Updates - 9/17/09

SUPERAntiSpyware 4.29.1002

Technology Changes

• Resolved issue with Norton Real-Time
• Resolved issues with corrupted PE file formats with new infections
• Improved hidden service handling
• Enhanced packed file handling

Issues with this update that remain unanswered

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r23004696-XPPro-An-Internal-ASystem-Error-has-Occured-Directx-Aug-2009

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r23003803-DirectX-EndUser-Runtimes-August-2009

Does this DirectX update address any specific security concerns?

I have to confess my current DirectX 9.0c version works perfectly well, and I hate to fix what ain't broke ...

Joe,

All that I can assert is the "generic" statement per Microsoft, as I quoted above:

"DirectX includes security and performance updates, along with many new features across all technologies, which can be accessed by applications using the DirectX APIs."

However, I am not aware of any specific vulnerabilities that were addressed by this particular update:  as of this writing, there seems to be no new Secunia advisory related to DirectX... but as we both know, sometimes it takes Secunia a few days to play "catch-up".

Looking for new DirectX files on my system (via DxDiag), I see two files dated in 2009:

mswebdvd.dll (version 6.05.2600.5857; dated 8/5/09) = MSWebDVD Module

quartz.dll (version 6.05.2600.5822; dated 6/3/09) = DirectShow Runtime

mswebdvd was the object of Microsoft security bulletin MS09-037, released 8/11/09 :  http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=973815

quartz.dll was the object of several extremely critical vulnerabilities in DirectShow, as noted in http://secunia.com/advisories/35268/ ; for which Microsoft released patches on or about 7/13/09 --- for example, the XP Sp2/Sp3 patch can be found at  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=09d585cb-481d-4767-875e-9c6ebe456b80&displaylang=en

Perhaps if someone already applied both of the above patches, the current update is not actually required???   Then again, that's purely speculation, and I would not want my system's security to rely on a mere assumption.

For what it's worth, this is the first update for DirectX [as an entirety, rather than isolated patches] since March of this year.   I have successfully installed it on 3 separate XP SP3 systems so far, without running into any problems.   Using the Web installer allows it to determine and download only what your system needs... and on my 3 systems, the download size was approximately 5 meg, which took about 2 minutes to download (DSL, 768 kbs).

ky:

Thanks for that info.

I note that the DirectX update was released in August/09, and was not offered at MSUpdate's website. If it were an important or critical update, I should have thought either MSU or Secunia PSI would have flagged it by now. I also note that there is no uninstall option, should the update cause problems, hence my concern. (I suppose System Restore could accomplish that, if a restore point were set prior to the upgrade).

If you want a good version of Microsoft Direct X wait till DirectX 11 comes out and then buy a cheap video card that can utilize it. Also this DirectX is a lower version of 10 so if i were an Nvidia user i would upgrade to microsoft 10 or if i was an ATI radeon uses i would upgrade to directX 10.1. The problem is i do not have the site where these downloads are and i believe them to be only available with graphics card upgrades.

Hunter

Hunter,

DirectX 10 ships with and is only available with Windows Vista; previous versions of Windows such as Windows XP are not able to run DirectX 10-exclusive applications.

Direct3D 11 will run on Windows Vista, Windows 7, and  future Windows operating systems.

So for many users like me, who are still using XP, we have no choice but to remain with DirectX 9.