Microsoft has quietly issued a notice about problems with the registry that can cause users of XP, both Home and Professional edition to see the dreaded blue screen of death on their PCs. The company says that when "registry hives" get damaged, people may see the message "Unexpected Shutdown" or the far more friendly and informative message "Stop: 0cx0000135", resulting in PCs possibly being a little hard to boot. The explanation, says MS, is that programs which use the registry don't "cleanly" remove temporary items stored in the registry but the problem also can happen if a program is "terminated" (ended) or "experiences a user-mode fault", whatever that is.

Microsoft has a hotfix that repairs the registry but it is obvious that it's not a complete fix. The firm recommends that people wait for the next service pack containing the fix if they're not "severely affected". So the fix may not be a fix, and Microsoft is even prepared to suspend charging you for a support call if it's convinced it's not your fault. And when's the service pack out? Well, you'd better ask Microsoft that question...