The blue screen of death on Windows® can be fixed by restarting in safe mode, running a virus check, performing a system recovery, or repairing/reinstalling Windows®. If all else fails, seek professional help.
The blue screen of death means that a Windows® operating system has encountered a problem that it can’t easily fix, but you may be able to take action and help fix your computer. One of the first steps is to restart your computer, and if that doesn’t fix the blue screen of death, restart it again, in safe mode. If these options don’t work, the next steps require you to restore your system or remove certain hardware components, as some installations can cause your system to crash. In some cases, it is necessary to repair or reinstall Windows®, as system files may be damaged.
Despite the intimidating name of this computer problem, one of the main ways to fix the blue screen of death is a simple restart. If restarting your computer doesn’t fix the bug, you may need to restart it in safe mode, which loads only a few drivers and helps you locate the software causing the problem. Reboot into safe mode by repeatedly pressing the F8 key when the Power-On Self Test (POST) screen appears. You will see a menu appear after pressing F8 and you should select Safe Mode, after which Windows® should load. Run a virus check in safe mode to make sure malware isn’t the problem, and delete any viruses found.
If starting your computer in safe mode does not isolate and uninstall the software or virus causing the crash, perform a system recovery. This will return your computer to the state before installing the software that could be causing the problem. To fix the blue screen of death this way, restart in safe mode, enter your administrator password when prompted, and type “system restore” into the Start menu. Select the date before you last installed the software you think caused the crash, and your computer will roll back to that date. If that doesn’t fix the blue screen of death, uninstall any recently added hardware to your computer.
If none of these steps work, Windows® may need to be repaired, as your files may be corrupted. Insert the Windows® CD into your disc drive and use the Windows® Recovery Console to repair your files. If that doesn’t work, you can use the same CD to completely reinstall Windows®. Most computers will be fixed at this point, but if yours isn’t, you may need to pay a professional to fix the blue screen of death.
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