Pantalla Negra era un hoax

The Internet rumors are flying about a Windows 7 "Black Screen of Death." Problem is, they are just that -- rumors, started by a security company that hadn't done its homework.

Prevx kicked off the panic when it announced on a blog that Windows 7, along with Windows Vista and Windows XP, can turn black, with only a My Computer Explorer window showing.

Prevx implied that an update pushed to users by Microsoft was at fault, and specifically listed two patches that it identified as culprits.

The problem is, that those patches had nothing to do with this alleged "black screen" issue. As Prevx admitted in a follow-up blog posting,

"Since more specifically narrowing down the cause we have been able to exonerate these patches from being a contributory factor."

Hmm. Sounds like Prevx should have done some more research before making people think Microsoft was crashing its customers' computers.

Now, I don't think for a moment Prevx was trying to harm Microsoft; it was trying to protect users, which is a noble goal. But putting out misinformation that can cause people to panic and think their computers are ready to crash at any moment is irresponsible behavior.

Next time, Prevx, get your ducks in a row before making those kinds of accusations. In the meantime, if you're experiencing any kind of "black screen" crashes, let me know about it. I haven't heard about any rash of these crashes, and I suspect it's more urban legend than anything else.

Here's an article that sums up most of my feelings on the matter, and the role that journalists still have to play (except I disagree with the writer's assertions that Vista is junk).