KB3013455 (MS15-010) causes font corruption

Anonymous
2015-02-10T21:06:56+00:00

February 2015 update KB3013455 causes 'Courier New' font corruption on some Windows systems, I can confirm it for Windows Server 2003 and 2008. You can verify it in Notepad. Removing the update fixes the issue.

Windows 7 and 8.1 are not affected by the update.

[removed information that 64bit may not be affected]

Windows for home | Other | Windows update

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2015-02-12T05:17:15+00:00

Yes Remove/Add Program >> View Installed Windows Updates >> I added the column to display installation date, reverse sorted and found "3013455" ((this update), then Uninstalled it.

This was common in the late 90's/early 2000's, had to remember which updates not to install that would break things. It's been solid for at least a decade, now this.

I don't really care what the fix is for. If I can't read my screen from my chair, I need to resolve it to do my job (own a web design firm).

I share the same opinion as this article "...the bottom line here is that if you want to be able to actually read the screen, you'll want to hold off installing this update until the problem is fixed."

http://windowsitpro.com/msrc/patch-tuesday-font-corruption-kb3013455

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Anonymous
2015-02-18T18:42:43+00:00

The link for all downloads is:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/search/Results.aspx?q=kb3013455&form=DLC

Choose your OS from the half dozen big options at the top and it brings you right to the download page.

Hit the big red download button and it should offer you two updates:

kb3013455   (the original that breaks fonts)

and

KB3037639  (the secondary update to fix fonts)

I installed the original, said do not reboot, and installed the second.

After reboot I appear patched and my fonts are good.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-03-09T18:39:25+00:00

    There is no fix for IE7, for the reason Robear pointed out. Or, actually, the issue isn't with IE at all. You'll get a fix for all supported OSs, which includes Vista with SP2, but not Vista with SP1 or without SP.

    FYI: a fix for the font-rendering issue and the security patch for win32k.sys has been included in yesterday's update run for all supported OS's (this includes Windows XP WEPOS/Embedded). It doesn't matter if you installed or uninstalled KB 3013455. If you install yesterday's updates (including KB 3034344)  you are patched against the security issue and you have no font degradation.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-03-09T18:23:37+00:00

    For those who are using Vista in order to run Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft blocks the manual fix because it doesn't allow IE7 to access the updates.

    Huh?

    Note: Effective 12 January 2016, only IE9 will be supported on a Vista computer (i.e., no further updates for IE7 or IE8). See http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle#gp/Microsoft-Internet-Explorer

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-03-09T18:12:29+00:00

    For those who are using Vista in order to run Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft blocks the manual fix because it doesn't allow IE7 to access the updates.  This issue could presumably be solved using a different browser.  But it will be good if Microsoft fixes this in tomorrow's updates since I imagine that most people affected by the font degradation never figured out what was going on, and will be relieved to have the problem go away.

    It is surprising that glitches like this seldom make it into the press.  There are a number of problems that deserve some publicity.

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