Deploy Microsoft Zero-Day Patch with a Zenith Job

Mark Berry July 7, 2009

Yesterday, Microsoft released this security advisory:

Vulnerability in Microsoft Video ActiveX control could allow remote code execution

That article includes a “Fix it” link that users can click on to disable the exploited ActiveX objects in Internet Explorer. The link downloads a small installer file which users can only execute if they are logged on as administrators. So deploying using that link would require that an administrator log on to each computer, including servers, and run the installer.

How can I quickly deploy this patch to all systems that I manage? I could follow the instructions in the related TechNet article to manually set up a .reg file, then deploy that with logon scripts or group policy. That article at least confirms that the fix is changing HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE entries, so it’s not user-specific. I decided instead to deploy the installer using a Zenith job. Here’s how.

Deploy Software with a Custom Zenith Job

Mark Berry May 22, 2009

The Zenith Infotech SAAZ platform includes a Job functionality that can be used to create custom software deployment jobs. This function is simpler, and thus less powerful, than A.S.E. scripting, but it can be useful for deploying software to multiple computers at a site, for example.

Zenith provides a decent Job Management Training Guide in PDF format on their partner portal. I just wanted to note a couple things I didn’t see documented: