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A Search Engine Optimization Primer

noreply@blogger.com (v) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 01:50:00 +0000

This article provides an introduction to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and is written for those who are considering optimizing (or having optimized) their own Web sites. I cover concepts like rich content, keywords, meta-tags, SEO techniques, and Fact and Fiction. Use this document to have an intelligent SEO discussion with your Web site designer and creator
A Search Engine Optimization Primer describes for the layman the various methods and requirements to make a Web site “search engine friendly.”

What is the point in spending time and money building a Web site if no one can find it doing a simple search using Google, Yahoo!, MSN, or any number of other search engines?

With Internet searches quickly replacing traditional methods of locating products and services (like the Yellow Pages), companies today have to ensure that their Web store front is as visible as possible to potential customers or users.

Read on to find out how you can make sure that your Web site is optimized for today’s search engines!

A Definition
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a complex topic with a fairly simple definition: SEO is the science and art of designing a Web site and its content in such a way as to give each Web site page the best chance of being listed and highly ranked by search engines. I describe it as both a science and an art.

The Science of SEO
Like a science, specific, known design techniques can be used (or not) by Web designers to improve a search engine’s ability to “read” the content of a Web site and its pages. Wonderful and complex Web sites can easily be created without using any SEO techniques, or by using techniques that directly interfere with a search engine’s ability to “read” the content of a site. If you want to determine whether your Web site has a fighting chance of being highly listed by a search engine, you need to be aware of these known and non-mysterious techniques.

The Art of SEO
Like an art, scientific techniques have to be employed in reference to a Web site’s purpose, audience, message, aesthetics, and contents. The “look and feel” of a Web site can be critical, and a balance must sometimes be struck between the artistic qualities of the Web site and its adherence to search engine requirements. Many “artistic” design elements actually interfere with or prohibit a search engine from reading a site. For example, a popular design element used today, Flash movies, is invisible to search engines. If your Web site is created with Flash, you can forget about getting noticed by search engines for the simple reason that Flash is not textual content, and search engines feed off of content, not graphics, photographs, or Flash movies. It is important to know that any words contained within a Flash move, photograph, or graphic is invisible to search engines. Just because you can see words displayed on your Web site doesn’t mean that a search engine can.

The Flash movie that serves as my Web site’s banner provides a good example of “invisible words.” Although the site visitor sees the following in the banner,

GRDavis
Media Services
******
Web Site Development
Technical Writing
Sales and Marketing Collateral

the search engine sees none of these words. Why? Because the words are actually part of a Flash movie. If you are to look at the underlying Web page code, you will not find this particular collection of words; you will only find a reference to the Flash movie that projects the words on the Flash movie screen. It’s the projection of the words that is visible to you and me. Since search engines cannot see what movies, graphics or photographs contain, any words they contain are invisible. This is an important lesson to learn and understand.

The Importance of Textual Content
Rich, pertinent, textual content is red meat to a search engine. Period. If your Web site does not contain good, solid text describing your products, services or offerings, then your hope of receiving a natural high listing – for important search terms – within the most important search engines is nil. Textual content is the foundation upon which all other Web design techniques must build if you want a good chance to naturally be listed high by search engines like Google, Yahoo! or MSN. That is, unless you want to pay for page 1 or page 2 listings through potentially expensive pay-per-click ads or sponsorships.

Textual Content Defined
Let me be clear by what I mean by textual content. Textual content means letters, words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs that can be “read” by a search engine’s robot program called a “spider.” It is the search engine’s spider that “reads” your Web pages. If the spider cannot see something, it doesn’t exist as far as the search engine is concerned. Search engine readable text may not be visible to you, but it is visible to search engines if the text is included as part of the Web page’s underlying code. More about that later.

Search engine spiders do not “see” what you see when viewing a Web site. You may see pretty pictures, graphics, text, movies, and animations. The spider may see – nothing! – at least nothing that it can search and index.

Search engines see the special code behind the Web site, not what is displayed in your browser window. To see what a search engine sees, display your favorite Web site. Then, with your mouse, perform a “right click” on the Web site page to pop up a menu. If you are using Internet Explorer, look for “View Source” on the menu and click on it (for Netscape, look for “View Page Source”). (If you don’t see “View Source” as one of the options in the menu, then click again on another part of the Web site. Stay away from menus, flash movies, graphics, photos and the like.) The resulting window displays what the search engine sees, which, of course, looks like a bunch of code to you and me.

How to Make Sure Textual Content Works for You
The best way to make sure textual content is usable by search engines is to focus on the effective use of keywords or keyphrases within well-written text. A keyword or phrase is any search engine readable text that indicates the focus or topics covered by a Web page. Keywords and phrases work best when they are repeated several times in different ways on a page. For example, the key-word “doo-hickie” can be repeated in several different places within the underlying page code:

Domain name. Ideally, your Web site’s domain name should contain your most important keyword. For example, if you are in the business of selling doo-hickies, a great domain name would be “www.doo-hickies.com.” Unfortunately, most keywords are already employed in someone else’s domain name. If possible, use your most critical keyword or phrase in your domain name. If that is not possible, see URL names, below.
“Title” meta-tag. Ex.: “Doo-Hickies Are Our Specialty at We-Sell-Stuff.com”
“Description” meta-tag. Ex.: “If Doo-Hickies are your passion as they are ours, you will find a complete selection of Doo-Hickies here. Contact us for more Doo-Hickie information.”
“Keywords” meta-tag. Although Google pays little notice to keywords in this meta-tag, Yahoo! and MSN use it to identify keywords to index. Use variations of the keyword to represent different ways someone may search for information about it. For example: “Doo-Hickies, Doo-Hickie, Doo-Hicky, accessories, testimonials”. However, keywords or phrases within this meta-tag should also be present within the page’s searchable text. Keywords within the meta-tag that are not actually present on the page can serve to penalize the Web site’s listing.
URL names. Page URLs that contain a keyword or phrase are rated higher than URLs that do not. If you cannot use a keyword in your domain name, you can include it within the URL: “http://www.we-sell-stuff.com/html/doo-hickies.html” is rated higher for the key phrase “doo-hickies” than is the URL “http://www.we-sell-stuff.com/html/doohick.html.”
“ALT” tags (for graphics and photos). Ex.: “We sell a variety of Doo-Hickies and accessories.” “ALT” text is always visible to the search engine, but is only displayed to the Web visitor when the mouse is moved over the graphic or photo for which the “ALT” text has been created.
“H1,” “H2,” etc. Search engines pay more attention to text that is emphasized with heading, bold “B,” underline “U,” or italic “I” tags. An “H1” heading may look like this on a Web page:

Doo-Hickies Accessories

Links. Search engines rate text contained in links as more important than regular text. For search engines, Example A below is more important than Example B, even though both contain the same keywords and point to the same Web page (the bolding serves to illustrate links:

Doo-Hickies

here

Real text, not graphical text. Real text is any text that can be read by a search engine because the text is contained within the underlying Web page code. Graphical text is any text that is contained within an image, graphic or Flash movie, and is not actually present within the underlying Web page code. Keywords that are contained within well-written, contextually appropriate sentences, paragraphs or lists are rewarded with higher ratings by search engines.
Page placement. Keywords place higher on the page rate higher than keywords buried within the text further down on the page.

