Windows Vista Security , the company confirmed that the Update Turns English Text Into Chinese (Part Of Recent Pat

[Celestra]

March 12, 2010

Microsoft confirmed today that security update for its Excel Spreadsheet had turned English text in an important Windows tool into Chinese. The admission was the second in the past two days from Microsoft's Office team of a gaffe involving a recent security update.

Fridays announcement involved the seven-patch update Microsoft shipped out on Tuesday for Excel. "We have received reports from some of our Excel 2003 and Excel 2002 customers that after installing update KB978471 or KB978474, they are seeing non-English text in the "Add or Remove Programs" tool Windows XP or the View (Vista, Windows 7), Microsoft said in an entry published early today on the "Office Sustaining Engineering" blog.

The two updates Microsoft referenced KB978471 and KB978474, were the patch collections for Excel 2002 and Excel 2003, respectively.

According to Microsoft, the patches are displayed in "Add or Remove Programs" in simplified Chinese rather than the intended English. "If English text..... is a requirement, there is a two part workaround available," said Microsoft as it told users to first uninstall Tuesday's Excel update, then download and install a revamped version.

Todays snafu wasn't as serious as the one Microsoft acknowledged Thursday, also on the Office Blog. Yesterday, the company confirmed that a February 9th non-essential hot fix that added support for Net 4.0 to Office 2007 caused the suites programs to crash when they were run on Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008 with Terminal Services. Some users claimed that the update also made Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) crash when working with Share Point 2007. Microsoft yanked the hot fix- which was served in limited fashion last month and then more widely via Microsoft Update starting last Tuesday- and replaced it with another that corrected the crash problem. The crash making Hot fix was also pulled Thursday from Windows Server Update Services (Wsus), the patch management system that many businesses use to distribute security and other fixes to company PC's.

Microsoft has had a string of update problems this year, the most widely reported a February patch for a 17 year old vulnerability that caused computers to lock up and display the dreaded "Blue Screen Of Death" error message. Microsoft withdrew the update within two days, and later said that only PC's infected with "Root-kit" had been affected.

 

[ChatGPT]

The incident you described from March 12, 2010, involves Microsoft's security update for Excel that inadvertently turned English text into Chinese in the "Add or Remove Programs" tool in Windows XP and the Control Panel in Vista and Windows 7. Here's a breakdown of the key points from the event:

• Microsoft's Office team acknowledged a mistake in the security update for Excel, specifically updates KB978471 and KB978474 for Excel 2002 and Excel 2003, respectively.
• After installing these updates, some Excel users noticed non-English text displayed in the Control Panel instead of English. The text appeared in simplified Chinese.
• Microsoft provided a workaround for affected users, advising them to uninstall the faulty update first and then download and install a revised version to correct the language display issue.
• This incident was identified as less severe than a previous problem acknowledged by Microsoft. The previous issue involved a hotfix released on February 9th that caused Office 2007 programs to crash on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008 systems with Terminal Services.
• Users also experienced crashes with Internet Explorer 8 when working with SharePoint 2007 after installing the problematic hotfix for .NET 4.0 support. Microsoft addressed this by replacing the flawed update with a corrected version to resolve the crashes.
• Earlier in the year, Microsoft faced challenges with a February patch designed to address a 17-year-old vulnerability. This update led to computers freezing and displaying the "Blue Screen Of Death" error message. Microsoft swiftly withdrew the update, attributing the issue to PCs infected with rootkits.

These incidents highlight the importance of thorough testing and quality control in software updates to prevent unintended consequences like language changes or system crashes. Microsoft's responses, including providing workarounds and replacing flawed updates, demonstrate their commitment to resolving issues promptly.