Prevx Retracts BSoD Claim, Apologizes to Microsoft

Looks like malware may be the problem behind the wave of BSoD errors, not Microsoft's clever handiwork.

Oh Prevx what a mess you've made. Then again, maybe it was a misinterpretation by journalists across the industry after the UK security firm pointed to recent Windows updates as a possible cause for a wash of Black Screen of Death errors. Prevx said that its original blog was taken out of context and "may have caused an inconvenience for Microsoft."

With that said, the company reports that it has formally apologized to Microsoft for the firestorm. "Microsoft is a valued partner and our fix was developed to ensure its customers were able to quickly resolve the Black Screen issue without having to reinstall Windows as some users indicated," said Mel Morris of Prevx in this blog.

Morris' blog follows the official apology released yesterday by Prevx's director of research Jacques Erasmus, found in his blog here. Erasmus said that the widespread BSoD had nothing to do with Microsoft's recent updates. In fact, the errors stem from possible malware infections.

"Having narrowed down a specific trigger for this condition we've done quite a bit of testing and re-testing on the recent Windows patches including KB976098 and KB915597 as referred to in our previous blog," he said. "Since more specifically narrowing down the cause we have been able to exonerate these patches from being a contributory factor."

So does that mean it's safe to download the latest Windows updates?