Latest news with #blueScreenOfDeath
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Yahoo
I never thought I'd mourn Microsoft's blue screen of death, but here we are
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. It's official, Microsoft just killed a part of my childhood nostalgia. Okay, maybe that's a little dramatic, but the company recently announced it's retiring the humble blue screen of death, and quite frankly, I never thought I'd miss it. The iconic critical error screen was by no means the peak of outstanding UX and digital design, but over the years, I've come to love the simplicity of the watery blue screen paired with that disingenuous little sad face. I dare say I'm forlorn to see my old friend put into retirement, so here's to the blue screen of death – soon to be gone, but not forgotten. In a recent blog post, Microsoft announced that the blue error screen would soon be replaced with a more streamlined experience to "maintain productivity and minimise disruptions" during reboots. The Windows 11 24H2 update will now feature a slightly more ominous black screen of death (sans comforting sad face) to reduce downtime by approximately two seconds. Set to roll out later this summer, Microsoft claims that the update "improves readability and aligns better with Windows 11 design principles, while preserving the technical information on the screen for when it is needed." While I'm sad to see the :( go, I'm grateful for the precious two seconds of my life I'll be getting back. For more design news, check out Monzo's brilliant new UI or take a look at how Microsoft is mocking Apple's Liquid Glass UI design
CNET
01-07-2025
- CNET
Microsoft's 'Blue Screen of Death' Dies After 40 Years of Memes, Jokes, T-Shirts
Like Pudding Pops and Benetton sweaters, another 1980s icon is gone. After 40 years of delivering the tragic news of a PC crash to Windows users, Microsoft's infamous "blue screen of death" is going away. A black screen of death will be replacing it, albeit without the sad face. The blue screen of death has been around since Windows 1.0 came out in 1985. Named for its bright blue color, it's a critical error screen that pops up on computers using the Microsoft Windows operating system when the system crashes. The text on the screen varies, but it's sometimes accompanied by a frowning face made up of a colon and a left parenthesis. :( Microsoft says the new black screen of death, which it calls a "simplified UI for unexpected restarts," will appear in its place starting later this summer on all Windows 11, version 24H2 devices. Meet the new black screen of death. Microsoft The black screen of death will show the stop code and faulty system driver, allowing IT admins to more quickly identify the issue that caused the crash, rather than having to use debugging software. It's not just a cosmetic change, it's part of Microsoft's Windows Resiliency Initiative, which is designed to increase resiliency and security in Windows systems. In a blog post on Thursday, Microsoft said that the new black screen of death is part of "streamlining the unexpected restart experience" and aiding in "quick machine recovery." The aim is to reduce recovery time to 2 seconds following a PC crash. The Windows Resiliency Initiative was launched following 2024's CrowdStrike outage, which caused systems to go offline for numerous businesses, airports and governmental services. More than 8 million devices were affected. A pop-culture icon Over 40 years, the blue screen of death worked its way into pop culture, with plenty of memes, a subreddit devoted to it, and T-shirts and other items bearing its image. When Microsoft suffered a massive global IT outage due to a CrowdStrike security update in July 2024, one X user dubbed the day International BlueScreen Day, sharing a photo of a conference room full of laptops all showing the blue screen of death. Something about the unmistakable blue color of the error screen mixed with the frowny emoticon -- and the reminder that everyone's computer crashed once in a while -- made it an icon. "I bought my husband a blue screen of death T-shirt and he wore it to work at Microsoft corporate headquarters back in the day," CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper said. "I wondered for a minute if anyone would be offended, but the first day he wore it, multiple people came up to him in the cafeteria to compliment it and ask where they could buy one for themselves."
Entrepreneur
27-06-2025
- Entrepreneur
Microsoft's 'Blue Screen of Death' Is Changing to Black
Microsoft is changing the infamous blue screen — that you never want to see. Microsoft outlined a major change to its "Windows Resiliency Initiative" this week in an effort to make the company's products "more secure and resilient" after last year's CrowdStrike outage. In a blog post on Thursday, Microsoft said it is "streamlining the unexpected restart experience" and adding "quick machine recovery, a recovery mechanism for PCs that cannot restart successfully." But the big change people will notice right away (well, hoping you never have to see it) is that the color of the "blue screen of death," which has been around for 40 years, will now be black. Related: The Largest IT Outage in History Took Place on Friday Due to a Crowdstrike Update. Here's How the CEO Is Responding. Or, as TechCrunch notes, the blue screen of death will now be the "black screen of death." The new Windows 11 unexpected restart screen (Courtesy: Microsoft) "This change is part of a larger, continued effort to reduce disruption in the event of an unexpected restart," Microsoft wrote in the blog post. "We're introducing a simplified user interface (UI) that pairs with the shortened experience." Microsoft says the blue to black switch, or "updated UI," helps to improve readability and "aligns better with Windows 11 design principles, while preserving the technical information on the screen for when it is needed." Blue digital boards are seen due to the global communications outage caused by CrowdStrike, which provides cybersecurity services to US technology company Microsoft, in Times Square in New York City, on July 19, 2024. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images) The black screens will certainly stand out less if there's ever another major issue. The CrowdStrike outage affected more than 8.5 million Windows devices (and all of the businesses that use them, from airlines to sports stadiums), which led to a spate of viral images showing the "blue screen of death" on huge screens from stock exchanges to Times Square. Related: Read the Memo from CrowdStrike Explaining How Its Update Broke the World's Computers
The Independent
27-06-2025
- The Independent
Microsoft is replacing its iconic blue screen of death
Microsoft is replacing its iconic blue screen of death with a new black screen of death, nearly 40 years after its introduction. The change aims to streamline unexpected restarts, provide clearer information to users, and improve the recovery process for Windows systems. This initiative follows a major global outage last year that affected millions of Windows users, including airlines, hospitals, and banks, causing billions in losses. The new recovery system, featuring a simplified user interface, is designed to reduce restart wait times to two seconds for most users. The rollout of the updated system is scheduled for later this summer on all Windows 11 24H2 devices.
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- 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.