How to Make Sure Keywords DON’T Work for You
The use of keywords on a page should be natural but purposeful, not forced or overdone. Your Web page should not resort to “tricks” to put keywords in the Web page’s search engine readable text. Here are some guaranteed ways to get penalized, banned or ignored by search engines:

Stuff your page with keywords. On some Web pages you will see some works repeated over and over and over, assuming that this will force a search engine into giving the keyword a higher value. The opposite actually happens. Search engines identify the over-use of keywords as “spamming,” and can actually ban your Web site from their index for this practice.
Use invisible keywords. Invisible keywords are invisible only to you, not to the search engine. Web site creators can make words invisible by simply making them the same color as the background. If the underlying code for a Web page contains invisible keywords, it will be penalized, or even banned, by search engines.
Use extremely tiny fonts. If your Web creator uses an extremely tiny font (less than 6pt) size to hide key words, search engines may penalize your site.
Use keywords in your meta-tag that aren’t actually on the page. Search engines that still use the meta-tag fully expect to find the keywords within the readable text on the page itself. If they don’t, they may penalize or ban your Web site.
Use graphical keywords. Graphical keywords are words contained within a graphic, photograph or Flash movie. They may look good to you, but search engines take no notice of them.

Other Considerations to Improve Search Engine Listings
Although “content is king” when it comes to search engine optimization, Web site builders can employ other techniques to improve search engine listings. Here is a sampling of things that can be done or should be avoided:

Do These Things

Robots.txt. Include this file in your root directory. It can contain instructions for search engine robots regarding which directories and files it should spider.
Sitemaps. Create a Sitemap. A Sitemap.html page can be created that contains links to each Web page that needs to be spidered. If a link is created on the Home page to the Sitemap.html page, then the spider will follow the link to the Sitemap.html page where it will, in turn, follow all the links on the Sitemap.html page. This helps search engine spiders know which Web pages to index.
Google Sitemap and Validation file. Create a Google Sitemap.xml file and validation file. These files are also located in the root directory. Google enables you to create a special Sitemap that is particular to Google robots. The Sitemap.xml file requires a specific Google format to work, and forces Google to spider all the Web pages contained in the Sitemap.xml file. For this to work, Google also requires a validation file to be created.
Info.txt File. Create this file and place it in your Web site’s root directory. Some search engines use an info.txt file that contains specially formatted information about the Web site, including the site URL, site name and descriptive text.
Links from “Like” Sites. Google especially values links from other like, quality sites that already have a high page rank within Google. For example if your company has partners or customers that are willing to put a link from their Web sites back to yours (with appropriate keywords in the link text, of course), then Google will use those links to improve your own Web site’s Google PageRank.
Local Listings in Search Engines. Google, Yahoo! and MSN enable you to list your business information, including the Web site URL, in a special section called Local Listings. Take advantage of this to help increase your page rank and page listing.
The Use of Smaller Search Engines. Google, Yahoo! and MSN aren’t the only important search engines. There are a number of smaller search engines which can contribute to improved listings and Google PageRank. Also, some smaller search engines are specialized search engines that someone may reach through a Google search anyway, so it would be good to be listed in such specialized search engines.
Article Submission Sites. Another way to increase your Web site’s visibility and listing is to publish quality articles and documents on the various document submission sites. These sites will publish your (approved) document on their own site, and it will usually be picked up by other sites or blogs looking for good content. The result is that a number of links are created from those sites back to your Web site. Below is a partial list of smaller search engines and article submission links:

Smaller Search Engine Links

SearchWarp.com
SitesOnDisplay.com
SearchRamp.com
Mixcat.com
ExactSeek.com
Aesop.com
WebSquash.com
AllTheWebSites.org

Article Submission Links (#=Google PageRank as of this writing)

Avoid These Things

Dynamic Web Pages. Don’t use them unless you absolutely have to. Search engines have difficulty reading dynamic pages, so any keyword optimization you may have included on the page will be for naught. Dynamic Web pages are created “on the fly” as a visitor navigates from page to page. The content of dynamic Web pages is usually stored in a database, and is not loaded for presentation until the content is requested. Dynamic Web pages are usually identified by punctuation characters in the page URL:

http://www.cpaforyou.com/Default.aspx?tabid=29.

Frames. Again, don’t use them unless you have a compelling need to do so. Any content contained within a Web page’s Content frame is often invisible to search engines. Frames involve one Web page file (the Master frame) loading content from some other Web file into another frame (the Content frame). All the search engine sees is what is contained in the Master frame, which is usually just the meta-tags, a banner file name, and navigation elements. Any of the stuff in the Content frame isn’t seen because it’s not really part of the Master frame and its underlying code; the content file is just referenced by the Master frame. By the bye, any keyword or SEO work you’ve done goes to waste.
Broken Links. Make sure that all links on your Web pages work properly. Search engines do not like broken links. A broken link is simply a link that displays a “Page Not Available” or some other such message. Your listing rank will be lowered if search engine spiders find broken links on your page.
Link Farms. Do not use link farms or link sharing schemes. Search engines very much value links from like-site to like-site; they do not like links from unrelated site to unrelated site. Your listing rank may be lowered if your Web site is part of a link farm. Here’s what Google says:

Linking schemes will often do a site more harm than good. Many sites that advertise link-sharing programs not only offer little value, but will distribute your email address without your permission, resulting in an increased volume of unwanted mail.

The Aesthetics of Search Engine Optimization
Do Search Engines care about, reward or penalize the visual or aesthetic appeal of your Web site? In a word, No. Ugly Web sites can be ranked as high or higher as visually appealing or highly creative Web sites. In fact, the design techniques, tools, utilities, components, and gimmicks many visually stunning Web sites use actually often prevent those Web sites from being effectively spidered, indexed or listed. So how much attention should you give to your Web site’s visual appeal? It depends. If your Web site illustrates your artistic capabilities, such as for an artist, musician, or photographer, then you should make sure that your site is highly aesthetic, and you will likely have to make some compromises between aesthetics and search engine optimization. If your Web site is an e-commerce Web site, then it can actually be quite ugly and still be effective both in regards to search engine optimization and user interaction. Most of us, I think, just want a good looking, appealing Web site that search engines like, too.

Claims of Which to Be Wary
Some search engine optimization companies will make strong claims regarding their ability to get your Web site a high listing. For example, they may claim, “We Get Your Website to Page One’. Here’s what Google says:

No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.

Some SEOs may try to sell you the ability to type keywords directly into the browser address bar.

Most such proposals require users to install extra software, and very few users do so. Evaluate such proposals with extreme care and be skeptical about the self-reported number of users who have downloaded the required applications.

Keep in mind that millions of Web sites exist, and for any particular search term tens of thousands of Web sites may be listed. Most search engines only display 10 listings per page, so a guarantee of your site’s naturally being in the top 10 or 20 listings for an important search term cannot be made. What if the companies already listed in the top 20 paid an SEO company to guarantee a top 20 placement? Where would that leave you? Having said that, all is not lost. For example, an Arlington, Texas-based accounting firm may not be able to appear in the top 20 listings for the search term “accounting firm,” but it may have a good shot at appearing in the top ten for the search term “Texas accounting firm,” or “Arlington accounting firm,” or “DFW accounting firm” or “church accounting firm.”

