At the Roots of Windows Blue Screen of Death
Unfortunately for Microsoft, one of the aspects of its proprietary operating system that has grown to become associated by default with the Windows brand is the Blue Screen of Death. BSOD, for short, is the result of a critical system error that will stop the operating system dead in its tracks and lead to a reboot.
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17.7.2008 Microsoft to Kill Windows XP Blue Edition
Microsoft is attempting to kill the Blue Edition of Windows XP. In mid-2008 the Redmond company discontinued the availability of retail and OEM licenses of Windows XP, with the exception of copies of the operating system going onto ultra-low-cost laptops and desktops.
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4.12.2008 Blue Badge patch for Windows 7 unlocks additional features
On November 2, Rafael Rivera, announced that his indications that the Windows 7 Pre-Beta Build 6801 has some locked additional options, were right.
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11.11.2008 Blue death on my hand :)
Microsoft's Blue Hat Shows It's Serious About Security
For critics of Microsoft Corp.'s software, 2003 was a very good year. The appearance of the Slammer and Blaster worms was evidence?if any were necessary?that things had gone badly awry at the Redmond, Wash., software giant.
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Windows 7 Logon Screen Rotator
Till Windows Vista & Xp there was no support for changing Login Screen background and you have to use third party apps like logon studio for changing login screen background.
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8.6.2009 How to Change Windows Vista Boot Screen
Some of you remember how it was possible to change the boot logo screen of Windows 95/98. I'm not sure why anyone would go into the trouble of actually doing it, but it seems that it is possible to do the same for Windows Vista.
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19.11.2007 Windows 7 695x boot screen revealed
Chris Holmes, Windows Enthusiast and blogger, has posted a short and somewhat blurry video of the new Windows 7 boot screen in action.
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4.12.2008 Trojan poses as Windows screen to collect data
Symantec has warned of a Trojan that has posed as a Windows activation program and duped users into entering credit card information.
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7.5.2007 Enable New Boot screen in Microsoft Windows Vista Beta 2
Tired of the pathetic boot screen in current Vista builds? There is a new trick that will allow you to see what may be the new boot screen for Windows Vista.
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12.5.2006 Windows 7 RTM Black Screen of Death after Forced Shutdown Actions
Microsoft has informed users of an issue that prevents Windows 7 from starting after the computer the OS is installed on has been forced shut down.
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7.10.2009 Matrix Screen Saver
Whether you're a newbie or senior software engineer, you want your screen savers to look cool, and this one fits the bill. It emulates the green Matrix code you see in the movie, with characters running vertically down the black background. You can set the resolution, the speed of the falling glyphs, and other options.
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SumoDance Screen Saver
Whose life can't be uplifted by the site of rows of dancing sumo wrestlers? Life's not so bad once you get to know these guys, as rows of them dance, bounce, and stomp to a goofy tune.
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UFO Screen Saver
Watch flying saucers zoom across a virtual cityscape. To preview the screen saver, unzip both files and put them in your c:windowssystem directory. Then go to the Control Panel, click the Display icon, and select the Screen Saver tab.
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Turkey Screen Saver
Adorn your desktop with some turkeys strutting across a simple black background. As the turkeys amble across the screen, they show a little knowledge of what will become of them Thanksgiving day--making for a poignant scene of innocence the moment before all is corrupted. You can choose from one to ten turkeys; the program also offers password protection.
Note that the screen saver shows the vendor's name on your desktop, and although this brash self-promotion can seem a bit annoying, it is tolerable--especially since the program is free, and because it's seasonal, you'll probably want it on your desktop for only a short time.
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Sea Life Screen Saver
Display a variety of sea life, including jellyfish, dolphins, sand sharks, and other underwater denizens. This screen saver works best at a resolution of 800 by 600 pixels, although 640 by 480 is also supported.
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Hubble Images Screen Saver
Take your mind to the heavens every time your computer is left idle. The Hubble Images Screen Saver displays images of nebulae and celestial bodies, captured by the world-famous telescope.
There's no other information concerning the images than the names, so if you wish to learn more about spacey sights with names like "Eta Carinae" or "NGC-3603," you'll have to look elsewhere. But the full-screen NASA photographs will jettison you to places far removed from this mudane, terrestrial existence.
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3D Dissolve Screen Saver
Watch 3D objects in random sizes and colors as they spin and transform. You might not see the same morphing twice. This updated version is smaller in size and has fixed a system key bug in Windows 95B.
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Halloween Witch Screen Saver
This screen saver shows a witch flying across the night sky, dropping pumpkins. A Halloween banner also slides down the screen.
