The August Patches to Avoid for Now

The early bird catches the bugs, apparently.

It's rare when Microsoft's monthly patching cycle goes off without problems. This month is no exception. For those that shoulder the responsibility to jump straight in to freshly released Updates from Microsoft and test, I tip my hat and offer thanks. We all do.

Right off the bat, we saw an issue surface with an Office 2013 update that stopped Outlook 2013 from reading Archive folders. Tony reported on that HERE. Since then, Microsoft has issued a statement and apology, removing the update from consumption:

UPDATE: An issue has been discovered in the Outlook 2013 update (KB 2881011) that prevents some users from opening archive folders.  We have removed this update from availability and will release a fix as soon as one is available.  In the interim you can restore access to archived folders by uninstalling this update from your computer.  We apologize for any inconvenience.

Not being able to read Archive folders is one thing. The application still functions, except for the one area. However, there are a few released updates that are causing more serious problems and can bring computers to their knees.

Late yesterday, reports starting rolling in that KB2976897, KB2982791, and KB2970228 are causing blue screens stop errors (error 0x050) on Windows 7 64bit systems. KB2976897 and KB2982791 are both kernel-mode driver updates which would make sense for those affected by blue screens after installation. But, strangely, KB2970228 seems to also be causing blue screens, though the update is only intended to add the ruble as an official currency in Windows 7 and Windows 8.

A formal case has been filed, but there's no word yet if a fix is in the works. Obviously, a fix needs to be provided – or at least a workaround – so hopefully we'll see something soon.