WIN_WININFO DAILY UPDATE NEW_ Penton Media December 1, 2009 If you want to view this on the web go to: http://enews.penton.com/enews/windowsitpro/v/1156 IN THE NEWS --Microsoft Investigating 'Black Screen of Death' Issue by Paul Thurrott Microsoft said on Monday that it is investigating complaints from customers that a software update delivered on November 25 causes the desktop on various Windows systems to switch to a blank black screen and display only a single Windows Explorer window. The issue, dubbed the "Black Screen of Death" as an homage of sorts to the unrelated "Blue Screen of Death" system crash screen, can apparently occur on Windows NT, 2000, Server 2003, XP, Vista, Server 2008, or Windows 7. "Microsoft is investigating reports that its latest release of security updates is resulting in system issues for some customers," a Microsoft representative said Monday. "Once we complete our investigation, we will provide detailed guidance on how to prevent or address these issues." The Black Screen of Death was first reported by Prevx, a British security firm. The company has also issued a download and separate workaround (http://tinyurl.com/prevxfix) that may fix the problem, though they note that neither will fix all Black Screen issues. "The cause of Black Screen appears to be a change in the Windows operating system's lockdown of Registry keys," a note from Dave Kennerley of Prevx Support reads. "This change has the effect of invalidating several key Registry entries if they are updated without consideration of the new ACL [which stands for access control list and not anterior cruciate ligament as you might expect -- Paul] rules being applied ... In researching this issue we have identified at least 10 different scenarios which will trigger the same Black Screen conditions." That sounds serious. But less than 24 hours into its investigation, Microsoft provided an unprecedented update that suggests the Black Screen of Death may be overblown as a problem. "Based on our investigation so far we can say that we're not seeing this as an issue from our support organization," a Microsoft representative noted. "The issues as described also do not match any known issues that have been documented in the security bulletins or KB [Knowledge Base] articles." More news as it develops. ---------------------------------------- ADVERTISEMENT Deep Dive into VMware vSphere Presented by John Savill on December 10, 2009. Join us to explore the major functionality capabilities of the vSphere virtualization platform, including identification of the changes from ESX 3.5. We will look at the right ways to use vSphere and its major functionality areas. Register Today! http://windowsitpro.com/elearning/index.cfm?code=elearn,home&fuseaction=dynamic&v=5167&p=5212&code=&eventid=29&code=EUHouseAdVMwareeLearningDec09 ---------------------------------------- ANNOUNCEMENTS Announcing the Winners of Our 2009 Editors' Best and Community Choice Awards! (http://windowsitpro.com/article/articleid/102984/2009-windows-it-pro-editors-best-and-community-choice-awards.html) Windows IT Pro's 2009 Editors' Best and Community Choice awards recognize the products in your industry that our editors, contributors, and readers believe are worthy of the highest recognition. The Editors Best awards highlight those products that have most impressed our staff over the past year, and the Community Choice awards brought you fully into the process this year: For the first time, we completely opened up the nomination and voting processes to the guys and gals in the trenches. 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This ten minute podcast explores virtualization and its implications with data protection. ---------------------------------------- (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Windows-IT-Pro-Magazine/70748505808?ref=ts) (http://www.twitter.com/windowsitpro) (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1163947) ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- New eBook: Pocket Guide to Integrating Outlook & SharePoint Discover how Outlook 2007 and SharePoint can work together to provide a sophisticated way to work offline with SharePoint data. http://www.left-brain.com/product/tabid/63/p-8-pocket-guide-to-integrating-outlook-and-sharepoint.aspx Save 58% on SQL Server Magazine w/ a Free System Views Poster! If you're not subscribing to SQL Server Magazine, then you're missing what industry-recognized experts know about topics like Reporting Services, T-SQL, log files, business intelligence, and much more. Subscribe today, and save up to 58% off--plus you'll get a copy of the must-have SQL Server 2008 System Views poster! Subscribe now! https://store.pentontech.com/index.cfm?s=9&promocode=ep219ccm ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- Power Up With SharePoint Free online one-day conference for SharePoint developers and administrators. Last chance to register! http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=166141&s=1&k=673B4BFFA88648C4100580E19586ACB8&partnerref=EUHouseAdPowerUpwithSPDec09_102209 Deep Dive into VMware vSphere Exclusive eLearning series presented by John Savill on December 10, 2009. Register today! http://windowsitpro.com/elearning/index.cfm?code=&fuseaction=dynamic&v=5167&p=5212&code=&eventid=29&code=EUEWAVMwareeLearnDec09100109 ---------------------------------------- ABOUT OUR NEWSLETTER Contact Us About our content - letters@windowsitpro.com About technical questions - windowsitpro.com/forums You are subscribed as: #email#. 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