Is Microsoft Patch Crashing Windows XP?

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If the user forums on Microsoft are any indication, there's something rotten in the State of Denmark re: this month's "Patch Tuesday (Microsoft's monthly automatic download of security patches, fixes and updates).

It's the third longest thread on the Windows Update Users Forum - ever! The complaints are rolling in that one of the patches issued on Tuesday is resulting in the dreaded blue screen of death on Windows XP.

Some users are not able to reboot their systems at all. The protocol to regain control of the system involves reloading from the Windows XP recovery disk. That's a problem for us netbook users who don't have a disk drive (much less a recovery disk).

The issue is being linked to a specific patch that was put out this month to fix a 17-year old piece of programming code within Windows, presumed to be a security hole.

17 years! Yes, you read that right. Oy!

Renee Oricchio

Renee Oricchio is a technology writer and former supervising news producer for CNN Financial News. She has been covering the computer industry since 1987.