Computer "Crash"

Definition: The term "crash" refers to a critical failure in a computer, network device, or software running on these (such as a network operating system or application). Crashes often occur with little or no warning. As evidenced by the number of different synonyms employed over the years, crashes have a long and colourful history in computer networking.

A crash can manifest itself in many different ways. The computer may "freeze" or "hang" indefinitely when a crash occurs, or it may display any number of obscure error messages. In Windows operating systems, a crash usually causes the infamous "blue screen of death" to appear. To recover from a crash, often a person must power down and restart their computer (as in the case of blue screens) or their network device(s).

Also Known As: crash and burn, fatal error, bomb, blow-up, core dump, blue screen of death (BSOD), ABEND.