Disclosed is a visual method of communicating an abnormal situation (e.g., the crashed or downed state) of the computer system including a display. The system status is thus indicated to the user. Upon a system crash or downed state, the display entirely or in part (a first area) is proportionally decreased in brightness. Brightness of a second area (which may overlap the first area) is increased in full or in part by a fixed amount. This results in a translucent film overlay which preserves in the background the display screen content existing at the moment the system crashed. The translucent film overlay may have predefined characteristics, such as tint to signify system status and/or level or degree of the system's problem.