Apps hang on launch, WSUS broken, SMB copies crawl

February’s Patch Tuesday made applications hang on startup when Windows Defender was disabled — punishing users for not using Microsoft’s security product. WSUS distribution failed, leaving enterprise IT unable to deploy updates. 32-bit app file operations broke. SMB network file copies slowed to a crawl. The update effectively penalized both individual users (app hangs) and enterprises (WSUS failure, slow network copies) simultaneously, ensuring nobody was spared.