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AnchorDesk

David Coursey
How to troubleshoot a Windows meltdown

David Coursey
Executive Editor, AnchorDesk
Monday, August 18, 2003
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After publishing last Monday's column, which detailed my most recent trip to Windows hell, I received an e-mail from Susan Bradley, who besides her regular job as a CPA is the designated network administrator for her firm. That means she's responsible for about 20 Windows XP machines. In her spare time, she answers user questions as a tech support volunteer in the Microsoft MVP program.

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SUSAN'S E-MAIL was short and to the point: "Your three mistakes are: 1. Loading up a Norton product; 2. Not checking out the Event Viewer and then going to EventID.Net; 3. Buying XP Home. I refuse to run any Norton product on any Windows product."

Over the years I have purposely tried not to learn too much about computers. I am not a programmer. I understand how to set up networks, but only on an advanced-user level. I have never studied the guts of the Windows Registry. Why? Because I've wanted to remain close to what "real" users face when using their computers.

Still, I am always looking for better ways to do things, so I asked Susan to tell me in more detail how she would have solved the problem of a computer that froze without warning or apparent cause.

HERE'S WHAT she told me:

"First and foremost, with computers on the NT/2k/XP code base, they have a means of communicating to the administrator/user what is wrong with them. Most of the time, I can narrow down my problem with this one communication tool: Event Viewer. This is an application that is monitoring what is up (or down) with your system."

To find Event Viewer in Windows 2000, go to: Start/Settings/Control Panel. For XP go to: Start/Control Panel. Susan typically changes to Classic View for the Control Panel in XP so she can find what she's looking for.

"Next, look for an icon called Admin Tools," Susan instructed. "Click on it and then open Event Viewer. Inside are three folders labeled: Application, Security, and System. We're going to concentrate on the Application and System folders."

Susan said to click on either one and review the log files. You will see blue dots--which she calls "happy dots"--along with yellow warning dots, and angry red dots. Concentrate on the red dots, scrolling up and down to look for them.

If you see several of the same error messages over and over again, this is an excellent indication that your system is trying to tell you something. Click on that message and open it up to read the information inside.

"Up near the top, there's a code," Susan explained. "It's called an event identification error code. That's a special number you will need to find out what's sick with your system. Copy that code number. Next, launch Internet Explorer and go to a Web site called EventID.Net. This is a Web site operated by a Canadian consulting firm that has accumulated from newsgroups and other sources all the fixes, resolutions, and everything that you will need to fix that issue or at least head you in the right direction. It costs $15 a year to subscribe and it's worth many times that if you work with multiple computers."

YOU CAN ALSO, for free, do a Google Groups search for information about the error. To do this, go to the Google home page and click on the Groups tab above the search box.

"Now put in your exact error message and many times you will find that a fellow computer user not only had the same issue you did but got a resolution for it," Susan told me.

"I next try using the Google search engine to search the Microsoft Web site. Go to the Google home page and click on Advanced Search [to the right of the search box]. In the box marked 'Only return results from domain,' put in Microsoft.com and again, your exact error message. I find this method more effective than using Microsoft TechNet or other resources.

"Lastly, you need to do a bit of research in your own memory," Susan said. "Ask yourself, when was the last time this system worked properly? (No, the answer we are looking for is not 'never.') Remind yourself of what you loaded in between [when it worked and when it stopped working] and first begin by uninstalling that software.

"Keep in mind that there have been instances where updated virus definition files can also be the culprit in bogging down your system, so you may not think that you've installed anything at all when, in fact, your system has been updated with new files."

SUSAN SAID the best way to track this sort of issue is to get more "connected" with a computer user group or community that uses the same sort of software that you do. The Microsoft Technical Communities Web site is the launching place for finding groups of computer users who primarily use Microsoft products. Susan said she has found that the community that she is involved with spots issues better than anyone else because they see the "patterns of errors" emerging.

"A certain political wife, now a U.S. senator, got lambasted for saying, 'It takes a village to raise a child.' But, David, I can honestly say it takes a community to keep a computer running. And that's how this computer user would have approached your computer problem."

I appreciate the sentiment Susan expressed here, and have in the past spent many evenings singing "Kumbaya" with others while solving computer problems--I have some friends I call to help me out all the time. But Susan's e-mail points out, perhaps even better than my original column, that Microsoft still has a long way to go before its software can really become our friend.

What do you think? How do you solve technical issues? How could Microsoft makes its software more user-friendly? TalkBack to me!

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