E-Business
Dealing with the Purple Screen of Death? Here’s How to Handle IT
Have you ever wondered why your computer is showing a purple screen of death (PSOD) and you are bothered about how to handle it? Read this article to the end to know how to handle such situations whenever the need arises.
What is the purple screen of death?
Just like every other windows error, the Purple screen of death is also a fatal windows error but it appears in rare cases unlike the black screen of error and the blue screen of error.
When the VMkernel ESX/ESXi hosts crash, a purple screen of death fatal error occurs and destroys all the actual virtual machines.
The purple screen of death error could be a result of misconfigured computer settings, external hardware, outdated drivers or even an unstable graphics processing unit (GPU). Purple Screen of Death could also appear when you are upgrading from an older version of an operating system to a new version.
How to handle the purple screen of death
At some point in life, we all encounter the darker side of life and that applies to appliances too. When the purple screen of death error occurs, don’t panic, just devise means to sort things out quickly and easily.
The first thing you to do is restart your computer. This may, however, not work if the error occurs while you are trying to upgrade your operating system. If this happens, follow the steps below to bring your computer back to life.
You should start worrying about experiencing a purple screen of death if you don’t have experts at Layer3 in your corner. These experts provide the best solutions to help users get rid of the purple screen of death errors. If you do not want to battle with manual fix procedures, if it’s not too much trouble, make use of automatic software.
You can contact our experts to know the tools or software you can use to fix the purple screen of death error.
- Clean the heat sink
The purple screen of death may occur because of the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) overheating. So it is a smart thought to clean the heat sink. To do this, open the computer case and clean the residue/dust cautiously from all of the parts. You can consider using an extra fan if the computer is overheated.
So, it is proposed to clean the heat sink to decrease the heat. In this way, turn off the PC totally by unplugging all wires.
- Eliminate Overclock Settings and Tools
Overclocking the computer, changes the equipment clock rate, voltages, and results in the high temperature of the machine which creates more heat.
What’s more, the graphics processing unit (GPU) and central processing unit (CPU) become shaky and the purple screen of death error additionally notify that there is too much burden on the GPU.
If you had overclocked your PC hardware clock rate, reset it. You can likewise use solid software to cool down your PC.
Along these lines, this is about the Purple Screen of Death Issue on your computer. Try to follow these steps given cautiously and fix the Purple Screen of Death on your computer. However, the easiest and fastest way will always be to contact experts immediately.
If you are in doubt or unsure about what to do, feel free to reach out to us.
Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) experts at the 10th annual Cyber Security Weekend – META 2025 held recently, talked about supply chain attacks and reported that by the end of 2024 a total of 14,000 malicious packages were found in open-source projects, a 48% increase compared to the end of 2023. 42 million versions of open-source packages have been examined by Kaspersky throughout 2024 in search for vulnerabilities.
Open-source is software with source code that anyone can inspect, modify, and enhance. Popular open-source packages include GoMod, Maven, NuGet, npm, PyPI, and others.
These are tools that power countless applications and help developers easily find, install, and manage pre-built code libraries, making it simpler to build software by reusing code others have written. Attackers take advantage of the popularity of these and other packages.
In March 2025, the Lazarus Group was reported to have deployed several malicious npm packages, which were downloaded multiple times before removal. These packages contained malware to steal credentials, cryptocurrency wallet data, and deploy backdoors, targeting developers’ systems across Windows, macOS, and Linux.
The attack leveraged GitHub repositories for added legitimacy, highlighting the group’s sophisticated supply chain tactics. Kaspersky’s GReAT also found other npm packages related to this attack. Malicious npm packages could have been integrated into web development, cryptocurrency platforms, and enterprise software, risking widespread data theft and financial losses.
In 2024, a sophisticated backdoor was discovered in XZ Utils versions 5.6.0 and 5.6.1, a widely used compression library in Linux distributions. Inserted by a trusted contributor, the malicious code targeted SSH servers, enabling remote command execution and threatening countless systems globally.
Detected before widespread exploitation due to performance anomalies, the incident highlighted the dangers of supply chain attacks. XZ Utils is integral to operating systems, cloud servers, and IoT devices, making its compromise a threat to critical infrastructure and enterprise networks.
In 2024, Kaspersky’s GReAT discovered that attackers uploaded malicious Python packages like chatgpt-python and chatgpt-wrapper to PyPI, mimicking legitimate tools for interacting with ChatGPT APIs.
These packages, designed to steal credentials and deploy backdoors, capitalised on the popularity of AI development to trick developers into downloading them. These packages could have been used in AI development, chatbot integrations, and data analytics platforms, endangering sensitive AI workflows and user data.
“Open-source software is the backbone of many modern solutions, but its openness is being weaponised. The 50% rise in malicious packages by the end of 2024 shows attackers are actively embedding sophisticated backdoors and data stealers in popular packages, which millions rely on.
“Without rigorous vetting and real-time monitoring, a single compromised package can trigger a global breach. Organisations need to secure the supply chain before the next XZ Utils-level attack succeeds,” comments Dmitry Galov, Head of Research Center for Russia and CIS at Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team.
Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has launched an investigation into allegations that the confidentiality and integrity of candidates’ personal data may have been compromised by hackers.
The Commission initiated the inquiry following concerns over possible data breaches during examinations.
Preliminary findings indicate that several examination centres may not have implemented adequate technical and organizational measures to safeguard candidates’ personal information, as required under data protection regulations.
Although the incident reportedly affected 379, 997 candidates, the NDPC’s investigation is poised to cover a systemic audit of data processing and third parties.
It will be recalled that JAMB recently admitted that a technical error on its platform affected a total of 379,997 candidates in 157 examination centres across Lagos and the South-East.
Further investigation led to the arrest of at least 20 suspects who are currently in the custody of the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Police Force.
Cyber security firm, Kaspersky, has once again warned that sophisticated cybercriminals increasingly target Africa as ransomware and advanced persistent threats (APTs) escalate across the region.
Speaking at the company’s annual Cyber Security Weekend for the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa (META) region, the cybersecurity firm’s Global Research and Analysis Team highlighted growing digital threats affecting African nations.
Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa emerged as hotspots, with Kenya recording one of the highest web threat incident rates at 20.1% in first quarter 2025.
“While ransomware is less prevalent in Africa due to lower levels of digitisation and economic constraints, countries like South Africa and Nigeria are seeing a sharp rise in attacks,” said Sergey Lozhkin, head of META and APAC regions at Kaspersky.
Kaspersky noted a 0.01 percentage point increase in African ransomware cases year-on-year, reaching 0.41%, still below global and Middle Eastern averages, but a troubling sign for the continent’s emerging digital infrastructure.
Experts warned that attackers are refining their tactics, shifting focus to unconventional entry points like IoT devices, smart appliances, and misconfigured hardware.
“As these economies expand digitally, sectors such as manufacturing, finance and government are becoming key targets,” said Lozhkin
The cyber-crime landscape is evolving quickly, fuelled by AI tools and dark web access to large language models, which enable less skilled actors to launch convincing phishing and malware campaigns.
Groups like FunkSec, which uses AI-generated code and a low-cost ransom model, are redefining ransomware operations.
“African organisations face the dual challenge of expanding digital footprints and limited cybersecurity awareness. This makes layered defense strategies, including network segmentation, real-time monitoring and regular staff training, essential,” stated Lozhkin
Kaspersky continues to monitor 25 active APT groups in the META region, including SideWinder and MuddyWater, some of which are known to target African institutions.
To bolster defenses, the firm recommends using tools such as its free Anti-Ransomware Tool for Business and the Kaspersky Next suite for threat visibility and response.
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