Digital Home Thoughts: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the BSOD

"Also known as the BSoD, the Blue Screen of Death appears when Windows crashes or locks up. It’s actually a Windows “stop” screen, and is designed to do two things: tell you the reason for the error, and to calm your nerves, hence the use of the color blue (studies show it has a relaxing effect on people). Though Blue Screens are difficult to decipher, all the information you need to figure out what caused it is right there in front of you in blue and white—and that’s where we come in. We’re going to show you how to dissect the blue screen error details, so you can fix the problem that’s causing them."

The BSOD has certainly become rarer in recent years (I have not seen one in a while), but this is a pretty interesting article regardless. If you don't get BSOD's you'll still learn a few things and if you do, you should be able to diagnose them better.