How reliable is Vista?

Did you ever have the feeling that something wasn’t quite right with your PC? Vista’s Reliability Monitor can validate your intuition and help you diagnose your computer’s ills. Or, if your PC is in the pink, it will tell you that as well.

The Reliability Monitor tracks failures that occur over time, then ranks your system on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 is best). A graph depicts the status of your system day-by-day. But you get more than numbers and a pretty picture: Daily listings of events like hardware and software failures paint a more detailed picture of problems that may have affected your system’s operation at a particular time. The events tracked by Reliability Monitor are:

• Software (Un)Installs: Software installations and removals including operating system components, Windows updates, drivers, and applications.

• Application Failures: Application failures, including the termination of a non-responding application or an application that has stopped working.

• Hardware Failures: Disk and memory failures.

• Windows Failures: Operating system and boot failures.

• System Clock Changes: Significant changes to the system time are tracked in this category. (This appears only when a time change occurs.)

• Miscellaneous Failures: Failures that impact stability and do not fall under previous categories, including unexpected operating system shutdowns.

To view the Reliability Monitor, click the Start menu, then right-click on “Computer” and select “Manage.” In the Computer Management console, click on the arrow next to Reliability and Performance in the left pane, then on the arrow next to Monitoring Tools, and then on Reliability Monitor.

You’ll see your system’s daily score at the top right of the screen. Recent failures are weighted more heavily than past failures, so you’ll see improvement over time once a reliability issue has been resolved. Icons below the graph point you to instances that were problematic: Yellow triangles with an exclamation point indicate minor problems; an x inside a red circle represents major troubles. Vista updates the Reliability Monitor once a day as long as the system was turned on.

The Reliability Monitor is more than just a tool for confirming how things are going. If you’re porting older applications to a new computer, or running them for the first time on Vista, Reliability Monitor can show you what’s going right and wrong. It’s also useful for tracking down errors and troubleshooting problems. As a first step, check the category the problem occurred in from the list above. Or click on specific dates to see determine when problems began. For example, Reliability Monitor might report that errors in a software program started occurring only after your last update. If the Monitor shows that hardware memory errors began after you installed more memory, you can check to see whether the new memory is faulty.

A low reliability number doesn’t mean system failure is imminent. If you see a 1.29 on your Reliability Monitor—as we did on a home system—don’t panic. In our case, that low number began climbing back up, albeit slowly, as problems resolved. What caused the score to drop in the first place was the gradual installation of old applications onto the new system, as well as attempts to patch problems, use incompatible utilities, and install hardware that lacked Vista patches. In fact, that system’s score has risen back to 7.22.

As with any new operating system, you’ll probably encounter some rough spots with Vista, especially at first. Reliability Monitor can help you get through them and maintain your computer into the future.

--Richard Fisco, Senior Project Leader

Comments

[Graham]

I bought Windows Vista Home Premium and had a few update drivers for Scanner Printer etc updates I needed to look for which was the same when I installed XP.
I use a Dual Core 2.41 gig hrz with 2 Gigs of ram and it runs absolutely perfectly never a problem.
A lot of people try to upgrade to Vista using their old comps this system is written for Dual core with the dual processors.

[Albert G. Hughes Jr.]

Vista seems to work except for Backup/Restore Extreamley Unreliable a Diaster: Purchased alternate Backup due to Frustration It seems Microsoft only Knows how to Reinstall and Pray Hard Faults in DDr2 Ram seems to be another Problem You dont even Know its Happinning till you check. The Mac Looks better every day { HP Media Center 7747C 2.13 Dual Core } I refuse to purchase Ultima I tired of chaseing carrots, I have already zinged by symantic I have had enough of Bill Gates Its Pretty Bad when you Know more than the help Lines HP Included I Walk away and wait for them to catch up as I say Mac Looks Better every Day it all come down to your breaking point !

[Trish B]

Having purchased 2 new computers this past month - I'm at wits end with Vista. I shopped for machines with XP, but they are few and not readily available. I decided to move forward with a Vista machine and I regret having spent the money.

With Vista you must have massive memory for the system to operate at any reasonable speed. I can't tell you how many times the system has shut down entirely without warning - talk about frustration!!! There is nothing end user friendly about this program - did Microsoft listen to any end user feedback, from those that would actually be utilizing the system and programs?! If this is what MS has to offer as its latest and greatest...they need to go back to the drawing board.

[Rose]

Going back to XP. Well atleast until Microsoft can get it right. Most busy professionals do not have time to dig around for answers to problems that shouldn't exist in the first place.

[steven singer]

DEFINATELY NOT WORTH THE MONEY FOR A PERSONEL HOME USER. I ALSO HAVE NO SOUND AND CANT FIND A SOLUTION.

[Don]

Is Vista compatible with Pogo games, and how much storage, and memory will i need on my new computer?
Does the same theory apply on a new laptop?

[Aaron M]

I'm surprised that there is not more mention of Linux in this blog. While I understand that Windows dominates the desktop space, Linux (with the KDE and Gnome desktops) has come a long way.

Linux's cost, security, and stability far outweigh that of Windows, though the learning curve for Linux is far steeper and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. However, for basic web browsing, word processing, email, and other such day to day functions, Linux is hard to beat.

Not to mention that most of the "new" features in Windows Vista and IE7 are all things that Linux and Firefox have been doing for years.

How about some props for the penguin, eh?

Aaron M