there's a setting in the registry for win2k and beyond that will reboot the computer instead of displaying the BSOD; so it is still there, you just won't see it unless you turn [AutoReboot] or some such drivel off.
My supervisor had a win2k laptop; he uninstalled a bunch of crap at the same time; including a mysterious entry in the Add/Remove Programs section titled: Unknown. He figured if it was unknown, it couldn't be important.... so uninstalled it became. Then the Windows Install Shield appeard telling him that "windows is prepareing to install the selected application" and the computer promptly rebooted. Everytime windows finished loading, the same message box would appear, and then the computer would shut down. he, my dad-in-law, and me spent 7 hours trying to figure out what it was. even CTL-ALT-DEL didn't halt the inevitable; and safe mode was broke. It would simply hang when tried. So to the computer shop he went, and they tried much of the same shit we did, and finally they put the harddrive into another computer, transfered all his personal data over, and wiped the original. complete re-install. what a shame.
-t.