Windows Memory Diagnostic
Windows Vista introduced Windows Memory Diagnostic (previously available through Microsoft's Online Crash Analysis website) as a standard part of Windows, and Windows 7 follows in Vista's footsteps.
Because Windows Memory Diagnostics checks your system's standard and cache RAM before the Windows desktop appears, you are prompted to choose when to run the program: either now (requiring you to restart the system) or the next time the system is started.
When Windows Memory Diagnostic is running, it displays a plain blue screen with white and yellow text. A status bar indicates the progress of the selected tests (Figure 13).
![](/content/images/art_soper_win7admintls/elementLinks/thart_soper_fig13.jpg)
Figure 13 Testing system memory with Windows Memory Diagnostic
To change the number of test passes (the default is two), select a different mix of tests, or to turn memory cache on or off, press the F1 key and select from the options displayed (Figure 14).
![](/content/images/art_soper_win7admintls/elementLinks/thart_soper_fig14.jpg)
Figure 14 Viewing memory test options in Windows Memory Diagnostic
If Windows Memory Diagnostic detects any problems, it displays the results after the Windows desktop boots.