Updates for Internet Explorer 6 may be continuously reoffered when a computer that is running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 uses the Security Update Inventory Tool

Consider the following scenario:

• A computer that is running Microsoft Windows XP or Microsoft Windows Server 2003 has Windows Internet Explorer 7 installed.
• This computer uses one of the following tools to detect and deploy updates for Internet Explorer:
  • The Security Update Inventory Tool for Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2.0
  • The Security Update Inventory Tool for Microsoft SMS 2003

In this scenario, updates for Internet Explorer 6 may be continuously reoffered.

This problem occurs because the Security Update Inventory Tool is based on Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) 1.2.1. MBSA 1.2.1 does not support Internet Explorer 7. When a client computer has Internet Explorer 7 installed, MBSA may incorrectly assume that the computer has Internet Explorer 6 installed. Therefore, the Security Update Inventory Tool offers updates for Internet Explorer 6.

Note The Extended Security Update Inventory Tool also does not support Internet Explorer 7.

To resolve this problem if you use SMS 2.0, create a custom collection of computers that have Internet Explorer 7 installed. Then, omit that collection from Internet Explorer 6 update deployments.

To resolve this problem if you use SMS 2003, install the Inventory Tool for Microsoft Updates. For information about how to obtain the Inventory Tool for Microsoft Updates, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

For more information about MBSA, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: