The blue screen of death is one of the most feared mistakes in Windows because it usually represents a serious malfunction that affects the system so much that it has to crash, stop all processes, and restart the computer to protect itself. Nowadays, it is most normal that the device eventually recovers and works without problems again, except in specific cases, but a few years ago the opposite happened.

I perfectly remember the images of death in Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows XP and Windows Vista They were almost always synonymous with irreparable failure and the need to reinstall the operating system, although I admit that starting with Windows XP things started to improve, and in Windows 7 the change was already quite significant in terms of successful recovery from this type of error.

Blue screens can be caused by a number of causes, from serious errors at the driver and system software levels to hardware-level failures. Something as simple as a little dust which affects the RAM contacts can also cause a blue screen. Knowing how to identify and resolve them is therefore important for Windows users who aspire to an advanced level.

The real blue screen of death in Windows.

Who was the author of the Windows Blue Screen of Death?

Since its inception, the blue screen of death in Windows They were presented in a very characteristic waywith a blue background of a different tone, darker or lighter depending on the version of Windows, and white text describing the type of error that caused it and possibly the options and commands we had to follow or reboot the system.

With the massive CrowdStrike debacle, the Windows blue screen has once again taken center stage, reviving interest in this iconic error message. It has been rumored for years that the original text was written by Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft, but this is not entirely true, because in reality it is not that simple, because there are three different blue screens of death.

The original Windows 3.1 wrote Steve Ballmer, although the latter only dealt with the text and not the code to display it at the operating system level, probably because he didn’t have the knowledge to do so. He wrote the final version of the Windows 95 screenshot Raymond Chenand the blue screen of death for the Windows NT kernel he wrote John Vert. This information was confirmed by Chen via Microsoft’s official blog.

Over the years, the concept and basics of the blue screen of death have not changed. It’s surprising that Microsoft didn’t look for friendlier and more user-friendly alternatives, but since this is something that presents serious flaws and is routinely far from the profile of the average Windows user He didn’t even consider it a priority.

AI generated cover image.