Microsoft's October batch of security patches and bug fixes caused some corporate PCs to suffer blue-screen-of-death crashes when starting up this week. The Redmond software giant has fielded multiple complaints on its support forum from system administrators, who said the KB4041676 and 4041691 updates are making their …

One of Microsoft's tools for debugging blue screens of death and other exciting Windows problems will be getting a bit easier to use. On Monday, Redmond announced a preview of a new Windows Debugger version with some UI tweaks including the iconic ribbon, a tidied-up file menu, a history of previous sessions and a scripting …

Every time the BSOD flood seems to taper off, yet another bunch arrive in the Vulture South inbox, and for some reason the latest crop seems to have a retail theme. reader "Ozzard", for example, fired in the BSOD below, spotted in a Marks & Spencer, and since it's the right shape for the top spot, here it is. BSOD at Marks …

Entries are thinning out for our irregular roundup of Blue Screens of Death, so the series will take a break (unless, of course, readers flood us with amusing sightings). Let's start at Sunglass Hut, in New York City, from Bob: BSOD at Sunglasses Hut Dave from Guernsey spotted this in the Houston, Texas mall called The …

This week's worldwide BSOD roundup starts with what looks to your writer like a virtualisation launch bug. Submitter Alexander tells us it came from Peterborough Station, in Cambridgeshire. Peterborough station BSOD What do you think, readers – is this an exotic BSOD that needs extra explanation? Don found one at decent …

BSOD WATCH For those of you who asked why there was no BSOD collection last week, the answer is simple: it was a holiday weekend in Australia. We hope this week's offerings make up for it. If you're running shy on fuel and in a hurry, this offering in California would leave you thankful that at least the gas station has more than one …

BSOD WATCH It's no surprise that public transport delivers up a huge number of BSODs, since transport needs to disseminate lots of information. So let's open this week's BSOD Watch with not one, but three BSODs readers spotted at London's aviation paradise, Heathrow Airport. Paul sent us a pair from 2012. Nice composition in the first, …

It's not always Microsoft's fault. Some of the dozens – literally – of submissions El Reg has received documenting Windows in a state of public undress show the world's most beloved operating system weeping because something else failed. Such as if the bootloader is corrupted or trying to find a hard drive that's not there. …

Last week, we asked readers for Linux BSODs, and ever-resourceful, you've gone beyond the call of duty and provided oddities that reach beyond our expectations. Mark yourselves down as “KPI exceeded”. Linux Airbus BSOD For the above image, Paulo kicked things off with a complaint that we're becoming a kind of anti-shill for …

It's not only size that matters: sometimes, the context of a BSOD also makes it fun. Lifts are always a rich vein of Windows worries. As reader Charles told us for the following: BSOD in a lift It's just for advertising, right? It's not actually controlling the lift. Right? Bueller? “Eight years ago I was visiting a …

It's an easy drive-by troll, isn't it? Last week, we asked readers to top the five-storey Blue Screen of Death spotted in Thailand, and examples big and small flooded the inbox. Manchester Piccadilly Station is either vying for the crown with last week's entry, or perhaps it's a display from the same maker. Thanks to James for …

Updated Encrypted disk users who upgrade to Norton 2015 have been confronted by the dreaded Blue Screen of Death. Norton 2015 appears to trigger a crash on Windows 8.1 PCs that runs a disk encryption driver, according to user complaints about the problem in a thread on a Symantec support forum. Many of those affected are running …

Microsoft has reissued a security patch for Windows that previously caused PCs to suffer blue screens of death. The new release comes 10 days after Redmond advised people to uninstall the dodgy update. "This month we had our first roll out with additional non-security updates. A small number of customers experienced problems …

Symantec has apologised after an update to its security software sparked repeated crashes on enterprise Windows XP machines. The antivirus giant withdrew the misfiring definition update, issued on 11 July, hours after problems first appeared, releasing a revised update the next day. No new issues have been reported since this …

Windows 8 doesn't just put Microsoft's operating system on finger-friendly tablets, it also gives the notorious Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) a touchy makeover. Known officially as a bug check, the BSOD has been overhauled so it can take its place in an age of brevity and emoticons. The Windows 8 BSOD still features the …

OCZ forum users are up in arms about their high-performance Vertex 3 flash drives causing Windows PCs to go into a blue-screen-of-death (BSOD) state, and further angered by OCZ's unconcerned response. Poster GymRatZ told us: "I spent about 3 days attempting to get it recognised by Windows (7) 64 for install. Eventually after …