Gaming Tips and Tricks #2: Blue Screen of Death

Some of you might not want to see the Blue Screen of Death but it's a whole lot more helpful than not reading anything at all and just watching your computer automatically reboot everytime something goes wrong. If you want some info to diagnose the problem (e.g. what is the offending file) then you'll want to enable the feature (which I believe is disabled by default on Windows XP and Vista). Here are some instructions (gathered from here) on how to enable the Blue Screen of Death for troubleshooting purposes.

1) Click Start Button

2) From the Start Menu click Control Panel

3) In the Control Panel click the System icon

4) In the System Window look on the left hand side of the window and you will see a list of options. Click on the Advanced System Settings option.

5) Computer Management requires Administrator privileges so you may find the the User Account Control will pop up. If it does then enter the required information (if you are not the administrator) or, if you are the administrator, click the Continue button.

6) In the Advanced Settings window look for the Startup and Recovery section and then Click the Settings button

7) In the Startup and Recovery window look for the section marked System Failure and remove the 'tick' mark from the 'Automatically Restart' option. Now press the OK button.

8) Finally click the OK button on the System Properties Window and then close the System Window.

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