Jun 23, 2020
FACES OF DEATH
Windows' (in)famous Bug Check error handler - more colloquially known as the Blue Screen of Death to many users* - first debuted in 1990's Windows 3.0, and has seen several redesigns and re-implementations in the intervening 30 years. As a consequence of that passage of time, a particularly interesting tidbit about many iterations of said error handler has slipped into obscurity: Your screen of death need not be blue on many older versions of Windows. Those seeking a less passé hue for their designer error screens could make use of the MessageBackColor and MessageTextColor setting in system.ini.
*As an additional factoid, the exact providence of the phrase "blue screen of death" seems to have itself faded into obscurity.