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Flying Christmas Screen Saver
Watch Santa as he flies across your screen while Christmas music plays in the background. You specify the number of Santas to display and how fast they fly. You can also choose how long the included photos display before they fade out. The registered version contains ten photos.
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3D Santa Screen Saver
This screen saver features a 3D Santa Claus performing a variety of acrobatic acts (and a few unusual stunts, too). If you have a sound card, you can listen to some accompanying effects, as well.
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Rainy Night Screen Saver
Lull yourself to sleep with this screen saver, which adds rain and the delicate sound of distant thunder to your desktop.
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Models Celebrity screen saver
Angelica Bridges, Cindy Crawford, Meg Ryan Katherine Heigl, Pamela Anderson, Stacy Keibler are just a few of the Hot Models and Celebrities included in this Babe-Packed screensaver. You can also easily configure your favorite image from this screen saver as your desktop background.
(FREE - Win 95+ / 1.31 MB Easy install/uninstall)
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New Vista Screen Shots Hit the Web
ActiveWin has posted some
new Windows Vista screen shots of Build 5268, which is the "Interim OEM build," according to the site. We are still hearing that
5270 is what will be designated as the December Windows Vista Community Technology Preview (CTP) build, however.
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19.12.2005 Apple Confirms Touch-Screen iPod?
Apple may have slipped up and given the first public confirmation of the long-rumored touch-screen iPod. In a PDF document intended for developers discussing the iPod notes feature, the Cupertino, Calif. company references such a device.
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2.11.2006 New improved Win 7 Logon screen chenger
This app will auto resize you image to fit you current screen resolution. Must be run as admin. Works great.
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19.3.2009 High quality image Vista boot screen
Some people found a way to change that black boot screen of Windows Vista RTM to a high quality one, the one that was supposed to be in before it was cut from the final version.
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19.11.2006 Microsoft Researching Split-Screen Desktop Software
New technology from Microsoft Research India in Bangalore could end the waiting game in offices with limited computers. Researchers are developing software that splits a computer screen in two halves, each side with its own operating system, desktop, applications, cursor and keyboard.
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6.5.2007 Black screen of darkness to haunt Vista pirates
Microsoft Windows' infamous "blue screen of death" has become synonymous with an operating system crash or freeze, but that's nothing compared with what users of pirated copies of Vista worldwide can expect from now -- a black screen of darkness.
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12.9.2007 Microsoft: Vista's 'Black Screen of Death' Is a Hoax
Many other news sites have just picked up the original article believing that it's legit. We have already updated our original post from last night and are posting the following to correct any disinformation out there.
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12.9.2007Blue Screen of Death Survival Guide: Every Error Explained
Picture this: Its late at night, youre sitting at your computer playing a game or working on a project when, suddenly, Windows freezes completely. All
your work is gone, and you find a blue screen full of gibberish staring back at you. Windows is dead, Jim, at least until you reboot it. You have no
choice but to sigh loudly, shake your fist at Bill Gates and angrily push the reset button. Youve just been visited by the ghost of windows crashed:
The blue screen of death.
Also known as the BSoD, the Blue Screen of Death appears when Windows crashes or locks up. Its actually
a Windows stop screen, and is designed to do two things: tell you the reason for the error, and to calm your nerves, hence the use of the color blue
(studies show it has a relaxing effect on people). Though Blue Screens are difficult to decipher, all the information you need to figure out what
caused it is right there in front of you in blue and whiteand thats where we come in. Were going to show you how to dissect the blue screen error
details, so you can fix the problem thats causing them.
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01.05.2009Apple releases iTunes 8 update to fix Vista blue screen of death
UPDATED Apple has released an updated version of iTunes 8 to correct the blue screen of death problems some users have been experiencing after
installing the software. The issue relates to a driver that conflicts with Windows Vista...
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13.09.2008How to create a Blue Screen of Death
Feeling nostalgic about the Microsoft Blue Screen of Death, which used to plague desktops in the bad old days of Windows? No need to keep those
feelings locked away. This handy guide will show you how to force your PC to recreate the infamous error.
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21.08.2008Beat those bluescreen blues: what a Windows bluescreen actually means
The Windows Blue Screen of Death is hated and maligned, but it's really just trying to help. Read on to find out what it's trying to tell you.
Dan Warne recently
had a cheeky dig at what
some consider to be the quintessential interactive Windows screen the blue screen of death, or BSOD.
Certainly, the unfriendly,
its all over for you vibe which every BSOD gives off has given Windows system faults a bad reputation over time. Personally, I rather like these
haiku error messages...
