05-02-2018 , 12:40 AM
https://news.softpedia.com/news/did-you-...0928.shtml Did You Know? Microsoft Has Its Own Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Screensaver
Screensaver was purchased as part of Winternals acquisition
May 1, 2018 12:35 GMT · By Bogdan Popa ·
The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) has become a symbol of Windows, especially in the case of older versions of the operating system where it was a more common thing than it is today.
But on the other hand, while getting a BSOD is extremely frustrating, especially when it shows up all of a sudden and on a regular basis, simulating such an error has long been one of the favorite pranks in office environments.
Microsoft itself provides the necessary arsenal for setting up such a prank in the form of a screensaver that was first released more than a decade ago.
Called BlueScreen Screen Saver, this little tool wasn’t developed by the Redmond-based software giant, but instead was purchased as part of the acquisition of Winternals back in 2006. This is also the year when the screensaver was released for download on Microsoft’s website, and the links are still alive these days.
Public Blue Screen of Death
The screensaver was created by Mark Russinovich, currently the CTO of Microsoft Azure, but previously the founder of Winternals Software together with Bryce Cogswell. Russinovich also founded the famous website sysinternals.com, where he published several super-popular and useful tools for Windows, which were later acquired by Microsoft as well.
The BlueScreen Screen Saver offers support for Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, and Windows Server 2003, and for each version, it comes with a native BSOD screen replica to make it look as legit as possible.
“One of the most feared colors in the NT world is blue. The infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) will pop up on an NT system whenever something has gone terribly wrong. Bluescreen is a screen saver that not only authentically mimics a BSOD, but will simulate startup screens seen during a system boot,” its description reads.
While using it on a modern system running Windows 8 or Windows 10 no longer makes sense given that Microsoft changed the design of the BSOD, this screensaver comes with options that you can’t find in other similar apps, like the possibility of reading information from the system to display error information relevant for the used hardware. The developer explains:
“USE THIS SCREENSAVER TO SCARE YOUR ENEMIES, MICROSOFT SAYS.”
“Bluescreen cycles between different Blue Screens and simulated boots every 15 seconds or so. Virtually all the information shown on Bluescreen's BSOD and system start screen is obtained from your system configuration - its accuracy will fool even advanced NT developers. For example, the NT build number, processor revision, loaded drivers and addresses, disk drive characteristics, and memory size are all taken from the system Bluescreen is running on.”
Obviously, a screensaver doesn’t make much sense these days and there are only a few people out there still using them, but this shows that despite the bad reputation that BSODs had many years ago, Microsoft didn’t mind to use them for helping office workers prank their colleagues.
In the meantime, the BSOD not only that evolved with a new design, but they also got a green sibling. The Green Screen of Death, also known as GSOD, is being used by Microsoft for preview builds of Windows 10 updates in an attempt to help determine whether an error was experienced on a production version of the OS or not. GSODs are currently implemented in builds shipped to participants in the Windows Insider program, and whenever someone posts online such an error, Microsoft can easily tell it comes from a pre-release version.
The good thing is that the likelihood of getting a BSOD these days has decreased substantially, as Microsoft spends more time fixing issues before rolling out new software, updates, or OS versions to production devices. Of course, this doesn’t change too much. Getting a BSOD is frustrating, no matter when, why, and how often it shows up.
Screensaver was purchased as part of Winternals acquisition
May 1, 2018 12:35 GMT · By Bogdan Popa ·
The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) has become a symbol of Windows, especially in the case of older versions of the operating system where it was a more common thing than it is today.
But on the other hand, while getting a BSOD is extremely frustrating, especially when it shows up all of a sudden and on a regular basis, simulating such an error has long been one of the favorite pranks in office environments.
Microsoft itself provides the necessary arsenal for setting up such a prank in the form of a screensaver that was first released more than a decade ago.
Called BlueScreen Screen Saver, this little tool wasn’t developed by the Redmond-based software giant, but instead was purchased as part of the acquisition of Winternals back in 2006. This is also the year when the screensaver was released for download on Microsoft’s website, and the links are still alive these days.
Public Blue Screen of Death
The screensaver was created by Mark Russinovich, currently the CTO of Microsoft Azure, but previously the founder of Winternals Software together with Bryce Cogswell. Russinovich also founded the famous website sysinternals.com, where he published several super-popular and useful tools for Windows, which were later acquired by Microsoft as well.
The BlueScreen Screen Saver offers support for Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, and Windows Server 2003, and for each version, it comes with a native BSOD screen replica to make it look as legit as possible.
“One of the most feared colors in the NT world is blue. The infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) will pop up on an NT system whenever something has gone terribly wrong. Bluescreen is a screen saver that not only authentically mimics a BSOD, but will simulate startup screens seen during a system boot,” its description reads.
While using it on a modern system running Windows 8 or Windows 10 no longer makes sense given that Microsoft changed the design of the BSOD, this screensaver comes with options that you can’t find in other similar apps, like the possibility of reading information from the system to display error information relevant for the used hardware. The developer explains:
“USE THIS SCREENSAVER TO SCARE YOUR ENEMIES, MICROSOFT SAYS.”
“Bluescreen cycles between different Blue Screens and simulated boots every 15 seconds or so. Virtually all the information shown on Bluescreen's BSOD and system start screen is obtained from your system configuration - its accuracy will fool even advanced NT developers. For example, the NT build number, processor revision, loaded drivers and addresses, disk drive characteristics, and memory size are all taken from the system Bluescreen is running on.”
Obviously, a screensaver doesn’t make much sense these days and there are only a few people out there still using them, but this shows that despite the bad reputation that BSODs had many years ago, Microsoft didn’t mind to use them for helping office workers prank their colleagues.
In the meantime, the BSOD not only that evolved with a new design, but they also got a green sibling. The Green Screen of Death, also known as GSOD, is being used by Microsoft for preview builds of Windows 10 updates in an attempt to help determine whether an error was experienced on a production version of the OS or not. GSODs are currently implemented in builds shipped to participants in the Windows Insider program, and whenever someone posts online such an error, Microsoft can easily tell it comes from a pre-release version.
The good thing is that the likelihood of getting a BSOD these days has decreased substantially, as Microsoft spends more time fixing issues before rolling out new software, updates, or OS versions to production devices. Of course, this doesn’t change too much. Getting a BSOD is frustrating, no matter when, why, and how often it shows up.