Others may claim “Guaranteed Search Engine Listings.” Understand that this is a claim that even the search engines will not make without forking over some loot. No search engine that I know of guarantees that your Web site will be listed (except for those accepting payment for listing), so how can an SEO company make that claim? They can’t. However, most Web sites are eventually listed by search engines for free. The questions are: How long does it take? Where in the listing does your Web site appear? and For what search terms? It really doesn’t make any difference if your Web site is listed number one for some obscure search term that may rarely or never be used.

In my own experience, most search engines pick up a well-designed, search-engine-optimized Web site within 72 hours of a free submission. It may not be listed highly at first, but it is listed.

So What Can an SEO Company Really Claim to Do for You?

They can evaluate an existing Web site based on known SEO practices, standards and techniques that are search-engine approved, and advise you on how to improve your Web site’s SEO content.
They can create Web sites based on known SEO practices, standards and techniques that are search-engine approved.
They can provide services for you like keyword research, code optimization, domain registration, search engine submission, article submission, Google Sitemap creation, etc.
They can help you create pay-per-click (PPC) adword campaigns that will get you listed on the first, second or third page of listings for specific search terms. Just keep in mind that for highly popular keywords and phrases, even PPC can get quite expensive. For example, to get Google Page 1 listing for the adword “technical writing,” you could expect to pay $3.30 per click. Based on an estimate of 23-29 clicks per day, that’s up to $100.00 a day just for people clicking on your Google ad.

Summary Advice
Establish realistic expectations for your Web site, but commit yourself to using good, solid, proven practices, techniques and standards to improve your Web site’s search engine optimization effectiveness.

If you already have a Web site, it is not too late to make it SEO compliant. It may take some work, but the potential rewards could be great, especially if you need to use your Web site as a lead generation or sales tool.

Having said all of this, not every Web site needs to be optimized. Some Web sites are meant primarily to serve existing customers, and are not designed to be electronic brochures or sales tools. Or, the business is structured such that sufficient new business comes from referrals rather than via marketing or a Web presence. In such cases, owners should count themselves lucky.

If your business could benefit from SEO, don’t put it off. Your competitors are likely not sitting still, and are hoping that you hesitate just a little longer.

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noreply@blogger.com (v) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 01:49:00 +0000

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Three Ways To Advance Your Search Engine Rankings

noreply@blogger.com (v) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 01:48:00 +0000

Having a web site for your business is essential in today's online society. Customers expect to be able to find their favorite business online, and companies that refuse to use the technology available to them are often left in the dust. Simply having a web site, though, is often not enough. That website must be available to potential customers to be a valid source of advertising. The only way this can work is to have a high rank from search engines.

Search engine ranking ...
Having a web site for your business is essential in today's online society. Customers expect to be able to find their favorite business online, and companies that refuse to use the technology available to them are often left in the dust. Simply having a web site, though, is often not enough. That website must be available to potential customers to be a valid source of advertising. The only way this can work is to have a high rank from search engines.

Search engine ranking gives internet users a way to determine if the page returned from the search they performed is of any value to them. The higher your search engine ranking, the more likely potential customers are to click on it. The lower your search engine ranking, the more likely customers are to never even find your website. There are three simple ways you can advance your search engine ranking and improve your business and your profits.

The first way to improve your search engine ranking is to pick your target key words carefully. When someone searches for something related to your business, you want your page to land in the top ten results offered by that search engine. Each page in your site should have more than one key word. Moreover, your site key words should be at least two words long. For example, instead of “stamps,” you might want to use “stamp collecting.” There are both free websites and pricey software that can offer you the best analysis of what key words you should use on your site. These can help you choose the right key words for your site.

Second, one of the main rules in search engine rankings is the frequency and location of key terms on your website. If the search term appears in your HTML tag, you are more likely to get a higher rating from a search engine. Moreover, search engines look for the key terms at the top of the page. Search engines are looking for the term in the headline or the first few paragraphs of the page. The nearer to the top, the more the search engine assumes the page is related to the topic the searcher is looking for. Another thing search engines look for is the frequency of the term. Search engines examine how frequently you use the term in relation to all of the other words on the website. They calculate the percentage and the higher the percentage, the higher your page ranking. It is important to remember, though, that some search engines are built to detect spamming, or using the term too many times to direct searchers to an unrelated page. Sites that detect spamming will not only exclude your site in their results; they may also ban your site from their results on a permanent basis. Deliberately spamming can be a lot of work as well. You have to constantly battle to keep your key words at the level the rankings will require. Deliberate spamming is ethically wrong, and you should not resort to it to increase your page rankings. Paying attention to the location and frequency of the search terms on your website can greatly improve your search engine ranking.

Finally, build relevant content on your page. Be sure that your page reflects the key words. Using HTML text wherever you can will help both search engines and your visitors to determine the relevance of your site. Using large graphics means the search engine cannot read your site. While they may look nice, they will not improve your search engine rating. That relevant content should include building on your text references. If your key word is collecting, consider offering an alternate key word of collectors. This can keep your site from being eliminated by some engines as redundant.

Increasing your key word rankings can really help increase your business. It can direct more traffic to your website that you ever thought possible. Remember though; do not get tied up in your rankings. Even if you do not see an improvement in your rankings, you will at least know you should concentrate on something besides your page rank that will help you improve your site ranking.

Three of the most common reasons why SEO campaigns fail

noreply@blogger.com (v) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 01:47:00 +0000

Most SEO campaigns fall flat on their faces and totally fail to achieve the objectives they were set out to accomplish, usually three main reasons exist for this. This article describes these reasons.

Most SEO campaigns fall flat on their faces and totally fail to achieve the objectives they were set out to accomplish.

Sadly the list of failures is not just limited to individuals who attempt to carry out their own SEO campaigns. It includes companies and so-called experts who are paid to carry out an SEO campaign for a client and end up totally failing to achieve what they set out to do.

Here are the three most common reasons for failure. By studying and understanding them a webmaster can start their next SEO campaign with better odds because they already understand some of the things that commonly tend to go wrong.

a) Assuming That All Businesses And Industries Are The Same
There is a common belief that if somebody succeeds in the SEO of a certain business in a certain specific industry, they will automatically succeed in any industry and any business.

This has to be the most common reason for failure. Especially where the webmaster hires some affordable SEO expert that has had success in some other niche industry.

The truth is that one business is often very different from another and quite often the effort required to get a certain web site at the top of search engine rankings is very different from the effort required to get another different site to the same level. Different categories have different levels of competition. There are certain categories where the competition is so stiff and the number of competing web sites so numerous that it is virtually impossible to carry out any successful SEO campaign without adjusting the focus and niche target market of that particular enterprise.

The temptation is just too big to hand over your web site to some “SEO expert” and expect them to work some SEO magic with no input from you. You should resist that temptation because the chances of such an arrangement working are really so slim that the odds are heavily stacked against you succeeding.

b) A Failure To Decide What Particular Niche To Focus On
Many webmasters tend to forget that they are competing in the world market and that the only way they can ever hope to be successful is by carefully selecting some narrow niche that the others have ignored but which they are very well suited to covering.

There is no way that you can be all things to all people, and especially not in a fiercely competitive world market. This correct focus on a narrow niche is what will quite often make or break an SEO effort. If you opt to hire some expert, they will usually be anxious to get your business and will hardly spend any time studying your industry prior to your committing yourself to their services. And by the time you commit there is no turning back, whatever the difficulties that they encounter.

