Newsletter Archives

• Seeing BSOD’s on 24H2?

  Posted on April 16, 2025 at 22:07 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Microsoft posted a cryptic note on its Admin page that some Windows 11 24H2 PCs are experiencing BSODs after the April updates are installed (details in my forum post). I don’t have the April updates on all machines, nor has 24H2 been installed on every system, but I’m not seeing this in my environment.

  After reviewing my sources, it’s clear that not all 24H2 machines are afflicted. What it does point out is that Microsoft still has a serious problem with a lack of documentation.

  Are you seeing this on your Windows 11 24H2 machines?  I’m not!

   

  Windows Security Blue screens of death, BSOD, Patch Lady Posts, Windows 11 24H2

• Bad antivirus definition triggers shutdowns

  Posted on July 20, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.29.1 • 2024-07-20

  

  By Susan Bradley

  It was a really bad day for IT admins.

  Late Thursday night, the security protection company CrowdStrike sent a bad antivirus definition file to its entire customer base. Because this faulty data file inserts itself into the Windows kernel, Windows does what it was designed to do — it goes directly to the blue screen of death (BSOD).

  Most of us can rest easy. CrowdStrike is not a product for the consumer or for a very small business. It’s an enterprise product, and thus its impact was widely seen in very large companies, triggering service interruptions for airlines, banks, healthcare providers — worldwide.

  Read the full Plus Alert (21.29.1, 2024-07-20).

  AskWoody Plus Alert Alerts, Antivirus, Blue screens of death, Crowdstrike, Outage, Patch Lady Posts

• BSODs point to driver issues with feature releases

  Posted on June 7, 2021 at 02:40 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Sometimes a BSOD is trying to tell you something

  AskWoody subscriber BD reported that every time he upgraded to 20H2 on two of his three computers, the process did not end well. Instead, he was rewarded with a blue screen of death (BSOD). No matter what he tried, the process always ended in failure and rollback.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.21.0 (2021-06-07).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Blue screens of death, Patch Lady Posts

• Dealing with printers

  Posted on March 22, 2021 at 01:00 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Keeping printers up to date

  Once upon a time, I purchased an HP LaserJet 4L printer that would just keep on printing, year after year, until the plastic door on the top of the printer finally broke off. After my initial installation, the printer driver was never updated.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.11.0 (2021-03-22).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Blue screens of death, Exchange Server, Patch Lady Posts, Printers

• March madness drives printers to blue screen

  Posted on March 15, 2021 at 01:00 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  The month of March is not starting off well for those of us who patch Windows 10 machines.

  Patchers who have installed the March Windows 10 updates are reporting that upon printing to various printers, they receive a blue screen of death (BSOD), thus crashing their machines. While it doesn’t appear to impact every Windows machine/printer combination, it is widespread enough that Microsoft pulled these particular updates while it investigates.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.10.0 (2021-03-15).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Blue screens of death, Patch Lady Posts, Printer Drivers

• BSoDs can be a good thing — really!

  Posted on May 11, 2020 at 01:15 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums
  

  On Security

  By Susan Bradley

  If your system crashes with an infamous blue screen of death, consider it a cry for help!

  BSoDs have always been an ugly side of Windows. Almost invariably, when Windows takes a powder, it’s at a most inopportune moment: right when you’re on deadline, right when you suddenly remember you haven’t hit Save for a while, right when your system is rebooting from an update. I like to joke that computers somehow know when you have to get something done — and now would be a great time to crash or otherwise malfunction. But blue screens of death are honestly a good thing. They are trying to tell you something is wrong with your computer.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.18.0 (2020-05-11).

  On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Blue screens of death, BlueScreenView, BSOD, Crash reports