BSOD

BSOD is the common name for a Windows bug-check screen, historically called the Blue Screen of Death. Windows displays it after detecting a condition from which the kernel cannot safely continue, such as memory corruption, an unhandled kernel exception, or a critical hardware error. A stop code identifies the failure category but not always its root cause. The screen records a stop code and parameters, while a memory dump can preserve stacks, loaded modules, and processor state for later analysis. A named SYS file may be where corruption became visible rather than the component that originally damaged memory, so attribution requires broader evidence.