14 DAY TRIAL // A few weeks ago, a leaked Windows 10 build introduced what many users didn’t actually expect: a green screen of death (GSOD) that was originally believed to replace the traditional blue screen error that’s been around for so long.
Teased by a Microsoft engineer, the GSOD was only spotted by a few users, as critical errors are less frequent these days, but pointed to a change that the Redmond-based tech giant was planning for its operating system.
And yet, as it was revealed at that point, the green screen of death was specifically introduced for Insider builds, as Microsoft wanted to be able to distinguish preview builds from production ones more easily.
The GSOD is now a real thing
And the latest Windows 10 preview build officially introduces the new green screen of death, with Windows Insider boss Dona Sarkar confirming that the purpose of the new color is to help make a difference between stable and preview builds.
“In an effort to more easily distinguish Windows Insider reports vs the reports of those on production builds, we’ve updated the bugcheck page (blue screen) to be green. Released versions of Windows 10 will continue to have the classic blue color, including the final release of the Windows 10 Creators Update,” Dona said.
The Creators Update due in April will stick with the blue screen of death, although it goes without saying that you shouldn’t see it anyway, especially since it’s a stable build. Errors do happen, however, so the green one shouldn’t show up on your PC if you’re not running a preview build.
In case you’re wondering, the blue screen of death made its debut in 1993 in Windows NT 3.1, which was the very first Windows NT version, and it’s been available in Microsoft’s operating system ever since. The new green color for Insider builds is one of the biggest changes, although it also received several updates throughout its history, including a sad smiley face with the debut of Windows 8.