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20.11.2007Daniel Pearson: Debugging a Windows Blue Screen of Death
Daniel goes through the four key reasons why BSODs happen, how Windows allocates memory and how developers need to be careful when setting kernel mode
memory. Daniel then goes through a real-world example of a faulty device driver and how to debug and diagnose issues. Daniel also shows how to read
and write data to an application process, like Notepad using WinDbg.
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17.07.2008Windows 7 allows remote blue-screen attacks
Windows 7 when it ships next month will be vulnerable to an attack that hasn't been possible since 1999, a new vulnerability
found by a security researcher shows. Sending a deliberately
malformed network negotiation request can force a Windows 7 system into a page fault that triggers a "blue screen of death" error, even without the
user's help in launching the code. The attack affects both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the OS.
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08.09.2009True blue for OLED screens discovered
Blue, the color that has been holding back OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screen technology may be one giant step closer to production.
Previously scientists were only able to reproduce red and green OLED's but had stumbled upon finding a material for true blue OLEDs. No longer is
that the case as a group of researchers in Korea have claimed to have discovered the true blue OLED. This means that we will hopefully have consumer
OLED products on the market sooner rather than later. Why is having OLED on the market important? OLED products have greater field of vision,
better color quality and require less power. Overall it's a better value for the consumer and the environment.
Read full story.....
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24.11.2008Apple rolls back problem driver in new iTunes 8 update
Apple has responded quickly to reports that its
initial release of iTunes 8 caused STOP errors (AKA
the Blue Screen of Death) on some Windows machines.
The issue is documented in support article
TS2280, “iTunes 8: If Windows Vista displays a blue screen error message when connecting iPhone
or iPod,” which tersely describes the symptoms...
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12.09.2008New IBM supercomputer achieves petaflop
IBM has devised a new Blue
Gene supercomputer--the Blue
Gene/P--that will be capable
of processing more than 3
quadrillion operations a
second, or 3 petaflops, a
possible record. Blue Gene/P
is designed to continuously
operate at more than 1
petaflop in real-world
situations.
Blue
Gene/P marks a significant
milestone in computing. Last
November, the Blue Gene/L was
ranked as the most powerful
computer on the planet: it
topped out at 280 teraflops,
or 280 trillion operations a
second during continuous
operation.
Put
another way, a Blue Gene/P
operating at a petaflop is
performing more operations
than a 1.5-mile-high stack of
laptops. ..
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26.06.2007Apple Confirms Some Leopard 'Blue Screens,' Posts Fix
Apple is confirming that some installations of its Leopard operating system have left a "Blue Screen of Death," and recommends the OS be
reinstalled or installers use "line commands" to get the systems booting properly. After a much-anticipated launch on Oct. 26, user reviews
of Leopard began surfacing on the Internet by the hundreds over the weekend. But as the night and morning wore on Saturday, a greater number of
reviews and comments on Web forums began complaining of the blue screen, and said the problem left their Mac-based computers "bricked."
On its own web site, Apple has acknowledged the complaints and responded with its suggested solution. The news-social network Digg.com began
linking to Apples posting early Sunday morning. "After completing an upgrade installation of Leopard and restarting the computer, a blue screen
may appear for an extended period of time," Apple wrote.
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29.10.2007Vista's Purple Screen of Death
We've all heard of (and, quite unfortunately, experienced) the infamous
Blue Screen of Death. Some of us who tested the earlier Windows Vista beta builds had the unique experience of trying out the
Red of Screen Death, which occurred when the bootloader
experienced an un-handled exception (we experienced more than our fair share of these during the early days of EasyBCD development!). And then
there's
Vista's Purple Screen of
Death, which few have seen.
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04.12.2007Dreaded Blue Screen of Death mars some Leopard installs
Apple support drones are getting an earful from Mac users who are getting the dreaded Blue Screen of Death while trying to update to the latest and
greatest version of OS X. This
thread on an official
Apple support forum has more than 200 posts left in 25 hours at time of writing. A large percentage of the writers report getting a persistent
blue screen that forces them to abort their installation of Leopard.
Among the signs that something is awry is the following post
from a Mac user in Australia:
I've just been on the phone to Apple AU support for an hour (around half of that spent on
hold, but on-and-off as they sometimes consulted other techs), and they definitely know of the BSOD issue, said they started taking calls from 9am
Friday as the first (early courier!) deliveries of Leopard were installed, and they've been flat out, "phones ringing non-stop" since then. Implied
that Apple stateside has been swamped (as you can imagine) and they haven't been able to pinpoint the issue causing the BSOD but "they're looking
into it".
It's still not clear what's causing the snafu...
