"Blue Screen of Death" bug found in Windows 95/98!

Question

Windows 95/98 DOS device "Blue Screen of Death" bug found!

Answer

This question was answered on April 10, 2000. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

A bug was recently discovered that made use of multiple reserved DOS device names (CON, COM1, COM2, etc.) to cause fatal system errors in Windows 95/98. This bug on the Windows 95/98 platform allows a mischievous web designer to create a web page that will cause the "Blue Screen of Death" on any Windows 95/98 system that tries to access it via their browser. (This bug does not expose your data to the malicious programmer.)

In most cases, you will be forced to reboot your system, which could result in loss of unsaved data.

You can download a FREE patch from Microsoft for

Windows 95 at:

<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?releaseID=19491"><font color="#003399">http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?releaseID=19491
</font></a>

Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition at:

<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=19389"><font color="#003399">http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=19389
</font></a>

Author

Posted by Ken of Data Doctors on April 10, 2000