Problems with Windows Update should not be charged to report.

[ReneeFox]

It is really frustrating when downloads from Windows or Office Update sites
have a problem installing themselves, and I have nowhere to report the
problems. This isn't the first time this has happened, but it NEVER happened
before 2004 and I'm wondering why developers are getting so sloppy with
updates. Plus, why should I pay $35 to tell Microsoft that something in the
update package can't identify my product id for Office Professional 2003
programs (Publisher to be specific) which have been on my computer for 2
years. Pulease! Also, those silly messages saying that the update was
unsuccessful don't help anybody. I had to download the hotfix and run it
manually to see exactly what the problem was. Outlook 2003 Junk-Email Filter
update has the same problem, and from my own software development experience,
I can tell that whatever you call your update packages are probably looking
in the wrong place for the product id for both products. I bet $100,000 that
if I manually run what I downloaded for Outlook 2003, I get directed to the
same error message in C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\Office11\1033\Setup.chm. I can't tell you how many times those 2
updates have downloaded and installed; it was obnoxious and interrupting
other things I was doing. I finally told Automatic Updates to stop telling me
to download/install those products since someone at Microsoft has made a
programming error for both Office 2003 products. Geesh!

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[Chuck Davis]

Renee,

Tsk! Tsk! All of the updates that you are complaining about have been
automatically installed on all 26 computers in our club's classroom. In
addition, my own two computers have all updates automatically installed.
There must be some mal-ware, trojans, viruses or third party add-ins on your
computer that are causing the problem.

It is hardly worthy of a suggestion.

 

[ReneeFox]

How presumptuous and judgmental of you, Chuck; that wasn't even close to an
educated or credible response. It very well could depend on which release
year of Windows you're running on those computers, which release year of
Office Professional 2003, what hotfixes have been applied, etc. Like I said,
this isn't the first time this has happened, and software vendors have a
habit of changing registry locations all the time. A simple way to prove
what I'm saying is by running Windoctor inside Norton Utilities; it finds
missing registry keys all the time and tells me they have been moved. My
version of Windows XP Professional, for instance, is quite different than the
same product created a couple of years later (including SP2 on the CD).
Perhaps you should do a little more research before passing judgment on
anybody. What works for one configuration doesn't necessarily work for
another. I certainly didn't do anything for those updates to fail locating
the product id. Shame on you for wagging your finger at me without knowing
the particulars of my software, or your lack of understanding the facts in my
case.

I could tell you an interesting stories about this concerning Microsoft
Visual Studio .NET 2003, a class I was in, and the variety of the same
products that held up my class project for a week. Microsoft created 2
different versions of the same product on CD's, gave them to the school
without telling anybody one version wasn't compatible with the other, and all
hell broke loose when a few people could not get to an ASP.NET application we
were working on together. So, tsk, tsk, tsk, on you for thinking that was an
accurate or intelligent response!

 

[barnyf]

Go Renee....!!!

I've had the same problems with: Security Update for Publisher 2003 (KB894542)
and Update for Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter (KB921580).

And in response to Chuck's allegations of '...mal-ware, trojans or
viruses...', I have Windows Live OneCare installed on my machine. It he's
right, then I need to look for better security software...)

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Renee,


If you use MS Product Support to report a problem and if the problem does turn out to be one that is in the update then MS does not
charge for the assistance (be sure to stay on the one topic though during the call <g>).

In your other post you mentioned using a 3rd party registry and inspection product. For some reason a number of those, especially
Symantec-Norton, have a record of breaking MS Installer based products and sometimes take out more than they should, especially if
folks use the 'take it all' options <g>.

I'd be a bit more careful with your $100,000 though <g>

FWIW, the MS Update (combined Windows and Office) and MS OfficeUpdate sites don't use the same checking.

The .CHM files aren't versioned and that can cause some confusion for the installer, but so can a damaged Local Install Source
(\MSOCache) or if multiple SKUs or versions of Office have been installed at various times. That can confuse things more than a bit


One thing you can try before doing the updates is to see if a repair/reinstall of MS Office can be completed successfully from
Add/Remove Programs in the Windows control panel. If not, then the installation of the update will likely not work and that issue
would need to be corrected first.

