Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

'Black Screen of Death' Problem Plagues Windows Users

by Terrence O'Brien on December 1, 2009 at 04:50 PM

B(lack)SOD Problem Plagues Windows Users
Update: It appears that we've been had. According to Microsoft, the Black-Screen-of-Death is in no way related to recent patches released. The flaw apparently originates from within the registry and is likely caused by malware. Prevx, the security firm that originally reported the problem, has now begun furiously back-pedaling, and admitted that it did not contact Microsoft before publishing its "findings." The Internet Storm Center has said it "simply [isn't] seeing any widespread 'black screen' issue," while BetaNews has gotten the cold shoulder, with "e-mails to known Prevx addresses bounced back this morning, as though no one were actually present at the firm."

With the slow death of Windows XP, the BSOD or Blue-Screen-of-Death, has quietly been disappearing from computers around the world. And we're sure Microsoft is very happy to see the problem, and its accompanying acronym, fade in to history. Sadly, any celebrating at Redmond appears to have been a bit premature; a recent set of security updates have unleashed a new version of the BSOD, in which the "B" stands for "black."

The Black-Screen-of-Death, where the desktop fails to fully load -- displaying only the cursor and sometimes a MyComputer window -- is currently being investigated by Microsoft. The bug affects Windows 7, Vista, and XP, and no particular trigger has been identified yet. Security firm Prevx has released a fix for the B(lack)SOD problem, but it doesn't work in all cases.

If you're experiencing this issue, you can use Prevx's free tool by booting to your empty desktop and hitting CTRL, ALT, and DEL. From the dialog box, launch the Task Manager, then click on the Application Tab and click on New Task. In the dialog box, enter the command to launch your Web browser of choice (C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe if you're using Internet Explorer) and you can visit the Prevx Web site to install the fix.

We're sure an official fix and update will be pushed out by Microsoft soon enough. With Windows 7 fresh on the market, the last thing the company wants is for the BSOD to rear its ugly head again. Not to mention that the B(lack)SOD just doesn't have the comedic potential of its predecessor. [From: TechFlash]

Tags: black screen of death, BlackScreenOfDeath, blue screen of death, BlueScreenOfDeath, bsod, microsoft, top

Comments

1

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular