02/17/10
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Microsoft said malware at the root of recent blue screen of death issues
While not issuing a hard and fast confirmation, Microsoft has issued a release that users who were greeted with the blue screen of death following a recent update may have actually been the victims of malware. Jerry Bryant, senior security communications manager lead, said that even as the company continued to investigate the issues following the spate of complaints after its latest update, MS10-015, it has determined that the cause is malware, although “we are not yet ruling out other potential causes at this time and are still investigating,” he said. While not identifying the malware yet, the company said it has gone as far as driving to homes of users with computers experiencing the reboot issues so they can recover crash data to help propel the investigation. Once afflicted with the blue screen issues, the company said users would have a hard time resolving the issues and urged them to contact Microsoft customer service. Complaints about the issues flared up on Microsoft blogs immediately following the update and centered around Windows XP, although there were reports of problems with Windows 7 and Vista experiencing the blue screen of death as well.