Does Windows ever find a solution after a program crashes?

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Every once in a while a program will crash, as Windows Media Player did tonight, and Windows pops up a message saying, “A problem caused the program to stop working. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available.” That sounds so nice–I just sit back and wait to see what went wrong and how to fix it. But, of course, Windows never does get back to me, I learn nothing, and there is no fix. Sometimes the message asks me if I’d like to send info to Microsoft about the problem. I used to hope it might help them diagnose the problem, and they’d fix it.

So my question is, Are these messages anything more than feel-good efforts on the part of Microsoft? Does anything ever happen? If they don’t actually get back to us as individuals, do my crashes maybe help them in their Tuesday patches?

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I had one recently where Acronis TIH failed to run in Win 8. MS checked for a solution and found that Acronis is blocking this app right now while they are testing the app with Win 8. Occasionally they do find a solution.

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As to getting back to you specifically: No
Fixing errors with regard to program crashes: Uncertain

What is certain is that if you elect to have a message sent back to them with regard to the error, it goes
into their database of telemetry recieved crashes & error reports generated from the event viewer of many Windows installations.

What is not completely certain is if you have control over the transmission of generated errors barring the disabling of the service.
They may have service automation that includes sending data regarding event veiwer level errors not disimilar to the WU service.

Windows Event Collector

This service manages persistent subscriptions to events from remote sources that support WS-Management protocol. This includes Windows Vista event logs, hardware and IPMI-enabled event sources. The service stores forwarded events in a local Event Log. If this service is stopped or disabled event subscriptions cannot be created and forwarded events cannot be accepted.

Windows Event Log

This service manages events and event logs. It supports logging events, querying events, subscribing to events, archiving event logs, and managing event metadata. It can display events in both XML and plain text format. Stopping this service may compromise security and reliability of the system.

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What is not completely certain is if you have control over the transmission of generated errors barring the disabling of the service.

I think we do have control over that at Action Center, Maintenance, Check for solutions to problem reports, Settings; with the four options explained in Windows Help and Support:

[*]Automatically check for solutions (recommended)
[*]Automatically check for solutions and send additional report data, if needed
[*]Each time a problem occurs, ask me before checking for solutions
[*]Never check for solutions (not recommended)

Bruce

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Thanks for clearing that up Bruce.

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My Comodo Dragon browser (the latest release) has been crashing frequently during the course of a days use. The M$ message tells me something has caused a DEP violation, but not WHAT!
Due to the constant App patching & updating that now occurs, it’s impossibly to be sure just when it started or what might be the cause.
To compound the problem, Dragon or VISTA will not allow the .EXE file as a DEP exception.
Fortunately, Dragon does provide a recovery/refresh function, (it’s helpful. but time consuming & annoying) but M$’s useless function & error messages are NO help.
The Admin/App error logs are equally useless, providing no more help than is already known from the crash screen, unless I have access to the HTML & source code of the DEP or what ever functions. I am not a programmer, so that info is useless!

The only thing I do know, based on a trial & error binary type isolation, by removing & then adding an Extension back in each day, is that one of the more than a dozen Extensions is the problem. I am still trying to determine which one after 3 days of trial & error to see if Dragon can run without crashing. A tedious process at best!

I’ve already run all the usual diag’s..SFC, CHKDSK, VISTA repair instal, Registry chk, etc,… all to no avail!

As far as I am concerned, the M$ crash report & unhelpfull error messages are totally useless!

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Every once in a while a program will crash, as Windows Media Player did tonight, and Windows pops up a message saying, “A problem caused the program to stop working. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available.” That sounds so nice–I just sit back and wait to see what went wrong and how to fix it. But, of course, Windows never does get back to me, I learn nothing, and there is no fix. Sometimes the message asks me if I’d like to send info to Microsoft about the problem. I used to hope it might help them diagnose the problem, and they’d fix it.

So my question is, Are these messages anything more than feel-good efforts on the part of Microsoft? Does anything ever happen? If they don’t actually get back to us as individuals, do my crashes maybe help them in their Tuesday patches?

One program which I have found very useful for repairing many windows functions including windows media player is Microsoft fix it centre.
http://fixitcenter.support.microsoft.com/Portal

Although it is in Beta at the moment the repairs in many cases have worked a treat for me, this program is getting better and better.
I tend to only use the “detect problems and let me select the fixes to apply”.

Ed

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One program which I have found very useful for repairing many windows functions including windows media player is Microsoft fix it centre.
http://fixitcenter.support.microsoft.com/Portal

Although it is in Beta at the moment the repairs in many cases have worked a treat for me, this program is getting better and better.
I tend to only use the “detect problems and let me select the fixes to apply”.

Ed

That is irrelevant to this thread.

-- rc primak

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That is irrelevant to this thread.

Fixing WMP crashes was very relevant to this thread; at least as relevant as system rebuilding.

Bruce

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Fixing WMP crashes was very relevant to this thread; at least as relevant as system rebuilding.

