Overview of Built-in Windows System Tools

When your Windows installation shows evidence of being "corrupted", there are several useful System Tools built right into Windows to help you troubleshoot and solve the problem.

Beginning with Windows 95, a tool called “Device Manager” can be used to diagnose and help solve hardware problems. Also included is a “Registry Editor” which can be used to solve problems caused by corrupted, missing, or incorrect Registry entries. Another tool, called “Dr. Watson”, can be used to capture snapshots of system information when you discover the error.

When Windows 98 came along, there weren’t many changes to the general operation and interface for most users; but it was vastly improved over Windows 95 because it introduced a number of other very useful tools. For example, the “Hardware Information Utility” which provides much more detailed information about your computer's installed hardware than “Device Manager”. There is also the “System Information Utility” which provides huge amounts of information about your system, including installed and running programs, attached hardware, and a history of installed device drivers. Another tool called the “Version Conflict Manager” can be used to determine what version of system files are currently being used, and to allow replacements by other backed-up versions. The “System File Checker” can be used to test for changed, deleted or corrupted system files, and also allows for replacements by fresh copies which can be extracted from the Windows CD or the c:\Windows\Options\Cabs folder if you have an OEM installation. Both these latter two tools were eliminated in WinME.

Windows 98 and later versions also introduced the “System Configuration Utility”, which can be used to disable the execution of various drivers and programs that load at system startup. When you have trouble starting Windows because an error message appears, it is extremely helpful in determining if the trouble is caused by conflicts between startup programs. Windows 98 and later also have the “Scanreg” utility, which automatically runs at boot time to backup your Registry, if the boot is successful. It can also be run manually in order to restore one of five previous backup copies of the Registry that are saved on your hard drive.

When Windows ME dropped the “System File Checker”, it replaced it with new features called “System File Protection” and “System Restore”. With “System File Protection”, certain critical system files are automatically protected from being modified by programs you install, so that the overall performance of Windows is not interfered with or degraded. With the “System Restore”, it is possible to restore a previous system configuration which was working properly, if the current configuration isn't.

If you are running Internet Explorer 5.0 or later, you also have a tool, which can be used to solve many types of internet access problems, called the “Internet Explorer Repair” tool.

In addition to all the above, there are number of Microsoft troubleshooting wizards built into Windows as part of the online Help system.