Category: Windows

Linux on the ASUS Zenbook Duo Pro 14

After 10 years of service, my old laptop was getting a bit long in the tooth. Although it was working perfectly fine, those 10 long years had taken a toll on it’s battery, let alone it was on it’s third power supply, so it was finally time to get a replacement so it could retire doing something else less mobile.

in the end I opted for an ASUS Zenbook Duo Pro 14 which among other things has 2 touch screens built in – yes 2 screens!

Continue reading “Linux on the ASUS Zenbook Duo Pro 14”

How to change the Blue Screen of Death into another colour

We have all had a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) when something catastrophic has happened with Windows – which is usually when you try to do anything useful, but if you get tired of it being the standard Blue or if you have a visual imparement so the default settings are useless for you, here’s how to change it.

First open the SYSTEM.INI file found in the %systemroot% folder (usually C:\Windows) and locate the [386enh] section.

Add the following two entries if they are not present:

MessageBackColor=

MessageTextColor=

Each of those entries take a single hexadecimal digit defining the colour:

  • 0 – Black
  • 1 – Blue
  • 2 – Green
  • 3 – Cyan
  • 4 – Red
  • 5 – Magenta
  • 6 – Yellow
  • 7 – White
  • 8 – Grey
  • 9 – Bright blue
  • A – Bright green
  • B – Bright cyan
  • C – Bright red
  • D – Bright magenta
  • E – Bright yellow
  • F – Bright white

So to change it to Cyan and bright white text, then use the following:

MessageBackColor=3

MessageTextColor=F

The settings will take effect the next time you restart Windows.

NB: The values must be in upper case hence using F and not f in the above example.

How to change the Blue Screen of Death into another colour

We have all had a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) when something catastrophic has happened with Windows – which is usually when you try to do anything useful, but if you get tired of it being the standard Blue or if you have a visual imparement so the default settings are useless for you, here’s how to change it.

First open the SYSTEM.INI file found in the %systemroot% folder (usually C:\Windows) and locate the [386enh] section.

Add the following two entries if they are not present:

MessageBackColor=
MessageTextColor=

Each of those entries take a single hexadecimal digit defining the colour:

  • 0 – Black
  • 1 – Blue
  • 2 – Green
  • 3 – Cyan
  • 4 – Red
  • 5 – Magenta
  • 6 – Yellow
  • 7 – White
  • 8 – Grey
  • 9 – Bright blue
  • A – Bright green
  • B – Bright cyan
  • C – Bright red
  • D – Bright magenta
  • E – Bright yellow
  • F – Bright white

So to change it to Cyan and bright white text, then use the following:

MessageBackColor=3
MessageTextColor=F

The settings will take effect the next time you restart Windows.

NB: The values must be in upper case hence using F and not f in the above example.