Microsoft shuts down iconic 'Blue Screen of Death'

Times of Oman

13 hours ago

Microsoft is killing its infamous "Blue Screen of Death" after over four decades. The notorious error message will soon be set against a black background.
The technology giant made the announcement in a blog post on Thursday as it outlined wider measures to improve the resilience of the Windows operating system.
"Now it's easier than ever to navigate unexpected restarts and recover faster," the company wrote.
The efforts by Microsoft come in light of the 2024 Crowdstike incident which led to a mammoth IT outage, crashing millions of Windows systems across the globe.
What's new?
The "Blue Screen of Death" or Blue Screen error was displayed if a serious problem caused Windows to shut down or restart unexpectedly to prevent data loss.
The company said it is "streamlining" what users experience when confronted with "unexpected restarts" that lead to disruptions.
The steps entail revamping the error screen that greeted users — often frustratingly so — for more than 40 years.
The new error message has a much more condensed text displayed across a black backdrop.
"Your device ran into a problem and needs to restart," it will read, according to an image shared by Microsoft in its blog.
The error message is no longer accompanied by a sad face icon and instead shows a percentage completed for the restart process.
The software company said that this "simplified" user interface for unexpected restarts will be available from later this summer on all of its Windows 11 (version 24H2) devices.