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The risks can be mitigated by unregistering “Shimgvw.dll”. However, this will disable certain functionalities. Secunia do not recommend the use of this workaround on production systems until it has been thoroughly tested.

Microsoft has completed development of the security update for the vulnerability. The security update is now being localized and tested to ensure quality and application compatibility. Microsoft’s goal is to release the update on Tuesday, January 10, 2006, as part of its monthly release of security bulletins.

To un-register Shimgvw.dll, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, click Run, type “regsvr32 -u %windir%system32shimgvw.dll” (without the quotation marks), and then click OK.

2. A dialog box appears to confirm that the un-registration process has succeeded. Click OK to close the dialog box.

Impact of Workaround: The Windows Picture and Fax Viewer will no longer be started when users click on a link to an image type that is associated with the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.

To undo this change, re-register Shimgvw.dll by following the above steps. Replace the text in Step 1 with “regsvr32 %windir%system32shimgvw.dll” (without the quotation marks).