Simple IT Support

Is it worth sending Microsoft information when your computer or application crashes?

Posted by sporg

You are working away on a very important document and all of a sudden the program you are using crashes. You may have lost all your work and all that remains is a dialog box asking if you would like to send information to Microsoft. Like me your first thought might be to click the “Don’t Send” button. But what would happen if we clicked the send button and would it be worth a try.

Before we make up our minds let’s have a look at how this all works. When windows detects that a program on your computer has crashed it collects information on what your computer was doing at the time. This information includes what version of windows you are using and what drivers where loaded and what hardware is in your computer. No personal or information t6hat could identify you is sent, the service is anonymous. Windows then displays the send to Microsoft dialog box. If you click send and are on internet windows will pass this info on to the Microsoft Online Crash Analysis site. If a solution to your problem is already available then it will display the solution for you to follow and hopefully fix the problem. If you are not on internet at the time windows will store the info till you connect to internet again.

But what if there is not a solution to your crash? Well the information you have sent in will be collected together with any other crashes that seem to have the same cause and will be prioritised so that Microsoft technicians can have a closer look and see if they can find out what caused the problem. So it all sounds like the perfect answer to all you computer troubles, maybe not.

If the problem you are having is quite common and is caused by a windows fault or driver fault it is quite likely you will get a solution. But if you are suffering from something like a hardware incompatibility or fault may never get a response from Microsoft.

So is it worth it? I would have to say yes but if I did not get a solution from Microsoft straight away I would start looking elsewhere for help. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Technorati Tags: Analysis, Crash, Microsoft, Online

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Simple steps to fix a problem with your printer

Posted by sporg

Don’t you hate problems with printers? I do, my problem is that I can never remember where to start when troubleshooting a problem. Well never fear I found a way to get the process started and it is in plain simple english so that everyone can use it to figure out common problems with printers. This great tool is Microsoft’s very own printer troubleshooter. Follow these steps to find the printer troubleshooter and all you have to do is follow the simple instructions given.

1. Click Start.
2. Click Help and Support.
3. Under Pick a Help topic, Click Fixing a problem.
4. On the left hand side you will find a list. Click Printing Problems.
5. Now on the right hand side click Printer Troubleshooter.

Form here you can tell the troubleshooter what kind of problem you are having and then follow the easy instructions until you find the problem. Although this method will only solve the most common printer issues it is always a good place to start.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Printer, Problem, Troubleshooting, Windows, XP, Microsoft

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UK Gov’t Agency Tells Schools Not Too Upgrade To Vista

Posted by sporg

During my normal daily read, I came across this article from the PC World website. Where a UK Government agency has recommended that Schools do not upgrade to Vista, Or office 2007 as there are no features that make it worth the cost.

I think Office 2007 has some nice feature and is worth using if the computers can handle the extra load. But I have to agree with them about Vista. Apart from the new look there is not much there that is different from XP. On top of that a lot of machine will need upgrading to handle Vista and I just don’t see any benefit from it. At least not in an office environment. I’m beginning to believe a lot of organisations may just wait for the next version of windows before doing anything large scale.

Would love to hear your thoughts on the upgrade topic

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