Bruce

The post I questioned suggested the Microsoft Fixit Center, which to my knowledge has nothing relevant to this thread.

-- rc primak

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The post I questioned suggested the Microsoft Fixit Center, which to my knowledge has nothing relevant to this thread.

Microsoft Fix It Center includes fixes for issues that cause Windows Media Player to stop working, including this one: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947541/en-us

Perhaps the Fix Its available there are another way Microsoft uses the telemetry data from our crash reports?

Bruce

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Microsoft Fix It Center includes fixes for issues that cause Windows Media Player to stop working, including this one: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947541/en-us

Perhaps the Fix Its available there are another way Microsoft uses the telemetry data from our crash reports?

Bruce

Definitely true, Bruce. Fixits are often developed in response to widespread issues reported by Microsoft Windows Error Reporting. Also in response to user complaints about patches which may have caused stability or other issues. They do have their place, but just to refer the OP directly to the Fixit Center without naming the specific Fixit for the Media Player issue, seemed to me a bit flippant for a Lounge post. Your specific link would be very relevant.

I hadn’t thought of these points when I posted. It looked like the person making that post had referred the OP to the Fixit Center just as a knee-jerk piece of non-advice. Which would have been too general and simplistic for the Lounge, in my opinion at the time. I stand corrected.

-- rc primak

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When you allow the reporting of crash telemetry to Microsoft, they do collect and use the data to improve the performance and stability of Windows. They occasionally put out stability updates through Microsoft Updates based partly on telemetry data. So if you allow this error reporting, you may be helping to improve Windows just a little bit at a time.

I don’t have a lot of program crashes, and my Windows XP laptop only had them when it got a few bad driver updates. Also, some programs (security and backup being the most frequent categories) have gotten into bad updates themselves, which caused crashes, almost only under Windows XP. Windows 7 programs don’t seem to crash as much on my better laptop. The two laptops differ in age, OS version, bittedness (32-bit vs. 64-bit) and how many patches and service packs have been applied, among other sources of errors. I also customized the older laptop a lot more than I’ve done with the newer one, and every tweak raises the chances of recurring errors or crashes. So do some “system optimizer” programs or online “optimizing” services.

Some folks rebuild their OS and programs from the beginning every year or two. This can reduce crashes caused by Registry errors and incomplete removals of programs. And a whole host of other errors which happen over time to any OS when it is used. Call this “data entropy”, but a full system rebuild can sometimes work wonders for an old computer. So can a physical cleaning. Merely rolling back to a previous System Image will not work these wonders. Just make sure you have all the install disks, driver disks, Service Pack CDs, download URLs and product keys when rebuilding. You don’t want to get locked out of your OS or your Applications.

Comodo Dragon is a secure browser, and it tries to implement software and hardware DEP in ways which are not entirely consistent with some OEM Windows installations. This could be a source of errors and crashes involving improper implementation of DEP when using Comodo Dragon. I don’t see enough benefit from secure browsers to justify their tendency to run afoul of Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 built-in security.

The same could be said for using third-party firewalls with Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8 — they just aren’t worth the hassles they can cause. Better to invest in a secure router.

If you’re still running Windows XP, you can use all the security help you can get.

-- rc primak

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Total system rebuilding can work wonders especially as time goes on and there are an ever increasing accumulation of updates and service packs.
It is well known that installing sevice packs and updates over a freshly installed OS minimizes the chances of instability.

Set aside the time to do it and you will always have a decently performing system.

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Yikes! A total system rebuild sounds like a lot of time (an afternoon and a half) and trouble, not only re-installing Windows but also updating all the apps and drivers, digging out all the passwords and serial numbers, etc. Like tearing apart the engine on my car. There was a time when I might do it myself, but now, if I felt it necessary, I’d probably take it into my local shop and have them do it.

Oh, I should add that these days Windows Media Player is not crashing. Maybe that’s a result of some recent update (maybe even an update based on a crash report I sent?).

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Yikes! A total system rebuild sounds like a lot of time (an afternoon and a half) and trouble, not only re-installing Windows but also updating all the apps and drivers, digging out all the passwords and serial numbers, etc. Like tearing apart the engine on my car. There was a time when I might do it myself, but now, if I felt it necessary, I’d probably take it into my local shop and have them do it.

Oh, I should add that these days Windows Media Player is not crashing. Maybe that’s a result of some recent update (maybe even an update based on a crash report I sent?).

A repair install is a good alternative, will fix issues with Windows (it has done it for me) and can be done with no loss to installed programs and documents. It will take more time than a clean install, but is so very worth it, because of no time lost adding your own apps.

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Yikes! A total system rebuild sounds like a lot of time (an afternoon and a half) and trouble, not only re-installing Windows but also updating all the apps and drivers, digging out all the passwords and serial numbers, etc. Like tearing apart the engine on my car. There was a time when I might do it myself, but now, if I felt it necessary, I’d probably take it into my local shop and have them do it.

