Why do computers crash much less often than ten years ago?

Question

Back then my computers had kernel panics and blue screens at least once a month. Which parts of the hardware and of the operating systems have been improved the most since then?

Answer 1

Much better and more reliable code in the os in terms of Kernel-driver interaction, security, and updates. the drivers themselves are better (WHQL is a pain, but not a bad idea).

Almost all popular apps autoupdate these days.

After the california anti-spyware act commercial malware pretty much ceased to exist, leaving it entirely in the hands of real criminals. the criminals also got much better at writing, testing, and deploying code, so it causes fewer problems and can go undetected longer. Viruses and worms waned, trojans waxed, and browsers began to distrust plugins in response. most OSes now implement some means to allow a user to run with limited authority effectively.

Better hardware standards and cheaper manufacturing for decent quality parts brought up the standard for hardware integration.

More capacious hardware helps hide latency and lags that would have been very noticable in prior years. I can run 8 threads simultaneously on this box. if one gets stuck, I may never notice.

Basically a systemic improvement in implementation throughout the industry.