Microsoft is ending its iconic “blue screen of death” after 40 years, replacing it with a new black screen that aims to improve system recovery time. The change is part of the company’s Windows Resiliency Initiative, designed to increase security and resiliency in Windows systems.
The blue screen, known for its bright blue color and frowning face, was introduced in 1985 with Windows 1.0. It displayed a critical error message when the system crashed, but it often left users frustrated with debugging software.
Microsoft’s new black screen of death will show stop code and faulty system driver information, allowing IT administrators to quickly identify issues. The aim is to reduce recovery time to just 2 seconds after a PC crash. This change is part of Microsoft’s efforts to streamline the unexpected restart experience and aid in quick machine recovery.
The move comes after the 2024 CrowdStrike outage, which affected over 8 million devices across various industries. The Windows Resiliency Initiative was launched in response to this incident.
Source: https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/microsoft-officially-retires-blue-screen-of-death-after-40-years-of-frowny-faces