Microsoft has finally issued a patch for a notorious bug in the Tablet PC edition of Windows XP.

The bug is a memory leak in the default digitizer that ships with the system, and has been irking users for over a year. The digitizer process gradually ate up all available system memory, grinding the machine to a halt, and necessitating a reboot.

Microsoft had failed to acknowledge the issue at all throughout 2004, forcing users to cobble together a batch file which killed and restarted the leaky process. After coverage here at The Register in January, Microsoft acknowledged the bug but didn't promise when a fix would be issued.

Enterprise customers were less than impressed when a Microsoft PR blogger - whose goal is to apparently to promote a positive image for the company - advised users to adopt a new habit of rebooting their Tablets every day. Tablet PC sales have focussed on niches in education and vertical service industries, where ruggedness and reliability are paramount.

But after our June 28 update, Redmond swung into action. A Knowledge Base article popped up on Friday, July 1. Now a patch is finally available, here: KB895953 - Memory Leak in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition - 722kb of relief.

So to those Red Adairs of the Windows heap: we thank you. ®

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