Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Windows XP in 24 Hours

By Greg Perry

• Table of Contents
  • Copyright
  • About the Author
  • Acknowledgments
  • Tell Us What You Think!
  • Introduction
  • Part I: Wake Up with Windows XP
  • Hour 1. Taking a Bird's-Eye Look at Windows XP
  • Hour 2. Getting Started with Windows XP
  • Hour 3. Managing the Windows XP Interface
  • Part II: Morning Windows Desktop Exploration
  • Hour 4. Working with the My Computer Window
  • Hour 5. Navigating Files with Windows Explorer
  • Hour 6. Calling for Help
  • Hour 7. Improving Your Windows Desktop Experience
  • Part III: Early Afternoon Windows Exploration
  • Hour 8. Installing Programs with Windows XP
  • Hour 9. Finding Files, Folders, and Friends
  • Hour 10. Using the Desktop Accessories
  • Part IV: Late Afternoon Internet Integration
  • Hour 11. Surfing the Web with Internet Explorer
  • Hour 12. Tying Windows into the Web
  • Hour 13. Networking with Windows XP
  • Hour 14. Managing E-mail and Newsgroups with Outlook Express
  • Part V: An Evening with Advanced Windows
  • Hour 15. Exploring Your Hardware Interface
  • Hour 16. Understanding Printing and Fonts
  • Hour 17. Using Windows on the Road
  • Hour 18. Giving Windows XP a Tune-Up
  • Hour 19. Managing Your Hard Drives
  • Hour 20. Tinkering with the Advanced System Tools
    • Check Your System
    • Dr. Watson, Come Right Away
    • Using the Task Manager
    • Scheduling System Tasks
    • Using System Restore
    • Summary
    • Q&A
    • Workshop
  • Part VI: Having Fun at Nighttime
  • Hour 21. Using Media Player
  • Hour 22. Picturing Windows XP Graphics
  • Hour 23. Making Movies with Windows XP
  • Hour 24. Advanced Windows XP Tips
  • Part VII: Appendixes
  • Appendix A. Differences Between the Windows Home and Professional Edition
  • Appendix B. Glossary
  • Appendix C. Answers to Quizzes

Dr. Watson, Come Right Away

Although you won't find it on the Windows XP menus, a program called Dr. Watson can help you trace severe problems that occur when you run some programs. When you start the Dr. Watson system utility program, the program sits in the background (a new taskbar icon appears) and waits for a problem.

Although Windows XP is far more stable than previous Windows versions, problems can still occur. If your system freezes and you've started Dr. Watson, Dr. Watson will record all pertinent system information right before the error occurred. In other words, if your system freezes or displays a serious system error, you can restart your PC and read the log file that Dr. Watson will have created right before the problem occurred. Dr. Watson is not foolproof; some systems crash and freeze and Dr. Watson cannot always catch the problem.

Dr. Watson's log file will describe the error and often will suggest corrected action you can use to keep the problem from reappearing. If you cannot fix the problem, you can contact Microsoft's Technical Support staff on its Web site (http://www.microsoft.com), sending your Dr. Watson log file. The support staff can use Dr. Watson's log to diagnose and correct the problem.

Unlike most programs on your computer, Dr. Watson does not appear on the Windows XP menu. Therefore, you must start Dr. Watson from the Start menu's Run command as the following To Do item illustrates.

To Do: Running Dr. Watson

1. Display the Start menu's Run command.
2. At the Run prompt, type Drwtsn32 and click OK to start the system program. After a brief pause, the Dr. Watson for Windows dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 20.5.
   

   Figure 20.5 Dr. Watson helps you detect system problems.

3. After starting Dr. Watson, you can start your other programs and continue working. At any time, you can click over the Dr. Watson taskbar icon to display the Dr. Watson window and adjust settings there. Be warned, however, that generally only computer technicians will know what to request other than the default Dr. Watson values. If you are familiar with routine program debugging, you will be better acquainted with Dr. Watson's options.

   After you start Dr. Watson, it saves a snapshot log of your computer's memory and other settings when a system error or application error occurs. The log is created based on the system information available at the time of the problem.

4. To view the Dr. Watson log, you can use the WordPad text editor to load the file. The path to the log file is always listed at the top of Dr. Watson's initial window. The default path is as follows:

   C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Dr Watson
   

   The log file's name is Drwtsn32.log, and you can locate this file after an error occurs (and possibly after a required reboot if the error forces your system to freeze) at the previously listed path.

5. Click Dr. Watson's Close button to close the dialog box.

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