[mechanicker]

Was the BSOD screensaver from sysinternals by Mark Russinovich?

I had installed the same and couple of my colleagues sitting around me had done the same.

Our CTO (Robotics simulation software) was visiting and had an early morning meeting. He saw this on all screens and had a minor panic attack fearing a virus outbreak or software bug.

[gregmac]

I installed that on a housemate's PC and waited for his reaction in the next couple days... But it never came. And so I forgot about it.

I moved out. It must have been a couple months later (we were and still are good friends), we're out somewhere and the first thing he says to me "did you install a BSOD screensaver on my computer?!?" And I suddenly remembered, realized it had been months and started laughing.

What's hilarious is he never tried pressing anything or moving the mouse.. since, being a developer, he knew that was pointless. He'd sit down, see the BSOD, (often swear,) then just press the hard reset button. In true evil fashion, I think I set it to a long interval, like 2 hours, so it only activated if he walked away but left it running.

I do still feel a bit bad about it. But only a bit. :)

[jasonjayr]

A much younger version of myself put that screensaver on my workstation at work.

A week or so later, one the IT folks passes me at lunch -- "Hey, your computer is on the fritz, it keeps rebooting and going to a blue screen ..." :)