Latest news with #DavidWeston
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Microsoft bids farewell to the Windows blue screen of death after 40 years
Microsoft is getting rid of the infamous Windows blue screen of death after nearly 40 years. Most Windows users will have encountered the screen and its 'Recovery' message most likely at an inconvenient moment. The software company announced Thursday that it was rolling out a simplified user interface in its place – a black screen of death. The rollout also comes almost a year on from a major global outage following a faulty update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. Airlines, hospitals, emergency services and banks around the world that use Windows were affected and millions of Microsoft users were taken offline. It caused approximately 8.5 million Windows systems to crash and companies lost billions of dollars due to lost productivity, among other issues. As a result, Microsoft vowed to strengthen its cyber resilience. 'We are streamlining the unexpected restart experience,' David Weston, Microsoft's vice president of enterprise and OS security, said in a blog post. 'We are also adding quick machine recovery, a recovery mechanism for PCs that cannot restart successfully. This change is part of a larger continued effort to reduce disruption in the event of an unexpected restart.' The new recovery system will launch later this summer on all Windows 11 24H2 devices, the company said. The rollout will reduce the wait time during restarts to two seconds for most users, according to Microsoft. 'This is really an attempt on clarity and providing better information and allowing us and customers to really get to what the core of the issue is so we can fix it faster,' Weston added in an interview withThe Verge. 'Part of it [is] just cleaner information on what exactly went wrong, where it's Windows versus a component.' The blue screen was developed in the early 90s, Microsoft developer Raymond Chen wrote in a blog post.
Economic Times
11 hours ago
- Economic Times
Microsoft is killing Windows' Blue Screen of Death
After 40 years, Windows computers will soon crash differently. Microsoft is doing away with the iconic and dreaded Blue Screen of Death error message to make way for a cleaner one. The Blue Screen of Death, or BSOD, has been around since the early days of the Windows operating system. Created by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, it appears when a system suffers a fatal error in a programme, or the application becomes unresponsive. Some versions show an error code to help identify the specific problem. Now, the BSOD will be replaced by a Black Screen of Death. As the name suggests, the error message will have a black backdrop instead of a blue one. Microsoft has also taken away the sad face emoji and QR code. The new screen will just show a message that the device ran into a problem and needs to restart. The error codes will be pushed to the bottom of the screen. 'This is really an attempt on clarity and providing better information and allowing us and customers to really get to what the core of the issue is so we can fix it faster,' David Weston, vice president of enterprise and OS security at Microsoft, told The Verge in an interview. Microsoft is expected to roll out the new BSOD design later this summer, along with its new Quick Machine Recovery feature that can help quickly restore machines that can't boot. The new BSOD error screen is part of a broader effort by Microsoft to improve the resiliency of Windows in the wake of last year's CrowdStrike incident, which left millions of Windows machines booting to a BSOD.
Time of India
11 hours ago
- Time of India
Microsoft is killing Windows' Blue Screen of Death
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads After 40 years, Windows computers will soon crash differently. Microsoft is doing away with the iconic and dreaded Blue Screen of Death error message to make way for a cleaner Blue Screen of Death, or BSOD, has been around since the early days of the Windows operating system. Created by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer , it appears when a system suffers a fatal error in a programme, or the application becomes unresponsive. Some versions show an error code to help identify the specific the BSOD will be replaced by a Black Screen of Death . As the name suggests, the error message will have a black backdrop instead of a blue one. Microsoft has also taken away the sad face emoji and QR code. The new screen will just show a message that the device ran into a problem and needs to restart. The error codes will be pushed to the bottom of the screen.'This is really an attempt on clarity and providing better information and allowing us and customers to really get to what the core of the issue is so we can fix it faster,' David Weston, vice president of enterprise and OS security at Microsoft, told The Verge in an is expected to roll out the new BSOD design later this summer, along with its new Quick Machine Recovery feature that can help quickly restore machines that can't boot. The new BSOD error screen is part of a broader effort by Microsoft to improve the resiliency of Windows in the wake of last year's CrowdStrike incident , which left millions of Windows machines booting to a BSOD.
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Microsoft to make Windows more resilient following 2024 IT outage
This story was originally published on Cybersecurity Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Cybersecurity Dive newsletter. Microsoft plans to roll out key platform upgrades in July in an effort to build greater operational resilience into the Windows platform, following the 2024 global IT outage linked to a faulty software update from CrowdStrike. The changes — including quick machine recovery and other features letting Microsoft 365 users continue accessing the cloud in a protected environment — are part of a Windows overhaul that Microsoft announced in November to build a more secure environment that would prevent software updates from causing widespread operational disruptions for enterprise customers. In September, the company met with major security firms to discuss how such an overhaul would work. 'We recognize our shared responsibility to enhance resiliency by openly sharing information about how our products function, handle updates and manage disruptions,' David Weston, corporate vice president of enterprise and OS security at Microsoft, said in a blog post released Thursday. Microsoft's partners welcomed the changes and said they would create a more secure environment for customers. 'The Microsoft Windows endpoint security program encourages a collaborative, transparent environment that will strengthen cyber resilience for all customers,' Jim Treinen, senior vice president of engineering at Trellix, told Cybersecurity Dive via email. The July 2024 outage caused approximately 8.5 million Windows systems to malfunction, resulting in major disruptions across a wide variety of critical infrastructure providers. Emergency services providers, major hospitals, airlines and banks all reported significant problems. After an internal investigation, CrowdStrike said the problem resulted from a botched software update on its Falcon platform. The disruptions caused billions of dollars in losses for companies that faced lost productivity and other challenges.
Engadget
14 hours ago
- Engadget
Windows is finally kicking the Blue Screen of Death to the curb
The notorious Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) is finally heading to a junkyard upstate. This error message has been a key part of the Windows experience for almost 40 years. Microsoft has been teasing this change for years , but now we know the crash screen will be removed in an update to Windows 11 that's coming later this summer . Windows computers are still going to crash , so there needs to be some sort of error screen. Microsoft is transitioning to a Black Screen of Death instead. This new crash screen will be black, as the name suggests, and there will be no cutesy frowny face and QR code. It'll just be a black screen with a short message that tells users they need to restart. The new BSOD recalls the black screen shown during a Windows update, but it will list the stop code and system driver that contributed to the crash. This should make life easier for IT admins. 'This is really an attempt on clarity and providing better information and allowing us and customers to really get to what the core of the issue is so we can fix it faster,' David Weston, vice president of enterprise and OS security at Microsoft, said in an interview with The Verge . 'Part of it is just cleaner information on what exactly went wrong." The new BSOD will debut alongside the Quick Machine Recovery feature . This tool is designed to restore machines that won't boot. These changes are being made in the wake of last year's CrowdStrike incident that crashed over 8 million Windows devices. That massive outage impacted banks, airlines and major corporations.
