If you had the misfortune to download and install the patch for Microsoft's MS03-013 security bulletin last week, you may have discovered that it, uh, leaves a bit to be desired. Apparently if you're running any of several major anti-virus packages, there's a fair chance that installing the MS03-013 security patch will slow your PC down to a crawl. So far, the only solution put forward by anyone at Microsoft (that I'm aware of anyway) involves disabling your anti-virus software. HA! Far better - disable the lousy patch: > Click Start|Control Panel|Add/Remove Programs > Scroll way down to Windows XP Hotfix (SP2) Q81493, and click on it > Click Remove, then Next. When the uninstaller is done, click Finish, and Windows XP will re-boot. Don't install the MS03-013 security patch (Windows Update calls it “811493: Security Update (Windows XP)”) until Microsoft fixes it. That may be a while. MS hasn’t even acknowledged the problem publicly. The main Knowledge Base article was updated on April 21 - long after Microsoft knew about the problem - but there's no mention of the slowdown. 'Trustworthy computing' still has some ways to go.

Dave, I encountered your problem last week. You have to be careful uninstalling 811493. If just the uninstall box comes up with checking directories, etc, etc., fine, but if the box turns into a warning, with a list of programs that might be impacted--be careful! I would highly recommend to NOT to PROCEED, pay attention! The programs were removed from the control panel's ad/remove area, and some were missing from the programs area itself, and some of those in the programs list could not be accessed. I can also report that even if there is no antivirus program installed when you install the critical update, IE will still run slower. Uninstall worked fine on one computer, but my other uninstall resulted in a complete disaster.

Hmmm... I have noticed my computer being slower lately. Wonder if that's the reason.

it's also been reported to cause keyboard remapping, along with alot of other errors not related to having av running. a small article on it at http://www.microsoft-watch.com/

and i meant to add, to be on the safe side create a system restore point everytime before installing updates from microsoft. especially if you don't have a recent backup.

Thanks for the tip. It saved me from hours of time trying to figure out what was causing a 10 minute start-up.

hello your wellcome. but i had my computer set for auto update and when i next rebooted i got nail with this and the next 2 botched microsucks updates. had to used ghost to redo o/s i,m not happy with microsucks sending viruslike patches to screw us over. have a nice day