Microsoft confirmed today that the recent spate of Windows XP crashes and blue-screens experienced by people who installed this month’s batch of security updates were found mainly on systems that were already infected with a rootkit, a tool designed to hide malware infestations on host computers.
The folks at Redmond initially suspected rootkits may have played a part in the interminable reboot loops that many Windows users suffered from following February’s Patch Tuesday, but the company also said that it couldn’t rule out the possibility that third-party hardware and software conflicts might have also been to blame. Today, Microsoft rejected the latter possibility, and said it had concluded that the reboot occurs because the system is infected with malware, specifically the Alureon Rootkit.