On Tuesday, August 14, 2012, MS released a new update which in fact crippled any application which used the Microsoft Windows Common Control Library (MSCOMCTL.OCX)! So anyone using any of the following Microsoft Windows Common Controls:
- Animation control
- Button
- Combo box
- ComboBoxEx control
- Date and time picker
- Edit control
- Flat scroll bar
- Header control
- Hot key control
- Image list
- IP address control
- List box
- List-view control
- Month calendar control
- Pager control
- Progress bar
- Property sheet
- Rebar control
- Rich edit control
- Scroll bar
- Static control
- Status bar
- SysLink control
- Tab control
- Task dialog
- Toolbar
- Tooltip
- Trackbar
- Tree-view control
- Up-down control
There have been numerous disccusions on the matter, amongst them:
And numerous proposed solutions, amongst them:
- “Unspecified Automation Error” after applying MS12-060
- Fixing the Microsoft Windows Common Control Library (MSCOMCTL.OCX) Security Update
That said, the true solution, which partially worked for me (it resolved my computer’s problem and got me back up and running but a serious compatibility issue with all my clients still remains! See below for more information) was finally release by MS (after the community had already done all the leg worked an figured it out on our own) and was posted at: MS12-060: Description of the security update for Office 2010: August 14, 2012.
All of this is very nice, but there remain 2 major issues:
- This solution relies on the end-user doing all the fixing, on every computer! Why has MS not released a hot fix that would automatically have fixed this?! MS screwed-ed big time and sadly has passed the puck on to everyone else, rather than addressing the issue.
- Furthermore, even if you fix your computer, your application will no longer work on any computer that hasn’t had this update applied!!! Just a little problem if you ask me! So in fact their solution does not truly resolve the problem entirely as their remains a major compatibility issue at the end of the day.