Why do I have this blue screen that says "a fatal exception has occurred"? What is this error message "a problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer"? In geek culture, you haven't lived until you've come face-to-face with the Blue Screen of Death. And you're not really considered a true geek until you've recovered a computer that's "blue screening." For the rest of humanity though, the Blue Screen of Death is about as confusing and terrifying as a computer error message could possibly be.

The infamous "Blue Screen of Death" or "BSOD" (pronounced "Bee'-sod")

What are the symptoms? People experience a variety of blue screen errors that are similar to the sample shown above or that may be related to specific programs and look like a more abbreviated version of this. Here are some of the situations our customers report:

• My computer starts up and then gets a blue screen error before I can log in.
• My computer gets a blue screen error and then restarts before I can even read it.
• My computer works most of the time, but occasionally gets a blue screen error.
• My computer has been blue screening ever since I added new hardware, and I can't get rid of it even though I tried removing the new hardware.
• My computer gets a blue screen error and I'm stuck, I can't even shut it off.
• My computer starts up but I get a blue screen error message and can't go any further.
• My computer flashes a blue screen really quickly then restarts.
• My computer only blue screens when I start a particular program. Otherwise it seems to be running normally.

What can be done about it? The Blue Screen of Death is often one of the most unpredictable and complicated problems to solve, and unfortunately, there aren't a lot of suggestions for how to avoid or prevent it. The good news for most computer users though, is that as traumatic as it appears to be, a blue screen error rarely means a loss of data.

How can Geek Housecalls help? Your geek arrives with a wealth of experience in troubleshooting windows blue screen errors as well as a toolkit of hardware and software tools that helps get to the root cause of your problem.

In some cases, the bluescreen is caused by failed hardware or corrupt hardware drivers (the software that makes hardware devices or components interact properly with your computer). In some cases, the bluescreen can be caused by memory problems. In some cases, bluescreens are caused by software, and in at least one case, there is an "artificial" bluescreen image that's set as your desktop background by a malware called "smitfraud."

Sometimes your geek can resolve bluescreen errors by diagnosing and correcting a specific failure as indicated by the codes in the bluescreen error message. Sometimes however, even Microsoft's own suggestions for resolving bluescreen errors don't work. In this case, your geek may recommend a complete reinstallation of Windows on your computer.

In some cases, your geek may determine that the cost of repairs is higher than may be practical for the age of your system. In this case, we won't twist your arm. If you prefer to go ahead and do the repair anyhow, we will. But if you decide that this is the best time to get a new PC, we can help with that too, either by helping you shop online or at a retail store, or by offering you a replacement PC directly from Geek Housecalls. No matter which route you choose, your problem will be solved leaving you with a well-behaved computer and a smile!