Microsoft Windows features some very special diagnostic and troubleshooting tools, and Dr. Watson is the one of those. The utility generates a report in case the Windows encounters any errors or issues, which can be raveled thoroughly to get into the depth of the issue. Even, technicians at the Microsoft Support portal depend upon the Dr. Watson tool’s performance to perform their task.
Out of the many tools or debugger applications that Microsoft has bestowed on Windows, Dr. Watson is a unique one. Whenever the running Windows system software encounters any error, a subsequent text file is generated with the name drwatson.exe, drwtsn32.exe or dwwin.exe, depending on the version of Windows. Doctor Watson inherits the name of a special character from the renowned story collection ‘Sherlock Holmes’ by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Gushing popularity of Dr. Watson character, admired the brand to go with the name. The debugger tool debuted with Windows XP as an important error analyzer; later revamped with "Problem Reports and Solutions” in Windows Vista and Windows 7. Typing "drwatson.exe" into the command prompt box or in the 'Search programs and files' box can land you to the desired application.
The log file starts with the name: “Application exception occurred” and it expresses names of the file infected along with the error message. It reveals the system information on which the problem occurred and will showcase all programs or task that were running on the system at the time when the program error occurred. You get detailed information regarding the modules that each program loaded with “starting address”, “ending address” and “module name”. Next and the most important section is the State dump for the thread ID detected. The State dump consists of a register dump, disassembly of the code surrounding the current program counter, a stack back trace, and a raw stack dump.
Modify the Dr. Watson utility for specific debugging tasks including Log File Path, Crash Dump, Wave File, Number of Instructions, Number of Errors To Save, Visual Notification and more. All amendment is stored in Registry Editor under the key \\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DrWatson.
The information so offered can be used to fix related issues. It is transferred to the Microsoft Support Server for diagnostic and troubleshooting. You may also try to get rid of the given problems, if you have the bit computer expertise. However, if you don’t find in a comfortable situation then it’s worth to go with Microsoft Fix it tool, an automatic diagnostic and troubleshooting wizard to take care of Windows related issues. For any security related errors, it’s wise to perform a live scan using Microsoft Security Essentials Tool. It will scan, detect and remove viruses, spyware and malware from the machine in a quick and easy manner.
These days, support for Windows is also available from third-party vendors registered with Microsoft Certified Partner Network. They have Microsoft Certified Technicians to provide Microsoft help and support services via phone or remote-screen sharing. However, being vigilant you can avoid some common issues related to the installation and activation of any software. Before installing any software it’s recommended to check respective products’ compatibility from Microsoft Compatibility Center. In case, you have got to know about any incompatible software on your machine, then uninstall it from the Windows Control Panel. Windows built-in PC repair tools such as Disk Cleanup and Disk defragmenter can help you to address most of the issues related to the memory.
The author is a technician at Techvedic Technologies, a firm that delivers end to end Microsoft Support to clients. Online computer repair, Microsoft Fix It, computer technical support, Microsoft Help is few services offered at this one platform along with many others.