You do not expect some SEO expert to learn all the knowledge you have accumulated over many years’ involvement in a certain industry in just a few days. And that is precisely where the problem starts. There is no way that a successful SEO campaign can be executed without adequate information.

A webmaster who carries out their own SEO campaign is also doomed to failure if they have not decided on what niche to focus their efforts on.

c) A Failure To Closely And Constantly Monitor Keyword Popularity
There is no way of avoiding the appropriate keyword phrases for your site in any successful SEO campaign. The big mistake many webmasters or blog owners make is to do their keyword research once and then forget all about it. Keyword phrases are changing in popularity all the time with some reducing in polarity while others increase in leaps and bounds. There is no way you can possibly stay informed without constantly and regularly monitoring keyword popularity.

Even more important you will not be able to come across the new keyword phrase opportunities that emerge all the time.

If you decide to hire some SEO expert, they will start from a position of weakness if they are not aware of what has transpired over the last few months and even years concerning popular keyword phrases. How will they be able to accurately judge on the best direction to take in their campaign?

Conclusion
You will have realized that SEO campaigns are very intimate affairs that require lots of information and research over a long period of time to be highly successful. And even if you are bringing some expert onboard to carry out your SEO campaign for you, it is absolutely important that they have enough information to start with. Both from their previous experiences that you should know about and analyze and ask questions about before you reveal anything about the subject matter of your web site. You too should be gathering as much information as possible, all the time.

Vital Ladder for Site Encouragement

noreply@blogger.com (v) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 01:19:00 +0000

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windows XP Service Pack 3 download

noreply@blogger.com (v) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:20:00 +0000

Windows® XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, which do not significantly change customers’ experience with the operating system. This white paper summarizes what is new in Windows XP SP3.

Windows® XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, which do not significantly change customers’ experience with the operating system. This white paper summarizes what is new in Windows XP SP3.

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How Windows Error Reporting Works

noreply@blogger.com (v) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:52:00 +0000

An end user experiencing a crash is shown a dialog box that asks whether to send an error report to Microsoft. If the user chooses to send the report, then Microsoft Windows Error Reporting (WER) collects information about the application and the module involved in the crash and sends the encrypted information to a secure server at Microsoft. In some cases, additional data is also collected in a .cab file and sent with the report.

When Microsoft receives the report, it is sorted according to its contents, and wherever possible the information is associated with a particular hardware vendor, software vendor, or system manufacturer.

The vendor that owns the component associated with the crash can use Windows Quality Online Services (Winqual) to access WER data for its products, analyze the data to locate the source of the problem, and then provide solutions both through the end-user error dialog boxes and by providing updated files on Windows Update.

Using Windows Server 2003 in a Managed Environment

noreply@blogger.com (v) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:50:00 +0000

Benefits and Purposes of Windows Error Reporting

The Windows Error Reporting feature in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 family operating systems provides a service which allows Microsoft to track and address errors relating to the operating system, Windows components, and applications. This service, called the Error Reporting service, gives administrators and users with administrative credentials the opportunity to send data about errors to Microsoft and to receive information about them. Moreover, developers can use the Error Reporting service as a problem-solving tool to address customer problems in a timely manner and to improve the quality of Microsoft products.

In addition to having users or administrators send information to Microsoft, in some cases Microsoft may provide information, such as a way to work around a problem or a link to a Web site for updated drivers, patches, or Microsoft Knowledge Base articles.

Overview: Using Windows Error Reporting in a Managed Environment

In Windows Server 2003 family operating systems, error reporting is enabled by default and you can report system and application errors to Microsoft if you choose to. When an error occurs, a dialog box is displayed, giving you the option to report the problem. If you choose to report the problem, technical information about it is collected and then sent to Microsoft over the Internet. No information is sent unless you confirm that the error report be sent to Microsoft.

On Windows Server 2003 family operating systems you can configure or disable error reporting through the Control Panel\System\Advanced tab. You can configure error reporting to send specified information such as system errors only, unplanned shutdowns, or errors for Windows components, such as Windows Explorer, Paint, or Microsoft Internet Explorer. You can also send information for applications, such as Microsoft Word. An operating system error causes the computer to display a Stop error screen with error values. An application or component error causes the application or component to stop working.

The default settings for the Windows Server 2003 family are:

•

Enable error reporting for the operating system, unplanned computer shutdowns, and applications.

For application errors, you can configure error reporting in one of two ways: either have the error reporting dialog box appear as soon as an error occurs for any user, or do not have the dialog box appear until the next time an administrator logs on.

Windows treats operating system errors and unplanned shutdowns differently from the way it treats application errors. If an operating system error or unplanned shutdown occurs, Windows writes the error information to a log file. The next time an administrator logs on, the error reporting dialog box prompts them to report the error.

•

Force queue mode for application errors.

The queued mode displays the last ten errors the next time the administrator logs on to the computer. Each error is displayed in its own window so the administrator can choose the errors to report to Microsoft. In this mode errors are displayed only to an administrator; if users logged on to the server they would not see the errors.

Since error reporting is a valuable service, we do not recommend that IT administrators disable it, but that they control what information is reported and where it is sent. For an organization where privacy is a concern, we recommend that the IT department review and filter error reports before they are sent to Microsoft. The best method to use to prevent the automatic flow of error reporting information to and from the Internet is to redirect error reports to a server on your intranet by using Group Policy and to set up Corporate Error Reporting (CER). You can configure error reporting to control various aspects of how errors are reported.

IT administrators can use the Corporate Error Reporting tool to manage error reports that have been redirected to a network server. You use the tool to review the redirected error reports and then filter the reports that are sent to Microsoft based on your policies and the data contained within the error report. The tool is also useful for determining the types of problems users are experiencing most often.

If you have not yet deployed the operating system, you can use unattended installation files to configure error reporting in the same way as in Group Policy. If it is necessary in your organization to completely disable Windows Error Reporting you can do so with the unattended installation file or with Group Policy. For more information about these methods, see "Controlling Error Reporting to Prevent the Flow of Information to and from the Internet," later in this section.

How Windows Error Reporting Communicates with Sites on the Internet

The data that Microsoft collects is used strictly for the purpose of tracking down and solving problems that users or administrators are experiencing. The information is stored in a secure database with limited access. This subsection describes various aspects of the data that is sent to and from the Internet during error reporting, and how the exchange of information takes place.

•	Specific information sent or received: Microsoft collects various types of information related to two types of errors, user mode or application errors, and kernel mode or operating system failures. Some information that uniquely identifies the user might inadvertently be collected as part of the crash report. This information, if present, is never used to contact a user. The specific data collected is described later in this subsection. Also, Microsoft may send information about a problem, including links to Web sites.
•	Default and recommended settings: Error reporting for application and system errors is enabled by default. For more information about recommended settings, see "Controlling Error Reporting to Prevent the Flow of Information to and from the Internet," later in this section.
•	Triggers: The opportunity to send an error report is triggered by application or system errors.
•	User notification: A dialog box appears notifying users that an error has occurred and asks if they want to send an error report to Microsoft. Users can review the data that will be sent.
•	Logging: Descriptions of system and application errors are recorded in the event log.
•	Encryption: All data that could include personally identifiable information is encrypted (HTTPS) during transmission. The "crash signature," which includes such information as the application name and version, module name and version, and offset (location) is not encrypted.
•	Access: Microsoft employees and contingent staff who have submitted a business justification for reviewing the information are granted access to the data.
•	Privacy statement: The privacy statement for Microsoft Error Reporting is located at the following Web site: watson.microsoft.com/dw/1033/dcp.asp Details related to privacy of data are presented in "Types of data collected," later in this section.
•	Transmission protocol and port: The transmission protocol is HTTP and the ports are HTTP 80 and HTTPS 443.
•	Ability to disable: The feature can be disabled through Group Policy or by administrators on individual servers.

