If a program crashes or you have a Stop error (aka., a blue screen) in Windows XP, XP prompts you to send an error report. It works a little different in Vista.

Vista will store your problem reports and manages them in the background. It’ll regularly check with Microsoft to see if an update that fixes your problem has been released, and notify you. So, you really don’t need to do anything to take advantage of Problem Reports And Solutions.

However, you can view problem reports and manually check for solutions by following these steps:

1. Click Start, type Problem, and then click Problem Reports and Solutions.

2. Under Tasks, click Check for new solutions. Windows Vista will check for new solutions, and might prompt you to send some more information. As this screenshot shows, I’ve had more than a couple of problems.

3. Windows probably won’t find any new solutions. Click Close.

Check out the other items on the Tasks menu:

• View problem history. Shows a list of every problem Windows has detected.
• Change settings. Configure whether Windows automatically checks for problems or prompts you first. Click Advanced Settings for more configuration settings.
• Clear solution and problem history. Erase the recorded problems, which is a good idea if you’ve upgraded hardware or software that you think will solve the problems you’ve had.