Oh, the terror! If you thought the BSOD on older versions of Windows made you feel kind of blue, then prepare for a plunge into darkness. The BSOD on Windows 11 is glorious in its very blackness.
That is to say, fatal errors in the new operating system now come with a black background.
Windows 11 comes with a bucketful of improvements, mostly centered around spiffing up the UI of the operating system. There are rounded corners, a new Start Menu, and features like native support for running Android apps.
But there are other subtle changes scattered throughout as well.
Microsoft, it seems, took the opportunity to refresh the infamous BSOD with a new coat of paint. Now called the Black Screen of Death, this is how Windows 11 throws up an error message when things go really, really wrong:
The reason behind this change, you ask?
One, it could simply be a change for the sake of it. Microsoft is giving pretty much all areas of the operating system a look, so why not this. Or, it could be dictated via the rise of OLED screens, where black colors absolutely shine.
Besides, it’s hard to tell whether this is a temporary change, or if Redmond actually does want to make this screen black in the full version of the operating system. It could well be the company simply testing things out with the Insider builds in a bid to gain some feedback.
The company did something similar with Windows 10, if you recall.
A couple of years back, as part of its program testing, the software titan introduced a new color specifically for Windows Insiders where the preview builds threw up a green error screen. They were technically called the Green Screen of Death.
So, this could just be another change in that vein.
Besides, considering just how stable and reliable Windows 11 is overall, this new BSOD will not show too often in the first place. Unlike, you know, the horror days of Windows 98.
Since Microsoft has not offered any information on the Black Screen of Death, it will be interesting to see if this change sticks in the final version of Windows 11 or we get a return of its blue sibling that has terrorized Windows users through the ages.