Types of Errors Reported

There are two types of errors that are reported, user mode and kernel mode.

User Mode Reporting

When a user mode error occurs, such as an application error, the Error Reporting service does the following:

•

Displays an alert stating that the operating system detected a problem.

Users can choose to report the problem or not. If they do report it, they will see that the information is being sent to Microsoft.

•

Sends a problem report to Microsoft.

Users may then be queried for additional computer information and again may choose to send it or not. If they choose to do so, the Error Reporting service sends the error report to Microsoft. Users might be prompted to provide additional information to complete the error report. When the process is complete, users have the option of selecting More Information, which directs them to updated drivers, patches, or Microsoft Knowledge Base articles.

If the error report indicates that one or more non-Microsoft products were involved in causing the problem, Microsoft may send the report to the respective companies. Qualified software or hardware developers (employed by Microsoft or one of its partners) will analyze the fault data and try to identify and correct the problem.

Kernel Mode Reporting

When a kernel mode or system error occurs, Windows displays a Stop message and writes diagnostic information to a memory dump file. When you restart your computer using normal mode or Safe Mode (with networking) and log on to Windows, the Error Reporting service gathers information about the problem and displays a dialog box that gives you the option of sending a report to Microsoft.

Types of Data Collected

The Error Reporting service collects Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, which are not used to identify users. It does not intentionally collect anyone's name, address, e-mail address, computer name, or any other form of personally identifiable information. It is possible that such information may be captured in memory or in the data collected from open files, but Microsoft does not use it to identify users.

In rare cases, such as problems that are especially difficult to solve, Microsoft may request additional data, including sections of memory (which may include memory shared by any or all applications running at the time the problem occurred), some registry settings, and one or more files from the user's computer. The user's current documents may also be included. When additional data is requested, the user can review the data and choose to send the information or not.

The specific type of data that is collected when application errors or kernel failures occur is as follows.

Application Errors

If you have an application error the Error Reporting service collects the following information:

•

The Digital Product ID, which can be used to identify your license.

•

Information regarding the condition of the computer and the application at the time the error occurred. This includes data stored in memory and stacks, information about files in the application's directory, as well as the operating system version and the computer hardware in use. This information is packaged into what is called a "minidump." The minidump contains the following:

•	Exception information: This is information regarding the problem that occurred; it tells Microsoft what kind of instruction the application received that caused it to generate an error.
•	System information: This is data about the kind of CPU (processor) you have and what operating system you are running.
•	A list of all the modules that are currently loaded and their version information.
•	A list of all the threads that are currently running. For each thread, the current context and the whole stack are collected.
•	Global data.

The minidump data is shown as a hexadecimal representation that the user cannot read.

Note: For the exact specification of the minidump format, see the Microsoft Platform SDK, which is available on the Microsoft Developers Network (MSDN) Web site.

Windows Kernel Failures

Windows kernel fault reports contain information about what your operating system was doing when the problem occurred. These event reports contain the minimum information that can help to identify why the operating system stopped unexpectedly. The report includes:

•	The operating system name (for example, Microsoft Windows 2000).
•	The operating system version (for example, 5.1.2426 0.0).
•	The operating system language as represented by the locale identifier (LCID) (for example, 1033 for United States English). This is a standard international numeric abbreviation.
•	The loaded and recently unloaded drivers. These identify the modules used by the kernel when the Stop error occurred, and the modules that were used recently.
•	The list of drivers in the Drivers folder on your hard disk, that is, systemroot\System32\Drivers.
•	The file size, date created, version, manufacturer, and full product name for each driver.
•	The number of available processors.
•	The amount of random access memory (RAM).
•	The time stamp that indicates when the Stop error occurred.
•	The messages and parameters that describe the Stop error.
•	The processor context for the process that stopped. This includes the processor, hardware state, performance counters, multiprocessor packet information, deferred procedure call information, and interrupts (requests from software or devices for processor attention).
•	The process information and kernel context for the halted process. This includes the offset (location) of the directory table and the database that maintains the information about every physical page (block of memory) in the operating system.
•	The process information and kernel context for the thread that stopped. This information identifies registers (data-storage blocks of memory in the processor) and interrupt request levels, and includes pointers to data structures for operating system data.
•	The kernel-mode call stack for the interrupted thread. This is a data structure that consists of a series of memory locations and includes a pointer to the initial location.

Controlling Error Reporting to Prevent the Flow of Information to and from the Internet

To prevent the automatic flow of information to and from the Internet when users and administrators report errors, you can configure error reporting in two ways: while deploying the operating system using answer files with unattended or remote installation, or after deployment using Group Policy. There may be some aspects of error reporting you want to configure using answer files, and others you may want to configure using Group Policy. Review the tables in this subsection to determine the configuration options that will work best for your organization.

Using Unattended Installation

You can configure error reporting by using standard methods for unattended or remote installation. You use the [PCHealth] section of an answer file to make entries for this feature. The following table describes those entries.

Entries for configuring error reporting in an answer file (for unattended installation)

Entry	Description
ER_Display_UI	Specifies whether Setup notifies the user that an error has occurred and shows details about the error. When the entry is ER_Display_UI = 0, Setup does not notify the user that an error has occurred.
ER_Enable_Applications ER_Include_EXE(n) and ER_Exclude_EXE(n)	ER_Enable_Applications = All Reports errors for all applications except for those listed in ER_Exclude_EXE(n). ER_Enable_Applications = Listed Reports errors only for those applications listed in ER_Include_EXE(n). You can automatically include Microsoft applications by using ER_Include_MSApps. ER_Enable_Applications = None Reports no application errors. Examples of entries that list included applications are: ER_Include_EXE1 = iexplore.exe ER_Include_EXE2 = explorer.exe Examples of entries that list excluded applications are: ER_Exclude_EXE1 = calc.exe ER_Exclude_EXE2 = notepad.exe
ER_Enable_Kernel Errors	Specifies whether Windows reports errors in the Windows kernel. When the entry is ER_Enable_Kernel Errors = 0, Windows does not report errors in the Windows kernel.
ER_Enable_Reporting	Specifies whether Windows automatically reports errors. When the entry is ER_Enable_Reporting = 0, Windows does not report errors.
ER_Enable_Windows_ Components	Specifies whether to report errors in Windows components. When the entry is ER_Enable_Windows_Components = 0, Windows does not report errors in Windows components. To exclude individual Windows components, use ER_Exclude_EXE(n), as described earlier in this table.
ER_Force_Queue_Mode	Specifies whether to send all reports in queue mode. When the entry is ER_Force_Queue_Mode = 0, Windows does not send reports in queue mode.
ER_Include_MSApps	Specifies whether to track and report errors in Microsoft applications. When the entry is ER_Include_MSApps = 0, errors in Microsoft applications are not tracked and reported.
ER_Include_Shutdown_ Errs	Specifies whether to report shutdown errors. When the entry is ER_Include_Shutdown_Errs = 0, shutdown errors are not reported.

