We’re sure by now pretty much every computer user of the Windows operating system has at one point in time experienced the dreaded blue screen of death. Now in Windows 10, Microsoft has given the blue screen of death a much needed makeover, but a recent report from The Register has revealed some additional changes.
Prior to this, the screen would display an unhappy smiley face and a short message. However in the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview build 14316, as you can see in the screenshot above, the new blue screen of death will feature a QR code that users can use their phones to help direct them to a Microsoft website that will explain the problem and also offer up some potential fixes.
It sounds like a good idea, especially since the blue screen of death means that you can’t exactly hop onto the computer and look up solutions and fixes, right? Unfortunately as pointed out by The Register, this seems to be ripe for hackers to cause some mischief. One possible scenario described suggests how hackers can fake the blue screen of death.
They can then create a QR code of their own that will then take users to a fake website where additional malware can be installed, or it could be used as a phishing attempt and have users enter their Microsoft credentials, but now that it has been pointed out, hopefully Microsoft’s engineers will come up with some kind of way to ensure that won’t happen.
Filed in . Read more about Microsoft and Windows 10.