Windows 7 includes a reliability monitor tool that can help you troubleshoot computer problems. This tool can help you identify and fix problems that may be causing your computer to slow down or stop working. To use the reliability monitor, first open the Start menu and click on Control Panel. Then, under System and Security, click on Reliability and Performance Monitor. The reliability monitor will open in a new window. In this window, you will see several tabs. The first tab is General. On this tab, you can see information about your computer’s overall health. This information includes the number of errors that have been detected on your computer, the number of times that your computer has restarted since it was last checked, and the amount of time it has taken for your computer to start up since it was last checked. The second tab is Performance. On this tab, you can see information about how well your computer is performing specific tasks. This information includes the amount of time it took for a specific task to complete, how many errors were detected while performing that task, and how much memory was used while performing that task. The third tab is Reliability Monitoring. On this tab, you can use the reliability monitor to troubleshoot problems with your computer’s performance or stability. You can use this tool to identify which programs are causing problems on your computer and fix those programs accordingly. You can also use this tool to identify which files are causing problems on your computer and fix those files accordingly ..
Reliability and Performance Monitor in Vista
In Vista the Reliability Monitor was part of the Reliability and Performance Monitor utility. Now it’s a separate utility in Windows 7 and located in a different spot in the OS.
Reliability Monitor in Windows 7
To access the Reliability Monitor in Windows 7, open Action Center from the icon in the Notification Area or from Control Panel.
Under the Maintenance options click on View reliability history.
Alternately you can enter Reliability Monitor into the search box in the Start menu.
The Reliability Monitor opens and you can start checking out where and when hardware or software errors have occurred.
On the chart you’ll see icons for warnings and failures based on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being least stable and 10 the most stable). Click on the date where errors have occurred so you can view the details.
You can choose between Days or Weeks View.
In the details section you can click on any of the errors and get the technical details.
The Problem Details section tells you what the problem is, date and time it happened, and a description of the problem. You can copy the details to the clipboard in case you need to email it to tech support.
It also allows you to View all problem reports that will show only computer errors. It doesn’t show other events like software installations.
It provides a list of problems on the computer, luckily in this example there is only one issue.
Double click on any error in the list to get detailed results.
You can also click on Check for solutions to all problems.
When a solution is found, the information is presented in Action Center under the Maintenance section. In this example there is a wireless network adapter that’s missing a driver. It provides a link to the driver and gives directions on how to download and install it.
If you are experiencing problems with your Windows 7 machine such as devices not working or are getting different error messages, the Reliability Monitor is a good place to start looking for a solution.
