After extensive use

Mar 26, 2007 06:52 GMT  ·  By

In the approximately two months of commercial availability, Windows Vista has had anything but a smooth run. Far from it in fact. And a new issue adds to the collection of bugs impacting the operating system. Microsoft has published a knowledge base article detailing how the operating system's desktop may stop updating correctly after the computer has been running for a long period of time.

Users may experience anything from parts of the screen going black or transparent, to the tools bar disappearing completely or shifting its position from the bottom of the screen to the top. Microsoft provides both a hotfix and a workaround to mitigate this issue.

The workaround involves logging off and then back on. This action will bring back the updating functionality of the browser. There is, however, another method to temporarily resolve the issue and that is restarting Explorer.exe. Simply press Ctrl+Alt+Del, select Task Manager and then the Processes Tab and click End Process for Explorer.exe. Next select the Applications tab, New Task, enter Explorer in the Open box and click OK.

Windows Vista Ultimate, Starter, Home Premium, Home Basic, Enterprise, Business, both 64-bit and 32-bit editions are affected by this issue, according to Microsoft. The Redmond Company also provides a hotfix addressing the problem.

?A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft. However, it is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply it only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next Windows Vista service pack that contains this hotfix,? reads KB article 932406.