Microsoft fixes patching software glitch

Microsoft has made available a tool to fix . SUS is an older version of Microsoft's current Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) software that lets users manage patches for multiple computers.

The problem occurred if users synchronized their SUS 1.0 server after Dec. 12, the software maker issued critical Windows patches a day later.

"If you synchronize a server that is running Microsoft Software Update Services (SUS) 1.0 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) after December 12, 2005, all the previously approved software updates may be unapproved. Additionally, these updates may display a status of 'updated' on the Approve updates page," Microsoft said in an article on the issue published on its support Web site.

Microsoft earlier this week released an updated version of an "Approval Analyzer Tool" to deal with the problem. The company had released a version of the fix earlier, but that version had trouble of its own. It could cause some updates that were not approved by the administrator to be approved and possibly deployed, according to the company's support article.

SUS 1.0 is aging patch management software. Microsoft in June released Windows Server Update Services, or WSUS, the successor to SUS.