Update for Windows Mail Junk E-mail Filter (Sept 2007) crashes Out

[borderterr]

I have a one month old PC with Vista Home Premium and Outlook 2007. As
nearly as I have been able to figure out through elimination, the Junk mail
update (Sept 2007) leads to loss of Outlook. Outlook suddenly goes "crazy"
and the only way I can get it to stop it to cut the power. Then I reboot and
run scanpst.exe to repair the Outlook.pst file. It doesn't happen just by
starting Outlook or by sending and receiving messages--as nearly as I can
tell, based on two occurrences, it is associated with sending a message with
a file attached.
The August Junk E-mail filter update was installed in late August--no
obvious problems.
I should mention that I cannot rule out Windows Malicious Software Removal
Tool (Sept 2007) KB890830 as a candidate for the problem, but that particular
update is on my two XP machines with no problem and also the E-mail filter
update seems to be a much more logical candidate.
I have disabled automatic installing of Windows updates for now. I have
three updates in queue which have been downloaded (the two mentioned above
plus one which came later after the problem arose).
1. Has this happened to anyone else?
2. Any advice? If no one has any ideas, please advise on how maybe I can
proceed (call Microsoft, call Dell, etc.)

 

[Diane Poremsky]

are you using outlook or windows mail? did you uninstall the junk email
filter you suspect is the problem?

what firewall software do you use? Are you scanning outgoing email with a
virus or spam scanner?

 

[borderterr]

I am using Outlook 2007. I thought the Update in question (KB905866 Sept
2007) was for Outlook; I did not even know Windows Mail existed. Ouch. I
restored a backup of my PC from before the Windows Mail Junk E-Mail filter
(Sept 2007) installation, so yes that filter is uninstalled. And so far so
good (one day!).
I use Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security 14 for my firewall and virus
scanning. And under Mail Scan>Email Client (Outgoing) the box is checked for
"Scan outgoing messages sent using supported email clients."

From what you wrote it sounds like I should not be loading Windows Mail
updates? I am honestly confused by how all the Microsoft updates are lumped
together, as like I said I thought I was updating Outlook. Sigh.

Thank you very much. Further comments/advice appreciated of course.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I use Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security 14 for my firewall and
virus scanning. And under Mail Scan>Email Client (Outgoing) the box
is checked for "Scan outgoing messages sent using supported email
clients."

You do know, don't you, that scanning outgoing mail is pointless? If you
had a virus that the outgoing scan would detect, it would already have been
detected by your on-access or real-time scanner. On top of that, scanning
outgoing mail adds unnecessary complexity to the SMTP process, which could
lead to loss of functionality. Never scan outgoing mail. In fact, it's not
worth scanning incoming mail,. either.

From what you wrote it sounds like I should not be loading Windows
Mail updates? I am honestly confused by how all the Microsoft
updates are lumped together, as like I said I thought I was updating
Outlook. Sigh.

You can choose which updates to apply. Adjust the Windows Update settings
to that it asks you first before downloading. Choose not to apply updates
to software you don't use.

That said, I had no conflict between the WIndows Mail update and Outook, so
I don't know why you would have.

 

[borderterr]

You do know, don't you, that scanning outgoing mail is pointless?

I do now. Thank you for the gentle correction. And I see why Dianne asked
what she did.

On top of that, scanning
outgoing mail adds unnecessary complexity to the SMTP process, which could
lead to loss of functionality. Never scan outgoing mail. In fact, it's not
worth scanning incoming mail,. either.

I did not realize that either. The real-time scanner should detect any
problems, as you point out.

You can choose which updates to apply. Adjust the Windows Update settings
to that it asks you first before downloading. Choose not to apply updates
to software you don't use.

That said, I had no conflict between the WIndows Mail update and Outook, so
I don't know why you would have.

Maybe the conflict relates to scanning the outgoing messages, or to an
interaction between scanning the outgoing messages and the Windows Mail
patch. In any case I WILL disable message scanning. I may test the system
after disabling message scanning, to see what happens. Like you said, it's
interesting that you installed the patch and don't have this conflict.
Thanks for the help!

 

[Brian Tillman]

Maybe the conflict relates to scanning the outgoing messages, or to an
interaction between scanning the outgoing messages and the Windows
Mail patch. In any case I WILL disable message scanning. I may test
the system after disabling message scanning, to see what happens.
Like you said, it's interesting that you installed the patch and
don't have this conflict. Thanks for the help!

It is sometimes necessary to uninstall the entire antivirus program and
reinstall without the mail scanning feature in order to truly disable it.
Not that this will be true in your case, but I offer the information to do
with as you will.