We have received reports and researched an issue with Ilfak's patch AND/OR deregistering SHIMGWV.DLL causing printing issues.

De-registering SHIMGVW.DLL can cause printer issues. This has been verified.

Pedro a fellow SANS handler provided this:
"From Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Inside Out
By William R. Stanek The client first uses the print driver to partially render the document into EMF and then spools the EMF file to the print server. The print server converts the EMF file to final form and then queues the file to the printer queue (printer)."

ScottF another SANS handler states "I have seen a few new printing bugs...basically the printer spooler tray icon pops up and says there is an error and then prints without a problem" this was when SHIMGWV.DLL was deregistered.

It appears that Ilfak Guilfanov's patch can also cause printer problems.

Paul Shane reported
"It seems that users printing with Lotus 1-2-3 V5  for windows (yes...the old version), running on Windows XP, cannot print with the hexblog patch installed.  As soon as the patch is uninstalled and the machine is rebooted, printing works."

 Finally JimC another SANS handler writing about Ilfak's patch states:
"Actually, I guess this one doesn't surprise me too much.  The "legitimate" use of the SETABORTFUNC Escape() call in gdi32.dll is for printing. We have heard of a couple of other widely scattered situations where some sort of printing function was disrupted by the unofficial patch.

Only a few cases of printer problems have been reported so far. Over 100,000 people have installed the patch and/or deregistered the shimgwv.dll. We still recommend doing both! Either can be easily reversed if printer problems occur.