If you’re encountering a “screen of death,” in blue or black variety, it’s safe to say that something’s gone wrong. It could be any number of issues, but on the chance that there’s something wrong with your memory hardware, Windows 11 will soon prompt you to run a memory scan via Windows Memory Diagnostics after it recovers. The feature is now in testing.
“We’re introducing a new feature that helps improve system reliability,” says the Windows Insider Blog (spotted by Bleeping Computer). The memory scan prompt will appear via a notification, and it’s dismissible if you know that the crash was caused by something else. That’s a good thing since a full memory scan requires a reboot and a few minutes where your PC isn’t accessible. If you’re using an ARM-based device or using Bitlocker sans Secure Boot or you have Administrator Protection turned on, you won’t see the prompt. Presumably, Microsoft thinks at least some of those users don’t need the reminder.
Other notable changes to the next Windows Insider build (KB5067109) include a searchable box for your copy and paste history, a new option to adjust the delay for voice typing, adjustments to the Device cards in the settings menu, and some new taskbar animations. As usual with the Insider program, it’s anyone’s guess as to when or if this stuff will make it to the general release updates for Windows 11.
