Help2Go
Free Computer Help.
Powered by Volunteers.




Force Windows to Crash

by Oscar Sodani
December 15, 2003

Oscar Sodani is a founder of Help2Go and owner of Help2Go Networks, an IT consulting firm in the Washington D.C. area. Oscar holds the CISSP certification as well as industry certifications from Microsoft, Cisco and Novell.

An interesting tidbit -- while it may not be immediately useful, it's something to add to your brain's PC toolbox. Thanks to Canuck for finding this information for a forum question!





This will work on Windows 2000 or Windows XP. Essentially, this will allow you to instantly cause a Blue Screen of Death crash on your PC. Perhaps it will be helpful to troubleshoot your crash settings, or maybe you just want to mess around!

-Open the Registry with REGEDIT (more info on editing the Windows Registry).
-Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/ CurrentControlSetServices/i8042prt/Parameters
-Change the value for CrashOnCtrlScroll to a 1 (if the CrashOnCtrlScroll key doesn't exist, create one and set it to a DWORD with a value of 1).
-Next, restart Windows!

To cause Windows to crash, press the ScrollLock key twice while holding the Ctrl key down (use the one on the right side of your keyboard). Presto!



Have a question? Need help? Get free, friendly person-to-person help with your computer questions or spyware questions in our help forums!

Creative Commons License

(C) 2008 Help2Go - Contact Us