Window Tips: XP Error Messages--You Decide What to Report

So there you are, minding your business, using your computer just the way you're supposed to, when bam! Up pops an announcement that some application or Windows component has 'encountered a problem and needs to close'. Note the wording: Apparently, the glitch came out of nowhere, and the application just happened to encounter it. By the way, the message states, the information you were just working on might be lost.

At least in Windows XP you can tell Microsoft about the problem. When you see the error announcement, click Send Error Report to transmit information to Microsoft that may or may not help avert the problem in future versions of the OS or in a Windows update.

If you want to know what you're sending to Microsoft, click the link provided in the error message. Unfortunately, digging through all the information to figure out just what the report contains is no small chore. The report will include some of the information that was in your system's memory at the time of the crash--oops, I mean the problem. Assume that it includes a list of applications that were running at the time of the crash. Moreover, if you were working in a document, some or all of that file's information may be reported, too. The message could even contain some of your passwords.

Microsoft officials say that they use the information for quality control, not for marketing purposes or for monitoring individual users or machines. They claim to discard information that doesn't help them solve the problem, and even data that is helpful gets deleted once the issue is unraveled. Still, if you've just had a crash, you probably want to get back to work as soon as possible. The quick solution, of course, is to click Don't Send. But there may be times when you want to tell Microsoft a little bit about a system crash. Fortunately, Windows XP provides a way to customize error reporting to ensure that you send only the information you want to share--or none at all.

Right-click My Computer and choose Properties. (If you don't have a My Computer icon on your desktop, start Windows Explorer and right-click My Computer in the left pane.) Click the Advanced tab in the System Properties dialog box, then choose the Error Reporting button on the lower right. Here are your options:

Windows only: If you don't mind informing Microsoft every time Windows blows a gasket, but you want to stay mum about the applications you use, uncheck Programs under 'Enable error reporting' but leave Windows operating system checked (see FIGURE 1). Click OK twice.

Selected Microsoft programs: To send error reports to Microsoft when applications crash, make sure Programs is checked and then click Choose Programs. By default, All programs is selected in the Choose Programs dialog box, but you can be a bit more restrictive by clicking All programs in this list. To report crashes of Microsoft applications only (such as Word and Excel), leave Programs from Microsoft checked. To alert the company to problems with individual Windows components (such as Paint and WordPad), make sure Windows components is checked.

Your choice of apps: To add to your list of reporting programs, click Add in the Choose Programs dialog box and type the name of each application's executable file (the one with the .exe extension). If you don't know the name, click Browse, find and select the program, click Open, and then OK. You can add non-Microsoft programs to the tattle list, or report on only specific Microsoft applications or Windows components. After you add the programs to your list, uncheck Programs from Microsoft and/or Windows components, then click OK as many times as needed.

Your choice of exceptions: It's easy to create a list of applications about which you do not want error reports sent. In the Choose Programs dialog box, select either All programs or All programs in this list, and then click the Add button below 'Do not report errors for these programs' (not the Add button below 'All programs in this list'). Type the name of the program's executable file, or click Browse and select it (see FIGURE 2). Repeat this process for all the applications you don't want to send a report on. Look over the entire dialog box one more time to make sure that the check boxes reflect your error-reporting preferences, and then click OK until all the dialog boxes are closed.

Never report: If you never want Microsoft to hear about your PC's problems, select Disable error reporting in the Error Reporting dialog box and click OK twice.

Never see error messages: To avoid being alerted at all about your system errors, select Disable error reporting in the Error Reporting dialog box and uncheck But notify me when critical errors occur. I don't recommend this option, however. I like to know whether an application actually crashed or my cat Bruno just happened to press Alt-F4 when I wasn't looking. If you don't mind a little mystery, though, this option saves you from having to close the error message whenever a program goes belly-up.

Now every time an application that isn't specified by your settings crashes, you'll see an error message similar to the old one, but without the request to send a report (see FIGURE 3).