“Black Screen woes could affect millions on Windows 7, Vista and XP”, is the title used for a post to Prevx’s website describing what they feel is a very troublesome problem. Prevx offered a download to fix the bug, and within a day fear was blogged far and wide blaming the problem on Microsoft, of course, and their darned security patches. Prevx has since backed off a little from their initial claim but you can get a taste here.
The truth is actually a little different than the initial hysterical reports. From what I can tell there are considerably fewer affected than the millions conjured by Prevx. In fact I think there are millions fewer than millions, if you know what I mean.
The basic problem is that upon booting your Windows system and logging in, there is no desktop. You see only a black screen. You will, however, be able to bring up the task manager and you will be able to start Explorer.exe and access the internet. At that point you can use the free Malwarebytes software that we regularly recommend for those with no paid AV program.
ACCESS DESKTOP
1. Press: CTRL/ALT/DEL keys all at once
2. Click: Start Task Manager
3. Click: Application Tab
4. Enter: explorer.exe
5. Click: OK
You should now see your desktop and be able to access the Internet to download the Free Malwarebytes or even the free Prevx fix if need be. It’s quite likely that your existing paid AV software is able to fix the problem but I have not had a chance to test them all.
If you are like the millions I know, and haven’t had the problem, don’t do anything and Microsoft will have a patch for it next week. Sometimes truth is funnier than fiction.
Is it a big problem? NO.
Is it caused by MS patches? Maybe, Maybe not.
Did Prevx get a boat load of Free Press? Yes.
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