Patch Tuesday: There's a Fix for KB2553154, But it May Not Work

After announcing our new Patch Tuesday regular feature today, we had our first tip come from Andy Oliner on Twitter. Thanks, Andy!

December 2014 was a horrible time for patchers, with updates causing blue screens, freezes, broken applications, and more. You probably don't remember (it was the holiday season when we'd rather remember happier things – thanks, Microsoft), but that month Microsoft delivered an update, KB2553154, that effectively broke ActiveX controls and macros in Excel and Word. A thread in the Microsoft forums provided a fix, but Microsoft eventually, quietly, and unceremoniously provided one of its Fix It solutions that basically used the forum fix as a basis. Fix It solutions are downloads from the Microsoft Knowledge Base site, usually scripted, that perform quick actions to solve reported issues. Instead of issuing a full replacement for an update Microsoft will sometimes do it this way to quicken the pace to resolving widespread concerns.

The Fix It can be found here (KB3025036): "Cannot insert object" error in an ActiveX custom Office solution after you install the MS14-082 security update

After some doing some research from Andy's report, it seems the Fix It has worked in many situations, however, there are certain cases where the patch has done nothing. But, the important piece to understand is that the Fix It is the final solution to three different symptoms, and each symptom has specific steps before you should run the Fix It.

In most cases, just running the Fix It will solve the problem. But, if you are experiencing symptom 2 or symptom 3, make sure to run through the additional steps first, which include ensuring that certain updates are installed.

If you're still plagued by this problem, give the Fix It a try. If it still doesn't resolve your issue, let me know.