Windows Error Message Creator (WEMC) is a portable program for creating fake error messages, "blue screen of death" screens, "formatting" dialogs and more.

If a nearby friend leaves their laptop or PC unattended for a while, launch WEMC from a USB stick, and within a few seconds you can have the system displaying a dummy "blue screen of death" screen, a "Formatting C:\" dialog, or some other fake alert with whatever custom text and icon you need ("Corrupted Documents folder deleted", or something equally terrifying). Then sit back and watch their faces when they return.

The program gives you considerable control over the dialog box design. On its main screen, you're able to choose the dialog box type (Question/ Information/ Exclamation/ Critical/ Custom), set your own title and one or two custom lines of text, enable up to three buttons with your own text for each, and select a suitable preset icon ("Locked", "Warning", "Low Battery" etc) or define your own.

But that's not all. Click the Create menu and you'll find options to build a "Format" dialog - something which looks like it's formatting your chosen drive - or leave the system displaying a Blue Screen of Death which hides everything else and doesn't go away until the user presses Enter.

What you can't do is automate any of this. There are no command line switches to display messages from a script, say - you have to manually enter the details each time.

Version 1.36.25:

• Added a new menu item, from where you can either view the user guide or this changelog.
• You can now save multiple custom icons, thanks to the power of the INI file.
• The Format dialog creator now recognises when your connected drives are greater than, or equal to, a terabyte in size.