The free expansion for EVE Online, Trinity, was released yesterday; many eager gamers have already snapped up the download and are happily exploring the new ships and graphical effects. There is a catch, though; many of the players have noticed that the game deletes the boot.ini file from Windows XP. That's a pretty large bug.

A member of the development team posted instructions for how to check if you're affected, and everyone who has installed the download should do so before rebooting.

Check the root directory of your hard drive and see if you have a boot.ini file, if so then you are not affected. The file is normally hidden so you need to click Tools : Folder Options : View and select "Show hidden files and folders" and uncheck "Hide protected operating system files" to be able to see it. You can also check for the presence of this file by clicking Start : Control Panel : System : Advanced : Startup and Recovery : Settings (third button down). Windows will alert you if the boot.ini file is missing.

He also points players towards two Microsoft articles that should help with fixing the issue.

It's a good thing this was caught so early, and it's hard to tell how many players were affected, but if you've installed Trinity be sure to follow the above directions. Make sure your system is in working order before rebooting, or you could be in for a nasty surprise.