Science & Tech · Cybersecurity · 10 hrs ago
Accounting software update broke more than 600 PCs
A software update broke more than 600 customers’ PCs after they installed a new version of a small-business accounting program.
The problem followed a change intended to improve installation success on computers running Windows 95 or Windows ME.
Customers found that other software on their computers stopped working after the accounting program was installed.
The vendor replaced more than 600 computers in the week before a major holiday, paying the bill.
Developers later reproduced the problem and made a version of the program that no longer caused it.
The company then pulled the faulty CDs from stores, writing off CDs and packaging valued at $1 million.
The account comes from an engineer involved in the mistake, who said he had approved the registry change that triggered the problem.
A change to small-business accounting software left customers’ PCs unable to run other software.
The company replaced more than 600 machines in the week before a major holiday.
The change had been made to improve installation success rates by forcing updates to registry keys.
Developers later found a fix and made a version that would not break more PCs.
The company pulled the buggy CDs from stores, writing off CDs and packaging valued at $1 million.
- Who
- A software vendor and its customers; the account was shared by a former team member identified as Oriel.
- What
- An accounting software update made other software stop working on affected PCs. The company replaced more than 600 machines.
- When
- The account is from an unspecified past year. The replacements happened in the week before a major holiday.
- Where
- The affected customers’ locations are not stated. The company’s developer team worked at its headquarters.
- Why
- Oriel said the team forced registry key updates to improve installation success rates.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Customers reported that other software stopped working after they installed the accounting package.
The company replaced more than 600 machines.
A customer volunteered a machine so the developers could investigate the problem.
An engineer collected the affected machine and delivered a replacement.
Oriel and his colleagues found a fix and created a version that would not break more PCs.
Senior executives decided to pull the buggy CDs from stores, writing off CDs and packaging valued at $1 million.
- Machines replaced
- More than 600
- Software
- Small-business accounting application
- Operating systems involved in earlier installation problems
- Windows 95 and Windows ME
- Write-off
- $1 million in CDs and packaging
- Source of account
- Oriel, a former software team member
What people are saying
We wanted to increase our successful installation metrics, so in conjunction with the installation team, a key decision was made – by me – to force the updating of registry keys to enable the install
Installing a new version of our application had borked the customer's machine completely
In the week prior to the holiday, we replaced over 600 machines