XP Error Messages: You Decide What to Report

So there you are, minding your business, using your computer just the way you're supposed to, when bam! Up pops an announcement that some application or Windows component has 'encountered a problem and needs to close'. Note the wording: Apparently, the glitch came out of nowhere, and the application just happened to encounter it. By the way, the message states, the information you were just working on might be lost.

At least in Windows XP you can tell Microsoft about the problem. When you see the error announcement, click Send Error Report to transmit information to Microsoft that may or may not help avert the problem in future versions of the OS or in a Windows update.

If you want to know what you're sending to Microsoft, click the link provided in the error message. Unfortunately, digging through all the information to figure out just what the report contains is no small chore. The report will include some of the information that was in your system's memory at the time of the crash--oops, I mean the problem. Assume that it includes a list of applications that were running at the time of the crash. Moreover, if you were working in a document, some or all of that file's information may be reported, too. The message could even contain some of your passwords.

Microsoft officials say that they use the information for quality control, not for marketing purposes or for monitoring individual users or machines. They claim to discard information that doesn't help them solve the problem, and even data that is helpful gets deleted once the issue is unraveled. Still, if you've just had a crash, you probably want to get back to work as soon as possible. The quick solution, of course, is to click Don't Send. But there may be times when you want to tell Microsoft a little bit about a system crash. Fortunately, Windows XP provides a way to customize error reporting to ensure that you send only the information you want to share--or none at all.

Right-click My Computer and choose Properties. (If you don't have a My Computer icon on your desktop, start Windows Explorer and right-click My Computer in the left pane.) Click the Advanced tab in the System Properties dialog box, then choose the Error Reporting button on the lower right. Here are your options:

Windows only: If you don't mind informing Microsoft every time Windows blows a gasket, but you want to stay mum about the applications you use, uncheck Programs under 'Enable error reporting' but leave Windows operating system checked (see FIGURE 1). Click OK twice.

Selected Microsoft programs: To send error reports to Microsoft when applications crash, make sure Programs is checked and then click Choose Programs. By default, All programs is selected in the Choose Programs dialog box, but you can be a bit more restrictive by clicking All programs in this list. To report crashes of Microsoft applications only (such as Word and Excel), leave Programs from Microsoft checked. To alert the company to problems with individual Windows components (such as Paint and WordPad), make sure Windows components is checked.

Your choice of apps: To add to your list of reporting programs, click Add in the Choose Programs dialog box and type the name of each application's executable file (the one with the.exe extension). If you don't know the name, click Browse, find and select the program, click Open, and then OK. You can add non-Microsoft programs to the tattle list, or report on only specific Microsoft applications or Windows components. After you add the programs to your list, uncheck Programs from Microsoft and/or Windows components, then click OK as many times as needed.

Your choice of exceptions: It's easy to create a list of applications about which you do not want error reports sent. In the Choose Programs dialog box, select either All programs or All programs in this list, and then click the Add button below 'Do not report errors for these programs' (not the Add button below 'All programs in this list'). Type the name of the program's executable file, or click Browse and select it (see FIGURE 2). Repeat this process for all the applications you don't want to send a report on. Look over the entire dialog box one more time to make sure that the check boxes reflect your error-reporting preferences, and then click OK until all the dialog boxes are closed.

Never report: If you never want Microsoft to hear about your PC's problems, select Disable error reporting in the Error Reporting dialog box and click OK twice.

Never see error messages: To avoid being alerted at all about your system errors, select Disable error reporting in the Error Reporting dialog box and uncheck But notify me when critical errors occur. I don't recommend this option, however. I like to know whether an application actually crashed or my cat Bruno just happened to press Alt-F4 when I wasn't looking. If you don't mind a little mystery, though, this option saves you from having to close the error message whenever a program goes belly-up.

Now every time an application that isn't specified by your settings crashes, you'll see an error message similar to the old one, but without the request to send a report (see FIGURE 3).

Make Messages Get Your Attention

When your computer performs a time-consuming task--such as sorting a large database or backing up--you may leave it to its work, only to find on your return that the process stopped as your machine waited for you to respond to an error message or other prompt. Luckily, it's simple to make Windows get your attention.

