Patches Cause Windows 'Black Screen of Death
Microsoft today confirmed that it is looking into reports that November's security updates have triggered a black screen on some Windows users' PCs.
"Microsoft is investigating reports that its latest release of security updates is resulting in system issues for some customers," said a company spokesman in an e-mail Monday. "Once we complete our investigation, we will provide detailed guidance on how to prevent or address these issues."
The reports Microsoft alluded to stemmed from U.K.-based security vendor Prevx, which claimed last Thursday that the Windows security updates issued on Nov. 10 changed Access Control List (ACL) entries in the registry, preventing some installed software from running properly. The result, said Prevx, is a black screen , sometimes dubbed "black screen of death" in a sop to the "blue screen of death" that Windows puts up after a major system crash.
