If anyone has read or heard about the recent Windows Update that was causing BSODs, you know there was quite a furor over it with fingers pointed at Microsoft etc., etc. Turns out it was malware and the rootkit developers scrambled to put out a fix because, "...a rootkit that causes crashes is bad for business..."

Egads. Hackers Fix BSOD Rootkit

If I'm reading this correctly, the bad guys FIXED the BSOD problem so that they could successfully HACK into the very same computers that they originally CAUSED to have the BSOD. I've never heard of a "patch" for a virus before. Wow. Or have I read this wrong?

What really doesn't beat all, is that the publishers will never figure out that the only victims are the legitimate owners of their software (the hackers will always find a way to circumvent it).

Unfortunately for me, there are several of those publishers I just refuse to deal with anymore (I won't mention the names).

It's a shame that this is what gaming has come to.

You would be correct, Mary. The bad guys fixed their rootkit/malware so the hack would continue to work.

Unbelievable...

The only solution I see is if you get a new PC, don't d/l any updates, and disable the Windows message alert that says "updates are ready for your computer." Or if you have an old PC or a current PC, just don't d/l any new updates.

On my old Dell Dimension (as well as my new netbook - both have XP), I never, ever d/l windows updates - I always figured that I'd never need them - my games run just fine without them.

EDIT - Oh, I see this update is for XP.

And that was probably one of the reasons you got infected with viruses over and over. Many of these updates are critical to your computer's security. This one only affected computers which were already infected with this particular rootkit.

Although I don't install each and every one, turning off updates is a very, very, very bad idea.

Cruise02,
Unless you were already infected with the rootkit, the Windows updates would not have caused any problem. The BSOD's only happened on infected computers. And if your computer is infected with a rootkit, you've got a lot more to worry about than whether your computer has a BSOD or not.

No, I'm on a mac using Safari to go on the net. I try to keep my Windows computers offline as much as possible.

I'll admit that I really don't understand this at all.

Microsoft's update broke the rootkit, and because of other changes the rootkit had made to Windows, Windows was not able to boot after the update. As long as you didn't have the rootkit, the update didn't cause a problem.

If you're using Safari, make sure your Mac is kept up to date on its security fixes.