'll need some scripts delivered through AD to remove them. If your "big fleet" is also without AD, you'll need to get back to Windows 101.

    1. nichomach

      Re: "any automatic technique for removing the patches"

      Yeah, but no. I've attempted to circulate an uninstall for at least one of the affected patches via WSUS, and it never completes, just keeps prompting the user every...damn...restart. The June patches have been an epic clusterfuck, not just with regard to attachment handling, they've also broken indexing, killing search in Outlook, which is a pretty big deal. My users are not happy campers, and there has been no effective response from MS.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "any automatic technique for removing the patches"

        I gave a look to my WSUS and can't find the updates approved, nor I have them installed, so I can't try. Probably they weren't approved before they got retired.

    2. romanempire
      Thumb Down

      Re: "any automatic technique for removing the patches"

      In my experience WSUS does not do removal well or reliably. Hence the need to have a test group and a time lag between MS release and approving patch for release in ones domain.

      While WSUS works 'OK' when used in a fairly 'textbook' manner it's in desperate need of an update to improve the console, reporting and various other bits.

      P.

    3. VinceH
      Coat

      Re: "any automatic technique for removing the patches"

      "you'll need to get back to Windows 101"

      Wait, what?

      When was that version released?

      1. bombastic bob Silver badge
        Trollface

        Re: "any automatic technique for removing the patches"

        "When was that version released?"

        Windows 1.01, 1985 I think

        (it looked a lot like the way Win-10-nic looks now, 2D FLATSO and kinda cheap)

  4. Richard 12 Silver badge

    Outlook still turns invisible for me

    Weirdest bug I've ever seen.

    None of it draws - not even the window borders - but it is running and on top (text can be selected and copied).

    The indexing might explain why search has got even more crap than usual recently.

    1. yoganmahew

      Re: Outlook still turns invisible for me

      Mine doesn't turn invisible, but one of the patches, I reckon, breaks search. And breaks it so badly it is no longer usable. Which is the only indexing method Outlook provides... :(

    2. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: Outlook still turns invisible for me

      The whole Office suite did that with me and the problem (mostly) went away when I updated the video driver.

    3. David Austin

      Re: Outlook still turns invisible for me

      On Office 2013+, the normal fix for that is to disable Hardware Acceleration:

      Start any Office program.

      On the File tab, click Options.

      In the Options dialog box, click Advanced.

      In the list of available options, click to select the Disable hardware graphics acceleration check box.

      From https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/2768648/display-issues-in-office-client-applications

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    Microsoft the company that made dots dangerous ...

    Windows must be such a dogs breakfast© under the hood that even Microsofts' own developers have difficulty in fixing it.

    --

    5 mentions of Microsoft and 3 mentions of Windows on the main page ...

  6. David Roberts
    Linux

    Explanation point?

    Bang! Shriek!!*

    * this should probably be exclamation point.

    1. The First Dave
      Headmaster

      Re: Explanation point?

      exclamation _mark_.

  7. anthonyhegedus Silver badge

    It isn't specifically an ellipsis that's causing the problem with attachments, it's just two dots in a row, for example "xyz ltd..pdf". On of our customers' invoicing systems had a company name stored with the '.' on the end of 'ltd' so their invoices did in fact have two dots. One day their clients started telling them that invoice attachments were missing. It's really shit, isn't it.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Emails but no attachments

      Your clients are doing better than ours. These updates cause Sage 50 Accounts to just CTD when sending pdf invoices via Outlook.

  8. Roland6 Silver badge

    Outlook 2007

    It seems that MS are taking longer with the fix for Outlook 2007 - hence why it is missing from the update recall list.

    [https://www.howto-outlook.com/news/attachments-blocked-after-applying-june-2017-updates.htm ]

    Which reminds me: extended support for Office 2007 ends on 10-Oct-2017.

    1. verno

      Re: Outlook 2007

      Yeah they're probably aiming for release on 11-Oct-2017... (speaking as someone admining mainly office 2007 installs).

  9. Tony Murphy 1

    The patches also broke the Junk Email detection, many many posts on the MS community forums advising that no junk mail is being detected.

  10. adam payne

    Had loads of problems with the patches. Attachments blocked due to being unsafe, attachments blocked due to double dots and search not working.

    However it doesn't seem to affect every PC we have, some seem to work fine including my own.

    WSUS is horrible, doesn't uninstall update very well and needs a massive redesign.

    1. handleoclast
      Coat

      WSUS

      @adam payne

      WSUS is horrible, doesn't uninstall update very well and needs a massive redesign.

      All of these problems were fixed two years ago in a massive redesign of WSUS and the update was pushed out. Unfortunately, existing WSUS is too broken to be able to install fixed WSUS, or even report that there is a problem trying to install it, or even list it as an update awaiting to be installed.

      Which is about what you'd expect.

  11. peterm3
    Angel

    I thought Microsoft had fixed this, for Outlook 2010 at least? KB3015545

    1. Roland6 Silver badge

      re: KB3015545

      <i"This update is superseded by update 4011042."</i>

      [https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/3015545/june-27-2017-update-for-outlook-2010-kb3015545 ]

      "Update 4011042 for Microsoft Outlook 2010 that was released on July 5, 2017, is not currently available."

      [https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4011042/july-5-2017-update-for-outlook-2010-kb4011042 ]

  12. bombastic bob Silver badge
    Mushroom

    This is why I call 'Outlook' VIRUS OUTBREAK

    This is why I call 'Outlook' VIRUS OUTBREAK. Because AN ATTACHMENT can cause something really BAD to happen, and has done so on MANY documentable occasions in the past.

    Virus Outbreak is a HUGE vector for gaining low-level access to corporate networks. Right, RSA??? I think it was a SPREADSHEET attachment in your case... some poor accountant opened the thing, or maybe even just PREVIEWED it in the preview pane. Nice Job!

    Seriously, WHY is ANYONE using this HORRIBLE SECURITY CRATER???

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