Sent by Charlie Smyth 3/22/03

Windows Critical Updates - the ones that came out this past week are extremely important. A serious flaw has been discovered and has been patched. These updates need to be done.

Warning: If you are running Windows 2000 without Service Pack 3: there have been several problems with this batch of Windows Critical Updates. The two machines that have crashed with the infamous "Blue Screen of Death" were repairable using instructions obtained from Microsoft. In both cases, the machines were running Windows 2000 pro AND only at Service Pack 2 level.  The interesting thing about one of the machines is that it crashed after the Friday updates, not the update from earlier in the week that was the real problem.  If you end up with a Blue Screen, I can fix it. I ask that you not try this yourself unless you feel very comfortable working from the Windows Recovery Console.

So, bottom line here is that if you are running Windows 2000, you need to get Service Pack 3 installed before doing any more updates.  This is available from the agn-statlab-nts server or on CD from our office in M103 Turner. If you use Windows 2000 at home, please get this service pack from us and install it.

I would also recommend that you clear all temp files in advance of doing critical updates and service packs, particularly if you haven't done this is a while. Please refer to this web page
        http://www.cropsci.illinois.edu/csmyth/documents/winsafe95.doc.html

and  consider installing the utility Empty Temp Folders at http://www.danish-shareware.dk/soft/emptemp/

(instructions for this will be posted shortly on my web page as well under
        http://www.cropsci.illinois.edu/csmyth/techsupport.html

Charles A. Smyth                                        

csmyth@illinois.edu