============
It is really frustrating when downloads from Windows or Office Update sites
have a problem installing themselves, and I have nowhere to report the
problems. This isn't the first time this has happened, but it NEVER happened
before 2004 and I'm wondering why developers are getting so sloppy with
updates. Plus, why should I pay $35 to tell Microsoft that something in the
update package can't identify my product id for Office Professional 2003
programs (Publisher to be specific) which have been on my computer for 2
years. Pulease! Also, those silly messages saying that the update was
unsuccessful don't help anybody. I had to download the hotfix and run it
manually to see exactly what the problem was. Outlook 2003 Junk-Email Filter
update has the same problem, and from my own software development experience,
I can tell that whatever you call your update packages are probably looking
in the wrong place for the product id for both products. I bet $100,000 that
if I manually run what I downloaded for Outlook 2003, I get directed to the
same error message in C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\Office11\1033\Setup.chm. I can't tell you how many times those 2
updates have downloaded and installed; it was obnoxious and interrupting
other things I was doing. I finally told Automatic Updates to stop telling me
to download/install those products since someone at Microsoft has made a
programming error for both Office 2003 products. Geesh! >>
--
I hope this helped you,

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office system products MVP

LINKS to the 2007 Office System

1. Free MS Office 2007 book from MS Press, 213 pages:
http://microsoft.com/learning/office2007/default.mspx#booksfrommspress

2.. Office 2007 Beta 2 Online Test Drive, Downloadable beta,
e-learning courses, doucmentation and movies:
http://microsoft.com/office/preview

3. Send 2007 Office System Beta 2 feedback directly to the MS Office 2007 product team with this feedback tool:
http://sas.office.microsoft.com/

4. Try the 2007 OfficeOnline preview website , without Office2007

a. Install the ActiveX access control
http://office.microsoft.com/search/redir.aspx?AssetID=XT101650581033

b. then visit
http://officebeta.iponet.net

 

[Techno-Crat]

Renee,
Feel free to take the advice of a third party registry software
application
Next time you do a clean install of windows, install Norts software and runt
it...
It will tell you about many issues on a clean install of windows
How is it Norton's has more information than MS on how to clean install
there own software

There are many reasons your office updates will not install
If you deleted the local install source by using Norton's cleansweep it can
detect the office set up files as redundant
But are needed to install updates
Your office source engine can be a problem
Using registry cleaning software can delete required entries that are needed
to provide install
Many reasons are possible
As for office registry most of the key entries have remained the same from
2000-2003 as far as the install related files are concerned

 

[ReneeFox]

I just used WinDoctor from Norton as an example of the registry-key point I
was making. I never let it automatically fix anything until I look closely
at the errors. It has never messed anything up for me, because I let very
few products automatically do anything to my computer. I've been around a
long time, Sir Bob.

Also, I still don't like the idea of giving anybody my credit card for
things like this, because I honestly believe that most people on the
front-end of trouble support aren't very trained and could deny everything
just to take my money. Because of the vast amount of software on my machine,
I have been dealing with many tech support personnel. Somewhere in the 90's,
they either stopped liking their jobs, or corporations hire folks off the
street, tell them how to read, copy, paste canned-answers, and most have no
clue how to trouble-shoot anything. Oh, don't let me go on about a problem I
had where I spoke with at least 15 Microsoft employees, none of them knew
what they were doing, and another student gave me a utility that rebuilt my
TCP/IP stack and solved the problem. Everybody at Microsoft kept telling me
I had to reinstall my Operating System while I was in the middle of an
accelerated school. I knew there was a better answer, but getting it from
Microsoft just wasn't happening.

So, I say all this to say, there isn't a tech-support team that I've seen in
this world that is worth $35 (or my credit card #) to even deal with them.
Sad to say, even Microsoft. It wasn't that way 10+ years ago, and everybody
has gotten ... what's the word I'm looking for ... disinterested in their own
level of expertise, overly protective of the products they support, and lousy
at trouble-shooting. I did track the update problem down (before) to the
product id being embedded one level deeper than the Excel update was looking
for it. Those are simply lazy errors; or again, some versions of XP Pro have
that key in one place, while others have it in another. The software should
check both places, and employees should know that it exists in more than one
location in the registry. Okay, I'm done! LOLOLOL

 

[ReneeFox]

Oh, I almost forgot, Bob. I would have gotten $100,000 if anybody had bet
me, because Outlook did the same thing right after I created this post. It
isn't a matter of a broken MS Office; it's a matter of where the update is
looking for the product id, and repair doesn't change that. The .chm file
was created right after the failure to update those products; I looked at the
timestamp of the file. I wasn't confused at all, and it properly displayed
what the problem was.