Although unconfirmed reports previously indicated Microsoft's November wave of security patches may be the cause of the “black screen of death,” it turns out there is a separate cause of the problem.
The black screen of death is a realistic problem plaguing some computer users, but has nothing to do with the Nov. release of a Windows 7 patch, nor has it impacted a large number of PC users, security analysts now claim.
“Microsoft has investigated reports that its November security updates made changes to permissions in the registry that are resulting in system issues for some customers,” Microsoft said in a press statement. “The company has found those reports to be inaccurate and our comprehensive investigation has shown that none of the recently released updates are related to the behavior described in the reports.”
Prevx recently released a report saying the Microsoft patch was the cause, but has now backtracked a bit – after being contacted by Microsoft and carrying out additional testing trying to mimic the glitch, the company released a new statement:
“The issue appears to be related to a characteristic of the Windows Registry related to the storage of string data," Prevx said on its Web site. “Since more specifically narrowing down the cause we have been able to exonerate these patches from being a contributory factor.”
It's unclear how many PC users have suffered a black screen of death, but it doesn't appear to be a very significant number. In fact, Microsoft officials noted that the company isn't “seeing this as an issue," and looks forward to moving on with promoting Windows 7.
Microsoft was worried that the Prevx report may lead to some Windows OS users failing to keep their machines updated with the most current security updates and patches. Additional security experts have stepped up and continued to plead with Windows users to make sure their PCs are updated.
