Windows update KB3004394 issues

Believe what you want.

To all other readers: In the interests of balanced debate (this is after all a discussion) and FWIW, installing Microsoft Updates has never slowed down my PC. Sure, on rare occasions an update has caused problems until a resolution is forthcoming (not this occasion though). However, all in all, I would rather be fully patched and take the risk of (temporarily) introducing a bug rather than become increasingly vulnerable to attack as each successive update is ignored. I will be ignoring Arnold Bath's advice rather than Microsoft Updates.

You should never install any Microsoft Security updates on your Windows computer.  The security faults that make the Windows operating so vulnerable are integral to the design of the operating system and Microsoft's pathetic attempts at security patch-work do nothing but slow down your machine and have an unfortunate tendency to knock out existing security functions.  

Uninstall and block this update, then disable Windows Update and you'll be much better off. 

If you're actually concerned about security then get rid of Windows and find someone who can install a Debian or Red Hat based Linux distro on your machine.

Ran into a similar problem with this update on Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64. Just got off chat with Microsoft Answer Desk so they can get the Software Developers looking into this. Took hours to isolate the issue to this update. Once installed, it cripples Windows Media Center. I can't watch any channels, all video recordings do not play, and on extenders I get an error stating can only play copyrighted material on machine it was recorded. It appears this update screws up all Digital Rights Management modules. Here are some exact error messages. Hopefully this helps someone else out there when they are doing a google search!

System Files Modified

Critical Windows Media Center files that are required for video playback have been replaced.

To restore these files return to a previous restore point from System Restore.

next error once you hit "OK" on above

Program Not Responding

The Component Update program has stopped responding and you will be returned to Windows Media Center.

I have the same issue on Windows 7 Professional 32bit.. It believe was also causing my xbox360 Media Center Extender to keep disconnecting after just a minute or two.

I've removed KB3004394 and I am now able to access Event Viewer and other items without it complaining about mmc.exe being from an unknown publisher, and the MCE appears to be working normally now as well.

Same issue as everyone else, only I noticed it was apparent when On-Screen Keyboard failed to load up, as well as none of the troubleshooting options for the internet worked; the On-Screen Keyboard claimed "a referral was returned from the server", but the troubleshooting options outright told me they failed. Also tried to System Restore but it told me it could only partially do it due to access to a file being restricted.

I figure it had to be related to the update I had just recently performed, so I took the advice and uninstalled it and restarted. Was a bit nervy for a couple of minutes because it caused the start menu icons to become unselectable, but it looks like everything's OK now because the on-screen keyboard popped back up without a fuss, and to be fair it is a little on the old side. Gonna restart a second time and hope for the best.

Phew. Not used to these sorts of things. Thanks a bunch for the help, though.

I had the same problem here: the on-screen key board failed to load (W7, Home Premium 32bit) with the error message reading: " c:\windows\system32\osk.exe ,  a referral was returned from the server". This error is caused by the update KB3004394. I skipped this update and now everything seems fine again.