New Microsoft Patch Causes 'Blue Screen of Death'

Microsoft is urging users of its Windows 7 operating system (OS) to immediately uninstall a recently-released patch that is reportedly crashing customers' PCs. In some cases, users have been faced with constant system reboots.

The patch was released Tuesday, April 8, 2013, and was part of Microsoft's monthly Patch Tuesday security update. It was issued by Microsoft's Windows Update service but has since been pulled because of reported issues.

Unfortunately, many users would have had the update installed automatically by Windows 7's Automatic Update feature. Microsoft says those users should immediately remove the patch.

"Microsoft recommends that customers uninstall this update," the company said in a recent note on its website. (Source: microsoft.com)

Blue Screen of Death Haunts Windows 7 Users

The problem: Microsoft says that many users who have installed the update have been experiencing the infamous "Blue Screen of Death" (BSOD), an error message that forces a user to restart their machine.

Microsoft says that, in some cases, users have been confronted with endless reboots, making their systems useless.

In other cases the patch has initiated a hard disk diagnosis every time the user boots up their machine.

Security experts are desperately trying to figure out what might be causing these issues. Industry insider Wolfgang Kandek has suggested that the problem may be related to the April Patch Tuesday's fix for the kernel-mode driver.

Kandek indicated that this may mean the patch is interfering with basic Windows functions and causing problems for users. This may also affect users of certain third-party software, such as antivirus programs.

Cause Remains Unclear, Microsoft Remains Quiet

For now, Microsoft remains quiet on the cause, saying only that, "We've determined that the update, when paired with certain third-party software, can cause system errors." (Source: pcworld.com)

Microsoft has published a guide for removing the update. The company insists that users who suspect that the patch has been installed on their systems should not shut down or restart their systems before pursuing this latest fix.

To view Microsoft's Knowledge Base 2839011 guide for removing the patch, click here.