* Dr. Internet columnist Steve Blass discusses Microsoft’s cursor flaw patch * Help Desk columnist Ron Nutter discusses best practices for patching servers
* Microsoft issues patch for cursor flaw
By Steve Blass
Q: Are there any workarounds to stop the most recent Windows animated-cursor exploit? Do you know when Microsoft will release a patch to repair the problem?
A: Microsoft released a patch last week to fix the animated-cursor vulnerability. This problem with the way animated cursors are handled in Internet Explorer on Windows requires only that one visit a malicious Web page designed to exploit the problem. No clicking is needed.
To read Steve’s response in its entirety, please click here.
* Patching an entire server farm
By Ron Nutter
Q: I am new to the company where I work and responsible for the patch management process, before I started here there was none. Now I have implemented a patch management process, but we have a server farm of 500 Windows servers not connected to the internet consisting of Windows 2000 and 2003 servers with various service packs. For these servers I still have to see how to get up to date with the patches (some servers are missing patches as from up 2002). Now I have to make sure our servers are up to date with at least critical patches which all require reboots for patches of the last 5 years. Of course our clients like to limit the down time of the servers. Do you have any suggestions?
A: Unfortunately, patching servers to keep them current and avoid problems is a cost of doing business. You should have some type of Internet connectivity to do the patching, because that will be faster than installing patches from CDs. While some patches let you hold off on reboots until the end, I would not recommend it; I prefer to apply the patches in stages, testing the server for proper operation between groups of patches.
To read Ron’s response in its entirety, please click here.
