Halloween may have come and gone, and April Fool’s Day is still several months off, but there’s always time for a good Blue Screen of Death spoof (or so Microsoft thinks). Check out this news story, “Microsoft offers prank Blue Screen Of Death.”

According to the story, “A prank application that mimics the notorious Blue Screen Of Death is now available from Microsoft’s own Web site… BlueScreen v3.2 simulates the dreaded Blue Screen of Death, an unexpected freezing of Windows caused by software error that has plagued IT administrators and users for many years–and that has provoked no end of criticism of Redmond’s software-coding skills. The BlueScreen application cycles between different Blue Screens Of Death, providing a simulated boot every 15 seconds, based on the actual configuration of the PC on which it is deployed.”

Here’s the promotional plug from Microsoft: “BlueScreen is a screen saver that not only authentically mimics a BSOD, but will simulate startup screens seen during a system boot. Its accuracy will fool even advanced NT developers. Use BlueScreen to amaze your friends and scare your enemies!”

Sounds pretty fun, right? Well, some antivirus vendors aren’t very impressed with BlueScreen v3.2. In fact, McAfee is actively preventing users from downloading the spoof screensaver software. What’s your take? Do you think it’s cool or cruel?