For complete details about the entries for error reporting, see the resources listed in Appendix A, "Resources for Learning About Automated Installation and Deployment." Be sure to review the information in the Deploy.chm file (whose location is provided in that appendix).

Using Group Policy

To enable Corporate Error Reporting, perform these steps:

•	Configure the Error Reporting policy settings in Group Policy so that error reports go to a server on your intranet.
•	Use the Corporate Error Reporting tool to filter reports.

Enable error reporting through Group Policy so you can override actions users or administrators might take, and so you can redirect error reports to a server on your intranet instead of to the Internet. Once you have initiated Corporate Error Reporting, you can use this tool to manage error reports.

In addition to the Error Reporting policy settings, this subsection also includes a list of the Advanced Error Reporting policy settings you may want to use for additional configuration options.

Using Error Reporting Policy Settings

To configure servers for Corporate Error Reporting you need first to enable the Report Errors policy setting. Once you enable this policy setting, you can enter a file path to a server on your intranet, limit data that is exchanged on the Internet when errors are reported, control how users and administrators interact with the Error Reporting service, and take other steps to control information.

For details about locating the error reporting policy settings, see "Procedures for Configuring Error Reporting," later in this section. The following table describes the policy settings.

Group Policy settings for configuring error reporting

Policy setting

What it does

Configuration options

Report Errors (enabled)

Errors are reported to Microsoft through the Internet or to a server on your intranet. Enabling Report Errors will override any settings made using Control Panel for error reporting. Default values will be used for any error reporting settings that are not configured, even if settings were adjusted through Control Panel.

Can select:

•	Do not display links to any Microsoft provided "more information" Web sites
•	Do not collect additional files
•	Do not collect additional computer data
•	Force queue mode for application errors (note that this is the default configuration for servers)

Can enter:

•	Corporate file path
•	Text to replace instances of the word "Microsoft"

Report Errors (disabled)

Users will not be given the option to report errors. If Display Error Notification is enabled, users will still get a message indicating that a problem occurred, but they will not have the option to report it. Disabling Report Errors is useful for servers that do not have interactive users.

Not applicable

Report Errors (not configured)

Users will be able to adjust the setting using Control Panel, which is set to "enable reporting" by default.

Not applicable

Display Error Notification (enabled)

This setting controls whether a user is given the choice to report an error. When enabled, the user will be notified that an error has occurred and will be given access to details about the error.

Not applicable

Display Error Notification (disabled)

The user is not given the choice of whether to report the error. If Report Errors is enabled, the error will be automatically reported, but the user will not be notified that an error has occurred. Disabling this setting is useful for servers that do not have interactive users. (Default setting for servers.)

Not applicable

Display Error Notification (not configured)

The user will be able to adjust the setting through Control Panel, which is set to enable notification by default.

Not applicable

Using Advanced Error Reporting Policy Settings

When you enable error reporting you can choose to specify the types of errors that are reported. In a highly managed environment administrators might want to do this based on the kinds of information included in the error report (see "Types of data collected," in the previous subsection).

With Advanced Error Reporting you can configure the following policy settings:

•	Default application reporting settings
•	List of applications to always report errors for
•	List of applications to never report errors for
•	Report operating system errors
•	Report unplanned shutdown events

These policy settings are located in Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Error Reporting. When you configure these policy settings they will override any adjustments to error reporting administrators might make through Control Panel. You can configure these same policy settings in an answer file for unattended installation.

To find more information about editing Group Policy, see Appendix B, "Resources for Learning About Group Policy."

How Controlling Error Reporting can Affect Administrators

What administrators will see on a server when an error occurs depends on how you have configured the Error Reporting policy settings. You can have certain administrators sending error reports to your intranet server only and others using CER to filter reports and send selected ones on to Microsoft. On some servers, for example, administrators may see only operating system or unplanned computer shutdown error reports and not application errors. Or, on some servers you might choose not to have error notification on.

Top of page

Procedures for Configuring Error Reporting

This subsection presents the recommended procedure for enabling Corporate Error Reporting by configuring the Report Errors policy setting in Group Policy, for IT administrators who want to control the information that goes out to the Internet. This subsection also presents steps for configuring error reporting during unattended installation of the operating system by using an answer file.

Use the following procedure to configure the Report Errors policy setting so error reports are sent to a server on your intranet instead of to Microsoft.

To Enable Corporate Error Reporting by Using Group Policy

1.	Use the resources described in Appendix B, "Resources for Learning About Group Policy," to learn about the Group Policy Management Console, and to find information in Help about Group Policy. Follow the instructions in Help to apply Group Policy objects (GPOs) to an organizational unit, a domain, or a site, as appropriate for your situation.
2.	Click Computer Configuration, click Administrative Templates, click System, and then click Error Reporting.
3.	In the details pane, double-click Display Error Notification, and then select Enabled.
4.	Click Next Setting, and then under Report Errors, select Enabled.
5.	In the Corporate upload file path box, enter a UNC (Universal Naming Convention) path (\\servername\sharename).

Note: Administrators can then filter the error reports using the CER tool described in the previous subsection, "Controlling Error Reporting to Prevent the Flow of Information to and from the Internet."

To Configure Error Reporting During Unattended Installation by Using an Answer File

Using the methods you prefer for unattended installation or remote installation, create an answer file. For information about unattended installation, and for details about the entries for error reporting, see the resources listed in Appendix A, "Resources for Learning About Automated Installation and Deployment." Be sure to review the information in the Deploy.chm file (whose location is provided in that appendix).

In the [PCHealth] section of the answer file, create entries according to the table in "Using unattended installation," earlier in this section. For example, to disable error reporting the entry is:

How Windows Error Reporting Communicates with Sites on the Internet

noreply@blogger.com (v) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:49:00 +0000

The data that Microsoft collects is used strictly for the purpose of tracking down and solving problems that users are experiencing. The information is stored in a secure database to which access is limited. This subsection describes various aspects of the data that is sent to and from the Internet during error reporting, and how the exchange of information takes place.

Specific information sent or received: For Windows XP with SP1, Microsoft collects various types of information related to two types of errors, user mode or application errors, and kernel mode or operating system failures. Some information that uniquely identifies the user might unintentionally be collected as part of the crash report. This information, if present, is never used to identify a user. The specific data collected is described later in this subsection. Also, Microsoft may send information about a problem, including links to Web sites.
Default and recommended settings: Error reporting for application and system errors is enabled by default on clients running Windows XP with SP1. For more information about recommended settings, see "Controlling Error Reporting to Prevent the Flow of Information to and from the Internet," later in this section.
Triggers: The opportunity to send an error report is triggered by application or system errors.
User notification: A dialog box appears notifying users that an error has occurred and asks if they want to send an error report to Microsoft. Users can review the data that will be sent.
Logging: Descriptions of system and application errors are recorded in the event log.
Encryption: All data that could include personally identifiable information is encrypted (HTTPS) during transmission. The "crash signature," which includes such information as the application name and version, module name and version, and offset (location) is not encrypted.
Access: Microsoft employees and contingent staff may access the error reports to maintain the Error Reporting service or improve Microsoft products, and may not use the reports for other purposes.

