Experts Suspect 'Black Screen' Problem as Malware-Triggered

After logging on to their systems, some Windows users are confronted with an entirely black screen. Earlier, the security update released on November 10, 2009 by Microsoft was believed to be the cause of the issue; however, this point has now been discarded. As per the reports, Windows Vista and XP are also facing the problem, and experts say that it is a case of malware attack.

On November 27, 2009, security vendor Prevx, on its blog, reported that it was due to a change in the Windows operating system's lockdown of registry keys that Windows users were receiving a black screen.

Microsoft said that it has carried out a complete review of its updates issued in November. It is mentioned in a blog entry from Microsoft's Security Response Centre that as per the investigation, any of these reviewed updates does not make any sort of modification to the permissions in the registry. Microsoft added that updates have no relation with the black screen behavior mentioned in reports.

Meanwhile, Prevx apologized for any inconvenience caused to Microsoft by its earlier claims. The firm also issued a statement as a withdrawal and update to its report stating that the Microsoft updates can't have done this, thereby considering malware responsible for this black screen behavior. Microsoft, in a blog post pointed out that malware families like Daonol are associated with "black screen" glitches.

Prevx also said that there might be several reasons of the issue. The firm had found not less than 10 different situations that would prompt the same black screen behavior.

According to the reports, Prevx has issued a solution for the problem which could involve "millions" of computers. However, the fix did not function in all cases; it will most probably function if this problem started in the last two weeks of November 2009 or after executing a security program during this time to remove the malware during this span of time, said Prevx.

In the meantime, Microsoft suggested all the effected users to immediately contact the company's Customer Service and Support for free help.

Related article: Experts Find Two Vulnerabilities in Firefox

» SPAMfighter News - 12/11/2009