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27.10.2007Latest iTunes 8 update causes Vista user headaches
Some Windows users are getting the infamous "blue screen of death" after installing the iTunes 8 update, which some say tracks back to extra
software that is being installed along with the software...
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12.09.2008Fiat Puts Windows Mobile in
New Cars
Italian automaker Fiat has
joined forces with Microsoft
to unveil a voice-activated
in-car communications system
called Blue&Me at the
Geneva Motorshow this month.
Blue&Me is based on
Windows Mobile for Automotive
and offers a wide range of
functionality, along with
connectivity to wireless
devices...
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04.02.2006Android gets skinned, finally
The standard "analog clock floating over blue water" home screen is getting much-needed skinnability with the Open Home app
..
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09.03.2009Finger-pointing over Leopard blue screens heats up
The creators of APE on Saturday denied that their application-enhancement framework is responsible for blue-screening Macs being upgraded to Leopard.
Apple Inc., however, blamed the software in a support document advising users to delete APE from their machines.
Within hours of
Leopard's Friday debut, users began reporting a
"blue screen of death" that appeared after running the default Upgrade option. On affected Macs, the blue screen stymied the
required restart after the install, locking users out of their computers.
The
Installation and Setup forum on Apple's support site was
quickly flooded with messages, including one that fingered Unsanity LLC's APE (Application Enhancer), software required to run Mac customizing haxies
such as ShapeShifter, as the culprit. A user identified as Chris Mcculloh posted instructions on manually deleting APE using the Unix command line to
kick the Mac through the restart.
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28.10.2007Black screen of darkness to haunt Vista pirates
Microsoft Windows' infamous "Blue Screen of Death" has become synonymous with an operating system crash or freeze, but that's nothing compared
with what users of pirated copies of Vista worldwide can expect from now - a black screen of darkness.
In an e-mail to a large
Windows Vista OEM distributor titled "Pirated Vista - A darkness descends!", a local Microsoft representative made it quite clear what Vista pirates
can expect to happen to their unlicenced installations.
A copy of this e-mail was obtained by Computerworld:
Good Afternoon, As of this week, Microsoft have
activated a function in Vista called 'Reduced Functionality'. This is a specific
function in Vista which effectively disables non genuine copies of Windows. Therefore, anyone who has a pirated copy of Vista will
experience...
winbeta.org - 11.09.2007
Windows 7 695x Boot Screen Video
Chris Holmes: So last week, winfuture posted about Windows 7 build 6954 having a new boot screen. Ever since then, people have been wanting to see
exactly what this new boot screen looks like. I can tell you it looks pretty nifty. It is basically 4 animating balls that come together and form a
glowing windows flag, making for a pretty cool effect.
I recently had a chance to film this boot screen in action, so without
further ado, watch the video of the new Windows 7 boot screen...
winbeta.org - 04.12.2008
Windows 7 695x boot screen revealed
Chris Holmes, Windows Enthusiast and blogger, has posted a short and somewhat blurry video of the new Windows 7 boot screen in action. The latest
sign of changes for Windows 7 signals a departure from the Vista boot up screen. Microsoft kept the boot screen simple with Vista after asking BIOS
makers, PC makers, and video card makers to remove product advertisement screens at system boot. Microsoft created a simple boot method which it
claimed took 6 seconds off initial boot compared to the more graphical boot that it had originally planned with the Longhorn betas.
Read full story.....
neowin.net - 04.12.2008
Blue Pill virtualisation rootkit freely available
Rootkit specialist Joanna
Rutkowska has provided
open access to the source
code of a new version of the
virtualisation rootkit Blue
Pill, which has been rewritten
from scratch. She presented a
prototype of the rootkit at
the Black Hat conference in
Las Vegas in 2006.
The new version of
Blue Pill has not just been
revised, it also offers new
functionality and, according
to the description, relies on
the virtualisation support
offered by modern processors
(HVM, hardware virtualised
machines).
It is claimed that the new
Blue Pill can migrate Windows
into a virtual environment
whilst it is running; without
restarting, and invisibly to
the user. This would make it
undetectable from within the
system using current detection
methods. The rootkit supports
AMD's SVM/Pacifica
virtualisation to infiltrate a
hypervisor into Windows whilst
it is running, but is not yet
able to utilise Intel's VT-x
virtualisation. Blue Pill now
also includes several
functions specifically aimed
at hindering recognition by
rootkit detectors. It is
apparently able to support
nested hypervisors and to
manipulate Time Stamp Clock
Register (TSCR) readings to
thwart detection of stolen CPU
cycles: a technique known as
RDTSC cheating. ..
winbeta.org - 04.08.2007
