Vista users hit with 'Purple Screen Of Death'

Stony Stevenson writes: While most users of Microsoft Windows-based PCs have seen their systems lockup and display the dreaded 'blue screen of death,' a new, lavender-hued variant of the problem has emerged. The so-called "purple screen of death" occurs when there's a conflict between certain system drivers and Windows Vista's Desktop Window Manager, according to researchers at NeoSmart — a nonprofit technology tracking firm that first spotted the issue. When the glitch occurs, windows on the Vista desktop turn purple and become unresponsive, according to NeoSmart. "It's caused by a low-level problem in the kernel, and it does make you want to restart your PC," NeoSmart researchers said in a blog post on the subject. NeoSmart concedes that the problem is rare, and that most Vista users probably haven't encountered it. "It's something to do with the way the Windows Vista kernel handles a certain exception in the graphics driver subsystem."