Oh, I should add that these days Windows Media Player is not crashing. Maybe that’s a result of some recent update (maybe even an update based on a crash report I sent?).

Maybe your Crash Reports actually got Microsoft to fix the issue(s).

System rebuilding is not for everyone. Technicians make a good living doing this for people who don’t have the time or skills to do the job right. Just like, not everyone should attempt to do their own home or car repairs. But for those of us who are not put off by spending a weekend rebuilding an old Windows installation, this is a good option. I don’t do rebuilds unless I have major instability issues (happened recently with Windows XP on one of my laptops), but as I posted, if you really want to rejuvenate an older computer, this is a cheap fix (although a time consuming one) which really does work wonders.

While Repair Reinstall helps with minor instability issues, if things are really bogging down, a full reinstall works better in my experience. To do any significant Repairs, you still will need the Repair Console which is on the Install CD or DVD, and you may need to reactivate product keys.

-- rc primak

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While Repair Reinstall helps with minor instability issues, if things are really bogging down, a full reinstall works better in my experience.

What is a minor instability issue? Would the impossibility to install SP1 or the inability of sfc to fix the problems fall into this category?

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What is a minor instability issue? Would the impossibility to install SP1 or the inability of sfc to fix the problems fall into this category?

Well, yes, among other minor issues. The issues you named are often driver or Registry issues, caused by aggressive system tweaking or Registry over-cleaning. But they can be fixed with relatively non-destructive methods, once the source of the issue is discovered. The same goes for issues involving security or system updates. These can often be rolled back.

Minor issues do not prevent system booting or program execution. Major issues would greatly interfere with booting, logging in or out of accounts, shutting down, or cause such severe lockups and slowdowns (or even Blue Screen of Death incidents) as to render Windows difficult or impossible to use.

Granted, the threshold is a bit fuzzy, but the issue in this thread, while annoying, seems to have been a relatively minor issue. Even a Repair Reinstall was not needed in the end. The crashing was restricted to Windows Media Player and seems not to have affected the whole Windows System. (This only became clear as the thread progressed.)

Repair Reinstall may fix some issues while not addressing others. If a person is going to go to the trouble of doing a Repair Reinstall, they are probably already on the road to a full-scale system rebuild, in my experience. If a System Restore or rollback to a previous System Image Backup doesn’t solve a Windows stability issue, Repair Reinstall is a roll of the dice in my experience. Usually not worth doing, compared with a system rebuild. Just my experience.

As long as all data are backed up, I see no long-term time savings in doing a Repair Reinstall as opposed to a full system rebuild. The instabilities often just return. Maybe that’s just my experience.

The key is to have all original installation media somewhere where you know they are, as well as all product license keys. Having everything at hand is half the battle if a rebuild ever becomes necessary.

And don’t rely on Hidden Recovery Partitions — they are not always available in the event of a true hardware issue (which is not part of the issue in this thread).

The original question is whether Windows ever solves a reported error issue. And whether Microsoft ever uses Error Reporting to fix something in Windows. The answer to both parts of the question is Yes, sometimes.

-- rc primak

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The big advantage of a repair install is time and effort. I have too many apps to reinstall, just too many. Some of them take too much time to reinstall. You save yourself from all of that with a repair install. My system had several issues, though it booted and worked, but not only was I unable to install SP1, as there were other issues, including an impossibility to add service packs to some apps. The repair install fixed all my issues. I kept my system just as it was, no other effort needed, other than some IIS tweaks and minor problems repairing XP Mode.

I will always, always try a repair install before going for the nuke option, which a full reinstall is.

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The big advantage of a repair install is time and effort. I have too many apps to reinstall, just too many. Some of them take too much time to reinstall. You save yourself from all of that with a repair install. My system had several issues, though it booted and worked, but not only was I unable to install SP1, as there were other issues, including an impossibility to add service packs to some apps. The repair install fixed all my issues. I kept my system just as it was, no other effort needed, other than some IIS tweaks and minor problems repairing XP Mode.

I will always, always try a repair install before going for the nuke option, which a full reinstall is.

Good points. In light of these points, I would revise my previous post to say: One step of escalation at a time. That’s the right way to solve Windows issues. In this thread, the issue never escalated into a general Windows instability issue anyway, so our talk about any sort of reinstall was beyond the scope of what turned out to be necessary action in this case.

By the way, in the specific case of not being able to install SP1, Microsoft stated that certain Intel OEM drivers would need to be updated for the Service Pack to be installed. Also, those who had been cleaning out their Registries were warned to run the SFC Scan and one additional downloadable scan to make sure certain needed Registry Keys were intact and not corrupted.

See KB 2505743 for more details. I had to update four drivers to get SP1 to install correctly. Inability to add Service Packs or updates for some Applications may also involve these same issues. The same may be true when certain MS Updates which install or alter system kernel level drivers are repeatedly reoffered. This is one of those rare instances where a working driver may need an update.

.NET Framework and other runtimes also should be kept up to date to insure that service packs and program updates will install properly and not break anything.

-- rc primak

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