Windows users about to get major change to 'blue screen of death' when computer fails

The 'blue screen of death' is something that takes me back to my school IT lessons.

Having switched to MacBooks some 15 years ago, the blue screen has been replaced by that annoying rainbow circle thing you get when the screen freezes.

But it's impossible to forget how the blue warning message could quite literally ruin anything you'd be working on.

What is the blue screen of death?

So the blue screen of death is officially known as a 'Stop Error', which basically indicates that Windows can no longer operate safely.

"Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart as soon as we're finished collecting some error info," is the sort of message that tends to come up.

It can be caused by issues like hardware failure, faulty drivers, or corrupted system files.

The error message was first introduced in Windows 1.0 way back in 1985, and it's been evolving over time.

What the old error message looked like (Microsoft)

In earlier versions, the warning message featured a dark blue background with white text.

Since Windows 8 in 2012, Microsoft simplified it with what was said to be a more user-friendly experience.

However, the constant sight of the sad face emoji certainly would get on your nerves.

The blue screen of death is getting an update

The sad face was rubbing salt in the wounds (Microsoft)

So Microsoft has revealed that it's going to get rid of its blue screen of death. It's up to you if that's good news or not.

In a blog post on Thursday, the tech giant said it would be 'streamlining the unexpected restart experience'.

They are expected to unveil a new black unexpected restart screen, dubbed as an 'easier ' and 'faster' way to recover from restarts.

David Weston, Vice President Enterprise and OS Security at Microsoft, acknowledges that 'when unexpected restarts occur, they can cause delays and impact business continuity'.

"This is why we are streamlining the unexpected restart experience," he wrote.

"We are also adding quick machine recovery, a recovery mechanism for PCs that cannot restart successfully.

Vice President David Weston acknowledged how an outage could massively affect businesses (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"This change is part of a larger continued effort to reduce disruption in the event of an unexpected restart."

He noted that the Windows 11 24H2 version was able to reduce 'downtime during an unexpected restart to about two seconds for most users'.

But now they are set to introduce 'a simplified user interface (UI) that pairs with the shortened experience'.

"The updated UI improves readability and aligns better with Windows 11 design principles, while preserving the technical information on the screen for when it is needed," he added.

Users upgrading to the latest software can expect to see the change this summer.