As you all know, the Windows Operating System is not without its faults. Some might argue that it has too many but this is a topic for another time. For now, we’ll take a look at a method for seeing what errors your Windows OS has encountered. This will help you determine what apps are causing issues and you can find useful information on how to correct those problems.
Why is this necessary?
For the health of your PC, it’s good to know which applications are encountering errors, or in the case of a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) when you do not have time to see what error has occured, you can find this information and seek solutions on how to eliminate the threat. This might also work if your computer or laptop is running slow due to faulty applications that crash or eat up more resources than they should.
How to find the Windows 7 error log with Reliability Monitor
To access this information, you have at your disposal a tool integrated in Windows 7, called Reliability Monitor. This utility will help you see which application has encountered an error and give you information that you can use to later find a solution. Also, the information is very well grouped on a timeline so you can navigate to the date that the error occurred and see what caused it. To open the Reliability Monitor, there are two methods:
Method 1
1. Click on the “Start” button
2. Type “Reliability” in the search
3. Open “View Reliability History”
This will open a window where you have a timeline of all the events that happened on your Windows machine. When clicking on a date, it will show you what errors Windows has encountered in that day and give you information on the type of error and what program has caused it.
Method 2
1. Click on the “Start” button
2. Click on “Control Panel”
3. In Control Panel, click on “System”
4. Click on “Action Center”
5. Under “Maintenance” you will see the “View Reliability History” tool
From here, you will receive all the information you need on errors that occurred on your Windows computer. Hopefully, in the future, when Windows 8 will receive more tweaks and updates that will make these errors a thing of the past, but until then, you have at your disposal a tool for finding out what is causing problems with your Windows computer.
There are other third party apps like WhoCrashed, but it’s always better to go with the official tool!
via [TechSupportAlert]