Once Microsoft goes black, can it ever go back?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 01 December 2009 05:37

Opinion and Analysis

Reports that Microsoft’s latest updates are causing the users to experience a “black screen of death” have surfaced alongside a free fix by security company Prevx, which can even be applied as a black, icon-less screen tries to stare you down, with Microsoft yet to provide any official solution beyond acknowledging they’re investigating the issue.

Everyone’s heard of the Windows blue screen of death, or the BSOD, but while the black variety is less widely known and experienced, users have likewise been reporting some form of black screen problems in Windows for years, too.

Naturally, the blue and black screen problems that either crash your computer or remove the taskbar, windows and all desktop icons can occur for different reasons, with faulty memory or driver problems usually causing blue screens and the latest black screens apparently caused by registry key changes Microsoft applied in the latest security updates.

Microsoft has acknowledged reports of the new black screen issue, and is investigating whether its latest updates are the cause, with an official fix to come if required.

For those afflicted with the black screen problem now and urgently want to try a fix to see if it works, security firm Prevx has published a blog posting that details its analysis of the problem and provides a free fix which can even be applied to PCs in “black screen mode” right now.

Prevx says the problem can affect many different versions of Windows: Windows 7, XP, NT, 2000, 2003 and 2008 (PC or server) – and that there’s no single cause of the black screen issue, but many, causing “distinctive and troublesome” symptoms.

What happens is that your PC starts as normal, as does the login process, but it’s from this point that snafu and fubar combine into one big massive SNAFUBAR with your desktop, task bar, system tray and side bar all missing in action, with your only solace a “totally black screen” and, if it hasn’t already been minimised, a single “My Computer Explorer” window.

It’s at this point that Prevx explains that you simply need to download and run its free “Black Screen Fix” – whether proactively before a black screen occurs for use when it does, or even if you’re black screened already and still have an Internet connection (or, presumably, if you have the fix copied to a USB drive, seeing as you can still run programs and enter the command line if you know how, as Prevx shows).

Prevx notes again that it won’t fix all black screen problems, but that as it has helped many people, it’s worth a try, with no bad consequences promised whether the fix works or doesn’t.

Clearly, at least for some, if they have gone black, they’ve definitely been able to go back.

As for Microsoft, which has had users reporting blue and black screens for years?

It should go to the back of the class and learn how to program properly so that it truly moves heaven and earth to ensure its users experience true trouble-free computing, but seeing as no platform offers that (free or paid, open or closed), we can extremely reluctantly cut them the tiniest bit of slack for occasionally slipping back to black.