Microsoft Admits Flaw In Operating System Windows 95 Can Freeze Up Computers

Microsoft Corp.’s longawaited Windows 95 operating system has a flaw that can freeze up computers when running several applications at the same time, the company acknowledged Friday.

Microsoft, the world’s leading maker of personal computer software, has developed a software fix for the program that reduces the problem. But the fix will not be included in the first 450,000 copies of Windows 95 that the company has already begun to ship as part of a preview program. The fix will be shipped later.

Yusuf Mehdi, a product manager for Microsoft’s principal systems division in Redmond, Wash., emphasized Friday that even without the fix, Windows 95 can run the sophisticated applications that have caused the problem.

“You can run several, but you’ll run out,” he said. “It’s a question of quantity.”

Microsoft’s delay of the much-anticipated debut of Windows 95 has raised questions about whether there were serious problems in the operating program.

The flaw was reported Friday by InfoWorld magazine.

“I fear that unless Microsoft goes back to the drawing board on this operating system, only light users will get anything out of it,” said Nicholas Petreley, the magazine’s executive editor.