June 2006 MS06-025 Windows Update Breaks Images in IE
After installing the June 2006 - MS06-025 - Windows Update, Internet Explorer 6 no longer loads images. Every image on every site is broken. Flash is loading fine, but HTML images are broken. It is this kind of result after installing Windows Updates that really turns people against Microsoft. It simply shouldn't happen. At least they could give us some warning or instructions for how to make things the way they were before the update. But it turns out that even uninstalling the update doesn't make the images work inside IE6 again.
I think of my parents and well...everybody's parents...and imagine the millions of people who run this update, trusting Microsoft to get it right, and discovering that they too have no images in their browser...what a major inconvenience Microsoft has caused, under the guise of "protecting us."
I read some forums that said some people can no longer open .doc and .xls files in their browser, when it worked just minutes before running the update. When they tried it in Firefox it worked. Images still work in Firefox too. Seems to me there has never been a better time than now to start using the Firefox browser. But can we really make Microsoft suffer by switching? Not likely...if you check the worldwide stats IE is clearly the dominant browser. And even if you, as a web developer, decide to use it...even if 20% of the world uses it, that still leaves IE in the majority. We simply have to build sites that work in both browsers. This update makes it a bit more difficult though.
I've spent about 30 minutes in Google trying to find a solution to fix the images in my IE browser. I have not found anything, except other people sharing their tales of woe after updating, like me.
If anybody out there has discovered the secret, since Microsoft doesn't seem to want to tell us, please post a comment so we all can know the answer.
If you haven't updated yet...it might be a good idea to put it off a little longer, until a solution is readily available.
Basically, stuff goes wrong sometimes, doesn't it?
On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
Click the Advanced tab, and then verify that the Show Pictures check box is selected under the Multimedia category.
Click ok.
Why Show Pictures was unchecked after running the update remains a mystery.