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BSOD-plagued PC
CPU for Windows 11
Rekindle old magic
Strange BSODs
Ever since Windows 11 was
announced, I’ve started
experiencing the notorious
Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)
at least once a day. I’m still
running Windows 10 Pro 64-
bit and ha ve kept up to date
with Windows Updates. In
fact, that’s often when I get a
BSOD crash—just checking
for updates.
Is this Microsoft’s
new policy to force us off
Windows 10? According to
Microsoft, my laptop will
support Windows 11, so I
assume it should continue to
support Windows 10 until the
Windows 10 end date.
I’ve thought of switching
to Linux and even looked at
Apple briefly. If I do switch,
I don’t want anything to do
with Microsoft, but I can’t
find anything that works like
Outlook, so I’m stuck.
Which Linux is Microsoft
not involved in? I know you
guys often recommend
Ubuntu. Since I have Ubuntu
on Windows, I’m assuming
Microsoft is involved. Is this
true? Can I extract myself
from Microsoft operating
systems? And can Linux
guarantee to stay up and
running like real UNIX
systems do? Or will I have to
live with constant crashes?In case these BSOD
crashes have anything to do
with hardware, I’m running
an Intel Core i9-9900K CPU
with 32GB RAM, 1TB internal
drive plus 10TB external
hard drive. Windows 10 Pro
is version 21H2. I’ve also got
an additional 8TB external
hard drive for backup. I
use Code42 CrashPlan for
backups , both offsite and
to my 8TB drive. I run a
homegrown script to zip my
script library weekly as a
backup , which is then copied
to my C: drive.
Please help me by
explaining the direction you
think I should go. Most of
my customers run AIX, so
I don’t need Windows, but I
would like to continue using
Outlook. —Frank PosaTHE DOCTOR RESPONDS:
Your BSODs won’t be the
result of some Microsoft
conspiracy, Frank. It’s
likely to be a coincidence
when the issue began, but
you don’t say what you’ve
done to troubleshoot the
problem. Without tackling
the underlying cause, you
will continue to be plagued
by these BSODs.
Without knowing more
about the errors you’re
getting, it’s impossible to
offer anything other than
generic advice, such as
following the info in the Save
Our Systems feature in our
February issue, downloading
and running the free version
of the Windows Repair
tool ( http://www.tweaking.com)
to perform basic systemchecks, including chkdsk on
your hard drives and SFC
on Windows system files.
Also, test your RAM—a
common cause of random
BSODs—using Memtest
(www.memtest86.com/
memtest86.html) rather
than the built-in Windows
Memory Checker tool.
If all these check out,
you’ll need to find out more
about the BSODs you’re
suffering. The solution
here is to install the free
version of WhoCrashed
(www.resplendence.com/
whocrashed), which will
provide more detail about
crashes, with the hope of
identifying an underlying
cause and possible solutions.
Also, consider whether now
is the time to bite the bullet
and reinstall Windows from
scratch to create a factory
fresh, stable installation to
work from going forward.
As for Microsoft’s links
to Ubuntu, consider it
and Canonical (Ubuntu’s
developer) as frenemies,
nothing more. Ubuntu isn’t
the only shell you can get
for Windows; both Debian
and Suse are also available,
for example. We like Ubuntu
because it’s well supported
and geared towards those
with less experience using © WHOCRASHEDUse WhoCrashed to help troubleshoot BSODs.quickstart
14 MAXIMU MPC JUN 2022