Media Player patches get into playback trouble

A trio of updates for Windows Media Player, including a recent security patch, can cause the software to malfunction, Microsoft said in a technical support article published on its website earlier this week.

The updates can cause issues when trying to seek, fast rewind or fast forward in Windows Media Player 10, the software behemoth said. Playback might freeze, even though the status bar shows it is still playing. Also, the playback position slider could jump back to the start of the media file for no apparent reason, the company said.

According to Microsoft, these situations can occur after installing one of three updates. One is the latest security fix for Windows Media Player, a "critical" patch released last month. The flaw could allow an attacker to gain control over a vulnerable PC by tricking a user into opening a malicious file. Examples of code that exploits the flaw was available only days after Microsoft released the patch.

The other two updates that could cause media player trouble are: "Update Rollup 2" for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and a fix intended to enable DirectX Video Acceleration of Windows Media Video content. Both were released last year.

Microsoft did not say how many users have reported media player trouble. A company representative was not immediately available for comment.

To fix the player issues, Microsoft suggests changes on the system that's streaming the content.

In addition to the possible trouble with Windows Media Player, Microsoft on Wednesday said a patch it released February last year might cause trouble with a specific web program known as an ActiveX control. A fix for that problem is available from Microsoft, the company said.

Joris Evers writes for CNET News.com