Start by opening Control Panel: In Windows 9 x, Me, and 2000, choose Start, Settings, Control Panel.

In Windows XP, select Start, Control Panel (if Control Panel is in Category view, click Sound, Speech, and Audio Devices).

Now click or double-click the Sounds, Sounds and Multimedia, or Sounds and Audio Devices icon, depending on your version of Windows.

With the Sounds tab selected, choose one of the items in the Events, Sound Events, or Program Events list and make sure there is a sound associated with it in the Name drop-down list ('Sounds' in Windows XP).

Click the Play icon to test it. Be sure you can hear the Asterisk, Critical Stop, Default Sound (Default Beep), Exclamation, Program error, and Question sounds. In Windows XP, test the System Notification sound, which accompanies the balloon messages that pop up from the right side of taskbar. By default, it's a subtle bubble-popping sound, so you may want to change it to something more noticeable. Choose sounds for the other events as desired, then click the Save As button to preserve your scheme if you need to retrieve it in the future. Click OK.

If using sound to get your attention isn't an option, all is not lost. Return to Control Panel and click or double-click Accessibility Options. (In XP, you may have to click this link twice.) Choose the Sound tab and check Use SoundSentry (see FIGURE 4). This translates your alert sounds into visual flashes. If necessary, click the Settings button and choose the item to flash--the active window, the desktop, or the title bar (called the caption bar in this dialog box). Then click OK as needed.

Memory Madness

Anyone who has used Windows for any length of time has almost certainly encountered memory errors. Usually they can be recognized by catch phrases, such as ' X has caused an invalid page fault in module such and such', or ' X caused a general protection fault'. You may also see a message stating 'This program has caused a Fatal Exception' (usually noted with an error code of 0D). In most cases, the error occurs when one software component has attempted to use a portion of your memory that is already being used by another. Here's what to keep in mind as you react to and attempt to resolve these so-called protection errors.

Skip the 'Details': Some memory-related error messages have a Details button, raising the expectation that clicking it will answer all your questions about what has occurred and why. It won't. The Details list you get for protection-error messages contains information of use only to the programmers of the offending software (and not even to them in many cases). Don't bother trying to read or save this list unless a technical support rep asks you to.

Save and reboot: Although recent versions of Windows have become much better at continuing to work after a crash, doing so poses a degree of risk in Windows 9 x and Me, and to a lesser extent in Windows 2000. Moreover, even if you don't experience another crash in your current session, you'll have less memory available until you do a complete reboot. The best thing to do is to save your work in all applications that weren't closed by the crash, and then reboot your system at the next convenient interval.

Isolate the cause: Once you've gotten past the shock of your application crash and possible loss of data, the next step is to find out how to prevent the problem from recurring. Think about what you were doing at the time of the crash. For example, if you get a protection error every time you use your mouse wheel, chances are the problem is related to your mouse driver. The quick fix in these cases is to go to the manufacturer's Web site and see if there are new patches or drivers that you can download and install. Check out Microsoft's Windows 98 and Windows Me Error Message Resource Center.

Windows Configurator: Still More Ways to Tweak Your OS

There's a better way to customize your operating system. Windows Configurator is a compact program that lets you use a single tabbed dialog box to change your desktop icons, uninstall applications, and perform many other functions found in the Windows Control Panel and Microsoft's free Tweak UI (part of Microsoft's PowerToys for Windows). Windows Configurator lets you hide drives, remove individual tabs from certain control panels, erase unwanted built-in Start menu commands, hide or restrict desktop elements, and prevent Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer toolbars from being changed, among other functions. Unlike Tweak UI, Windows Configurator allows you to save your settings in a file so you can load or unload groups of settings or transfer them to another system. Best of all, the program (for Windows 9. x and Windows Me) is free. Go here to download your copy of Windows Configurator.

Send Windows-related questions and tips to scott_dunn@pcworld.com. We pay $50 for published items. Go here for more Windows Tips. Scott Dunn is a contributing editor for PC World.