Advanced Diagnostic Tools in Windows 7

System Health Report

One of the most useful automatic diagnostic features in Windows 7 is the system health report tool you find when you click Generate A System Health Report in the Advanced Tools section of Performance Information and Tools. Figure 14-11 shows the Resource and Performance Monitor window that appears when you click the link. This tool produces thorough and detailed reports of the current status of your PC, checking every part of Windows, your hardware, and your installed software and highlighting any problems.

Figure 14-11 Tool for generating system health reports in Windows 7

The File menu includes options to send the report to an email client configured on your PC, save it as a file, or send it through a web mail application when you can attach the file manually to an email in the same way you would any other attachment you send. This method will vary depending on your email provider.

Before you dive into the details of the system health report, you should read the information that appears in the Diagnostic Results panel, as shown in Figure 14-12. Here you’ll see information on currently detected problems as well as links to helpful articles about these problems on the Microsoft website.

Figure 14-12 Sample system health report