If the error report indicates that one or more non-Microsoft products were involved in causing the problem, Microsoft may send the report to the respective companies. Qualified software or hardware developers (employed by Microsoft or one of its partners) will analyze the fault data and try to identify and correct the problem.
Privacy: The privacy statement for Microsoft Error Reporting is located at the following Web site:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=825

Details related to privacy of data are presented in "Types of Data Collected," later in this section.
Transmission protocol and port: The transmission protocol is HTTP and the ports are HTTP 80 and HTTPS 443.
Ability to disable: The feature can be disabled through Group Policy or by users on their own computers.

Types of Errors Reported

In Windows XP with SP1 there are two types of errors that are reported, user mode and kernel mode.

User Mode Reporting

When a user mode error occurs, such as an application error, the Error Reporting service does the following:

Displays an alert stating that Windows XP detected a problem.

Users can choose to report the problem or not. If they do report it, they will see that the information is being sent to Microsoft.
Sends a problem report to Microsoft.

Users may then be queried for additional computer information (to complete the error report) and again may choose to send it or not.
When more information is available, offers it to users.

Users might be offered the option of selecting More Information, which directs them to updated drivers, patches, or Microsoft Knowledge Base articles.

Kernel Mode Reporting

When a kernel-mode (system) error occurs, Windows XP with SP1 displays a Stop message and writes diagnostic information to a memory dump file. When a user restarts the computer by using normal mode or Safe Mode (with networking) and logs on to Windows XP as an administrator, the Error Reporting service gathers information about the problem and displays a dialog box that gives the user the option of sending a report to Microsoft.

Types of Data Collected

The Error Reporting service collects information about the computer configuration, what the software was doing when the problem occurred, and other information directly related to the problem. The Error Reporting service does not intentionally collect anyone’s name, address, e-mail address, computer name, or any other form of personally identifiable information. It is possible that such information may be captured in memory or in the data collected from open files, but Microsoft does not use it to identify users. The Error Reporting service collects Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, but the addresses are not used to identify users, and in many cases are the address of a Network Address Translation (NAT) computer or proxy server, not a specific client behind that NAT computer or proxy server. IP address information is used in aggregate by the operators who maintain the servers that receive error reports. The other use for IP address information is to locate error reports that come from computers inside Microsoft—errors on those computers can be more thoroughly investigated as needed.

In rare cases, such as problems that are especially difficult to solve, Microsoft may request additional data, including sections of memory (which may include memory shared by any or all applications running at the time the problem occurred), some registry settings, and one or more files from the user’s computer. When additional data is requested, the user can review the data and choose to send the information or not.

In Windows XP with SP1 the specific types of data that are collected when application errors or kernel failures occur is as follows.

Application Errors

If an application error occurs for which Error Reporting is available and the user chooses to send the report, the information included is as follows:

The Digital Product ID, which can be used to identify your license.
Information regarding the condition of the computer and the application at the time when the error occurred. This includes data stored in memory and stacks, information about files in the application's directory, as well as the operating system version and the computer hardware in use. This information is packaged into a minidump—a small memory dump. The minidump contains the following:
- Exception information: This is information regarding the problem that occurred. It tells Microsoft what kind of instruction the application received that caused it to generate an error.
- System information: This is data about the kind of CPU (processor) you have and what operating system you are running.
- A list of all the modules that are currently loaded and their version information.
- A list of all the threads that are currently running. For each thread, the current context and the whole stack are collected.
- Global data.
The minidump data is shown as a hexadecimal representation that the user cannot read.

Note For the exact specification of the minidump format, see the Microsoft Platform SDK, which is available on the MSDN Web site.

Windows Kernel Failures

The operating system name (for example, Microsoft Windows XP).
The operating system version (for example, 5.1.2600 0.0).
The operating system language as represented by the locale identifier (LCID) (for example, 1033 for United States English). This is a standard international numeric abbreviation.
The loaded and recently unloaded drivers. These identify the modules used by the kernel when the Stop error occurred, and the modules that were used recently.
The list of drivers in the Drivers folder on your hard disk (systemroot\System32\Drivers).
The file size, date created, version, manufacturer, and full product name for each driver.
The number of available processors.
The amount of random access memory (RAM).
The time stamp that indicates when the Stop error occurred.
The messages and parameters that describe the Stop error.
The processor context for the process that stopped. This includes the processor, hardware state, performance counters, multiprocessor packet information, deferred procedure call information, and interrupts (requests from software or devices for processor attention).
The process information and kernel context for the halted process. This includes the offset (location) of the directory table and the database that maintains the information about every physical page (block of memory) in the operating system.
The process information and kernel context for the thread that stopped. This information identifies registers (data-storage blocks of memory in the processor) and interrupt request levels, and includes pointers to data structures for operating system data.
The kernel-mode call stack for the interrupted thread. This is a data structure that consists of a series of memory locations and one or more pointers.

Windows Error Reporting

noreply@blogger.com (v) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:45:00 +0000

Benefits and Purposes of Windows Error Reporting

The Windows Error Reporting feature in Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 1 (SP1) provides a service that allows Microsoft to track and address errors relating to the operating system, Windows components, and applications. This service, called the Error Reporting service, gives users the opportunity to send data about errors to Microsoft and to receive information about them. Microsoft developers can use the Error Reporting service as a problem-solving tool to address customer problems in a timely manner and to improve the quality of Microsoft products.

When users send information to Microsoft, in some cases Microsoft may provide information to users, such as a way to work around a problem or a link to a Web site for updated drivers, patches, or Microsoft Knowledge Base articles.

Overview: Using Windows Error Reporting in a Managed Environment

In Windows XP with SP1, error reporting is enabled by default and users can choose to report errors to Microsoft. When an error occurs, a dialog box is displayed allowing the user to report the problem. When a user chooses to report the problem, technical information about the problem is collected and then sent to Microsoft over the Internet. No information is sent unless the user confirms that the error report is to be sent to Microsoft. A user who is logged on as an administrator can choose to report system and application errors. A user who is not logged on as an administrator can choose to report application errors.

Users with administrative credentials can configure or disable error reporting through Control Panel\System\Advanced. They can configure error reporting to send specified information such as system errors (Stop errors) only, or errors for Windows components, such as Windows Explorer or Microsoft Internet Explorer. Users can also send information for applications, such as Microsoft Word.

Since error reporting is a valuable service, we recommend that IT administrators not disable it, but that they control what information is reported and where it is sent. For an organization where privacy is a concern, we recommend that the IT department review and filter error reports before they are sent to Microsoft. Though it is not recommended, you can also completely disable error reporting on client computers by using Group Policy.

The best method to use to prevent the automatic flow of error reporting information to and from the Internet is to redirect error reports to a server on your intranet by using Group Policy and to set up Corporate Error Reporting (CER).

If you qualify for Corporate Error Reporting as a Software Assurance benefit, you can use the Corporate Error Reporting tool to manage error reports that have been redirected to a network server. You use the tool to review the redirected error reports and then filter the reports that are sent to Microsoft based on your policies and the data contained within the error report. The tool is also useful for determining the types of problems users are experiencing most often.

If you have not yet deployed Windows XP with SP1, you can use unattended installation files to configure error reporting in the same way as in Group Policy. If it is necessary in your organization to completely disable Windows Error Reporting, you can do so with the unattended installation file or with Group Policy. For more information about these methods, see "Controlling Error Reporting to Prevent the Flow of Information to and from the Internet," later in this section.

