BSOD and Windows Crashes

Hey folks, I'm new but have been reading the forums for a few weeks now... quite enjoyable.  At any rate, I have a question, because I happen to find something rather amusing.  I sit and read, still, people joking about the old Windows 98 days and such, and they make fun of the BSOD.

However, more and more in my college classes (yea, I'm a kid ), we have kids coming up through that don't have a clue about Linux saying that they "Hate Microsoft" and "Linux rules."  I'm a Microsoft fan-boy, I'll freely admit it, but I also run a couple flavors of Linux on a KVM switch because I think using the right tool for the job is what is really important.  More often than not, these people that think "Linux rules" don't have a clue why, and they certainly can't defend it like some folks here can.

However, the point of this... I find that the most common thing I hear about why "Microsoft sucks" is people saying "OMG it crashes all the time."  Am I alone in saying that my Windows system hasn't crashed in as far back as I can remember?  Other than my own programs that don't turn out so well after the first compile sometimes, I can honestly and legitimately say I don't remember the last time Windows crashed on me.

So... is all the talk about crashing and BSOD just hype based on people saying things that were true before but aren't so much now?  Are people just using the same old excuses because they're convenient?  Or does Windows actually crash for people still?

Kental wrote:

Am I alone in saying that my Windows system hasn't crashed in as far back as I can remember?

I had a BSOD the other day after some USB device decided to go haywire. Before that I get one or two every year on NT-based systems.

As for Win9x, that's more unstable than a fraternity girl during happy hour (especially Windows ME). Windows 98-SE, however, is slightly more stable.

Other than my own programs that don't turn out so well after the first compile sometimes, I can honestly and legitimately say I don't remember the last time Windows crashed on me.

So... is all the talk about crashing and BSOD just hype based on people saying things that were true before but aren't so much now?  Are people just using the same old excuses because they're convenient?  Or does Windows actually crash for people still? [/quote]

Windows XP still crashes for a lot of people, because they buy low-end hardware that has slapped-together drivers that haven't passed WHQL Certification/Signing. (Especially here in the UK where ADSL ISPs give out "free" USB modems rather than Ethernet routers, these "free" USB modems are ultra-cheap and don't come with WHQL certified drivers)

But since all my hardware has WHQL drivers, I've been a-okay (spare for the nasty incident with the USB storage device, but that's a single blemish on a nearly spotless record).

Windows use to BSOD me once or twice daily before I replaced the faulty memory sticks in my PC.  Unfortunately, the information on the BSOD screen are pretty much useless for determining the cause of the error for everybody but a Microsoft software engineer in Redmond.

I've not had any windows crashes since Win2k came out that couldn't be blamed on either faulty hardware or drivers.

The information given with a STOP error is rather cryptic, but google helps a lot. Case in point: about a year ago I had some issues with RAM that wasn't seated correctly. Windows crashed every 10 minutes or so, giving a variety of STOP messages. All of those STOP messages had in the support docs I found online listed as a possible cause "faulty RAM".

Linux on the other hand just locked up solid. There was no kernel panic, no message at all, just a complete freeze of the system. Nothing ended up in log files, so while the Windows information was cryptic, with Linux there was no information at all.

I havent had a crash in a long time.  I havent had to reinstall my systems ever.  Your right tho, many people who hate Microsoft dont know why they hate Microsoft, or they give some off the wall excuse.  I have heard, " I like Linux cuz its Open Source."  Ok then I ask "so whats important about Open Source ?" the response is typically, "It doesnt cost me anything"

I can honestly say in the four years I've been using XP i've never had to reinstall once, I can only remember having one blue screen in all that time (which was my own fault), i've not had a single virus or even serious spyware problems.  I think if you keep windows up to date, and your careful about what sites you visit, run a firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware software, keep the registry clean, and don't run as admin (even though I and most other people do) their shouldn't be to many problems.  I've actually had a lot more kernal panics with linux than BSODs with windows, even though I use win XP 95% of the time.

I do some crazy stuff to my system, and I haven't had any problem.  My hardware gave way (stupid capacitor plague) before XP did.

My work PC (Win XP) never gave me a BSOD up to date, and I'm using it for about 3 years now.  I must say I’ve formatted it about 4 times, once because of a new HDD, but the other time because my PC just gets to damn slow after a while…

However, my PC at home is much newer and I got a few BSOD’s the last few weeks, but that is because my graphics card overheats and causes some funny problems.

I’m a big Microsoft fan (sorry Beer28), but I must say I never really tried other OS’s yet (bit of Linux a few years back).

Havn't gotten a BSOD since Windows 98.

About the Linux fan boyism without actually knowing about it, I take a course at the local university and the professorr prefers Linux to Windows because he are used to Unix. The professors being Linux users probally rubs off on the students. I use Linux but people like that make it seem like all Linux users are stupid zealots.