Did Windows Update Break Your IE7?

After my system auto rebooted itself last night, I was treated to a forced update by Windows Update.  This update was for Internet Explorer 7 (IE7).  Now normally, updates are supposed to fix things, and plug holes.  Unfortunately, this update broke IE7 (yes, I still use it sometimes) and gave me the wonderful dialogue below…

It kept wanting me to save “navcand” from “ieframe.dll”.  Umm… Ooookay… So I go ahead and save it, and it gives me an error, then IE7 immediately shuts down.  Well, that’s no good.  I tried rebooting the machine, I tried uninstalling the patch from “Add Remove Program”.  No luck.  Now what did work was downloading the latest version of IE7 again (using FireFox) and then uninstalling and reinstalling IE7.  That seemed to work, but after installing the Windows Update Patch again, it broke…again…

Now why Microsoft would send a patch out that disabled their own browser, I don’t know.  But what I do know is how to temporarily fix it till Microsoft sorts their crap out…

What you’re going to have to do to restore browser functionality after installing the Windows Update Patch that breaks it is disable the Anti-Phishing Filter.  I don’t know why this patch breaks IE7 and I don’t know why this works, but it works.  Just go into Control Panel, find Internet Options, then go to the advanced options tab.  Near the bottom of the list is the Anti-Phishing filter.  Just disable it, accept the changes, and fire up IE7.  It should be working after that.

I hope this helps someone out.  I spent a couple hours looking for a solution.  Thanks goodness for FireFox!  I can only imagine how many people are pissed off right now after installing this patch, only to find out that they can no longer use their browser.  What was Microsoft thinking?