Is the Windows 10 blue screen of death changing?

10 months ago

Microsoft users familiar with the sinking feeling that comes from being confronted with the “blue screen of death” that is the backdrop to error messages could be in for a surprise in the future, thanks to a colour change.

Those on Microsoft’s beta testing scheme – the Windows 10 Insiders Program – are now seeing a green screen rather than a blue one when things go wrong.

In betas – which are unfinished pieces of software being tested by users to find bugs – faults and issues can be a fairly regular occurrence.

Microsoft said the change has been introduced to help it distinguish between the error reports in consumer-available Windows 10 and the beta versions currently being tested, so the tech giant knows how pressing an issue is.

The change was made as part of a new beta version of Windows 10 that appeared on Monday, and comes ahead of Microsoft’s next major update to Windows 10 for consumers – the Creators Update – which is due to be released in the spring.

It is worth noting that not all updates made in beta versions will end up going live to consumers – the aim of the Insiders Program is to establish exactly which features work and which don’t.

Among the other changes in the latest beta version, alongside the green screen, was a tweak to the Start menu that enables users to place tiles into folders.