Microsoft's latest security patch for Internet Explorer causes the Web browser to crash when viewing Web pages that contain a certain VBScript directive, several IE users have found. Microsoft acknowledges the problem and says Web site administrators will need to take action.


"This issue does not pose a security threat to users. This issue affects stability. Normal operation can be restored by restarting IE," Microsoft said.
"Microsoft Product Support Services has been working with customers to implement a workaround that addresses a problem in which patched IE browsers could crash when viewing certain pages containing a specific VBScript directive."

The way to fix the problem in the short term will be to tweak the coding on Web pages that contain this directive, called the execScript directive, Microsoft said. However, Microsoft is working on an updated patch, but does not know when that will be released.

One Dutch IE user on Friday said: "Sadly, the patch removes functionality in IE. I installed the patch on my IE 5 system, but removed it immediately by installing a complete new version of IE 6. The HP administrator page on our LAN did not work on the patched system, but did work on unpatched systems," said Jean van Laarhoven, systems manager for a part of Amsterdam's city government.