Windows Blue Screen of Death Crisis: What We Know So Far

Businesses around the world are being hit by a serious issue caused by what appears to be a flawed CrowdStrike security update, causing Windows computers to display the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). The knock-on effect is causing airlines, online services, and even TV channels to go down.

Naturally, this has caused a lot of concern worldwide. The problem was first noticed by Australian companies when computers running Windows went offline, and the problem is now being discovered in Europe.

Sky News in the UK was down for a while, and popular airline Ryanair posted that “We are currently experiencing network disruptions due to a third party global IT outage, which is completely outside of our control. Booking and check-in are currently unavailable.” Ryanair is advising people who need to travel today to check in at the airport, rather than attempting to do so online.

We have a live blog where we collect all the latest news. On this page we will keep you informed of everything we know about the problem and how it can affect you.

This story develops

What is going on?

Millions of businesses around the world rely on Windows PCs. In the early hours of July 19, there were widespread reports that many of these PCs, used by large companies, were experiencing “blue screen of death” errors, causing services and systems to go offline.

Anyone who has used a Windows PC in the last 40 years knows that a blue screen of death (BSOD) error can be pretty annoying: it forces your computer to stop whatever it is doing, and all you can do is restart your PC and hope that the problem doesn’t happen again. If it does, your PC is in pretty bad shape and you’ll need to do some troubleshooting to fix the BSOD error.

This can be extremely frustrating for people who find their Windows 11 PC or laptop no longer working, but when PCs used by hospitals, airlines, and banks are affected, things can go wrong quickly. Real bad. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case here.

Who is affected by this?

So, who is affected by this BSOD outage? So far, it seems like quite a few – with major companies around the world being affected – and that means thousands, if not millions, of customers, patients, and everyone else who relies on these services will be affected.

This could mean hospital appointments being cancelled, trains or planes being delayed, and the knock-on effect could be very serious.

So far, it doesn’t appear that personal Windows 11 PCs are affected — I’m writing this news story on a PC, and so far, it seems to be fine. Here are the companies and institutions that have confirmed they’ve been affected so far:

• Microsoft
• Microsoft 365
• BettingMGM
• Amazon
• Visa
• Sainsbury’s
• Tesco
• Ryan Air
• Sky
• BT
• Ladbrokes
• Saint Nicholas
• National
• Royal mail
• Southern Rail (UK)

• Swiss International Airlines

• National Pharmacists Association (UK)
• University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (Germany)
• Berlin Airport BER
• KLM