The Old New Thing

August 10, 2005 - The Old New Thing

Why is Windows Error Reporting nicknamed “Dr. Watson”?

August 10, 2005 Aug 10, 2005 08/10/05
Raymond Chen
The nickname for the feature known as Windows Error Reporting is "Dr. Watson". Where did that name come from? As you have probably guessed, The name Dr. Watson was inspired by the character of Dr. Watson, the assistant to Sherlock Holmes in the stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. It is my understanding that the doctor was ...

How can a company get access to Windows Error Reporting data?

August 10, 2005 Aug 10, 2005 08/10/05
Raymond Chen
What happens to all the crashes in programs not written by Microsoft that are submitted via Windows Error Reporting? Microsoft still collects and indexes them, and vendors can sign up to gain access to the error reporting database to see the crashes in their programs. The service is free, although it does require a Verisign ID so that the ...