Description of the end user privacy policy in application error reporting when you are using Office

noreply@blogger.com (v) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:43:00 +0000

Privacy and our customers

When Microsoft, other technology companies, and most governmental bodies talk about privacy, they are referring to the collection and use of personal data (such as name, age, addresses, hobbies, and so on). This approach is in keeping with the privacy regulations of the European Union (EU) as well as the Fair Information Practice Principles of the Federal Trade Commission. To view the Fair Information Practice Principles, visit the following Federal Trade Commission Web site:

http://www.ftc.gov/reports/privacy3/fairinfo.htm (http://www.ftc.gov/reports/privacy3/fairinfo.htm)

With the Application Error Reporting tool, the only data that is initially collected is technical data about the state of the program and your computer when the crash occurred. Your document (or any data contained in it) is not intentionally sent with the other report information. To ensure further security, the data that is collected is transmitted via a secure connection and is kept confidential and anonymous in a limited-access database.

In some cases, Microsoft may need to collect additional data, including user documents, in order to continue research on correcting a specific problem. However, before any data is collected, a message appears that clearly informs you about what data Microsoft needs to upload and allows you to cancel the transmission before any additional data is collected.

User notification and consent

One of the goals of Application Error Reporting is to clearly notify you any time information is being collected. In the Application Error Reporting dialog box, you are notified that the program will close and a report is being generated about the problem. At this point, you can choose to view the technical information contained in the report. You can then choose whether to send the report information to Microsoft. The dialog box also states that if you choose to send the application crash information, the information will be kept strictly confidential and private.

Data collection, use, and protection

You may ask, "Why do companies collect personal information?" Microsoft does this for several reasons:

•	Personalization: Many Web sites collect user information to better personalize their sites for each user. Among the best examples of this is the Microsoft Web site (http://www.microsoft.com (http://www.microsoft.com)), which uses the personal information you type in to better customize itself for you.
•	Business Model: Many sites ask users for personal information so that advertisers can better personalize the goods and services shown to customers. In return, customers receive free content and services. For example, the Microsoft MSN Web site (http://www.msn.com/ (http://www.microsoft.com/) offers free e-mail, Web sites, chats, bulletin boards, and a variety of other services to its customers. In return, those customers are exposed to products and services more tailored to their individual interests.
•	Product Communication: Many companies, especially those that offer e-products or software products, collect personal information so that you can be notified of updates, new releases, or upgrades. Application Error Reporting offers you a special version of those services: If you choose to send the report, the Application Error Reporting tool checks to see whether any fixes, service packs, or product upgrades are available that may help with the problem you are having. If information is available that may be helpful, your browser takes you to that Web site when you click the More Information link on the Thank You dialog box that appears when your report is sent. Note If you do not want to have the technical data sent to Microsoft, please click the Don't Send button.

Introducing Windows Error Reporting

noreply@blogger.com (v) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:38:00 +0000

Leverage Microsoft’s Feedback System for Your Applications

Windows Error Reporting is the set of feedback technologies built-in to Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating systems. WER captures software crash and hang data from end-users who agree to report it. You can access the data that is related to your applications online at https://winqual.microsoft.com.

Using the WER service is like having thousands of testers reporting bugs on your company's applications. You can monitor error trends and download debug information to help your developers determine the precise causes for application errors. WER categorizes and prioritizes your data for you, and includes a response feature to provide solutions to your end-users.

How WER Adds Value to Software Development

During Development: We provide tools to check your code for performance and reliability on Windows platforms. Tools like Microsoft Application Verifier and FXCop remove unseen bugs before testing begins.
During Beta Testing: Windows Error Reporting works with your test versions.

Get early feedback on errors seen by end-users. WER provides you with an easy-to-use reporting summary. Error types are categorized for you, and hit counts show real-world impact.
WER makes it easier for you to debug your applications. You can download debug data on errors in Minidump format. We provide a Minidump reader, Windows Debugger. (Visual Studio also reads Minidumps). Windows Debugger also helps manage Symbols, which help you identify problem functions.

After Release: Use WER to understand the top crash and hang issues affecting your customers.

Increase customer satisfaction by fixing top customer issues. Microsoft has found that fixing the top 1% of issues can cut customer pain (crashes/hangs) by more than half.
Reduce support costs by responding directly to a customer with a ready-made resolution. Once bugs are resolved, you can submit responses that fix them. These responses can be patches, updates, workarounds, or surveys; and these responses will be passed on to users the next time the same failure occurs.

At End of Life: Ask your customers to upgrade! WER responses can inform your users that a new version is available and how to get it.

Register for Windows Error Reporting Services

Step 1 - Register Your Company on https://winqual.microsoft.com/SignUp/
Please note: a digital certificate is required. For your protection, and the protection of our end-users, Microsoft requires all ISVs to be identified by a digital certificate. We want to ensure that access to data related to your applications is secure. And, of course, we all want to protect the privacy of our end-users’ data. As of 3/1/2006, the cost from VeriSign for the digital certificate is four hundred dollars ($400). Microsoft does not charge ISVs for use of the WER software services.

Step 2 - Accept the Windows Error Reporting Terms of Use Agreement
This agreement grants usage rights for error reporting data collected by Microsoft. The data is to be used solely for resolving software problems.

Step 3 - Create User Accounts
Give your staff access to the feedback data.

Step 4 - Sign in and Map Your Files
WER collects data on your applications automatically, but needs to know which files are yours. Map your binary files online to start receiving your applications’ data.

Success Stories

Microsoft has benefited from Windows Error Reporting during the development and after product release. The Office product group fixed 50% of all reported errors in Service Pack 2. The Visual Studio product group fixed 74% of reported failures by Beta 1 for Visual Studio 2005. And the Windows product group fixed 29% of problems reported on Windows XP in Windows XP Service Pack 1.

Many ISVs have already signed up – we have over 1,900 already! We hear many wonderful stories of their successes in improving their code and reducing support costs.

Windows Error Reporting: Getting Started

noreply@blogger.com (v) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:36:00 +0000

Windows Error Reporting (WER) is a set of Windows technologies that capture software crash data and support end-user reporting of crash information. Through Winqual services, software and hardware vendors can access reports in order to analyze and respond to these problems. WER technologies are implemented in Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating systems.

Vendors can use WER to view error reports at no charge. This service is available for all products, even those that do not qualify for the "Designed for Windows" logo—although we strongly recommend that you submit your products to the Windows Logo Program.

How to View Error Reports

Microsoft sorts error reports received through Windows Error Reporting into virtual "buckets." A bucket is a categorization of all instances of a specific error associated with a particular version of a driver, application, Windows feature, or other component.

You can use the Winqual website to view driver-specific, application-specific, or operating system-specific errors associated with your organization. Each error report provides details related to that bucket, and you can then request a file of the associated data.

To view error reports:

Establish a Winqual account.
To protect companies from impersonation and to ensure that the error reports go to a representative from the correct company, the Winqual Web site requires your company to have a valid VeriSign ID.

•	Check with your Legal Department; your company might already have a VeriSign ID (also called a Software Publisher's Digital ID for Authenticode).
•	Check on Winqual to see if your company already has an account.

Accept the Windows Error Reporting Agreement.

Click Windows Error Reports.

If you do not see your company's error reports, users of your products might not have submitted error reports to Microsoft. However, it might also be because Microsoft does not have sufficient information to match your company with error reports related to your products.

How to Map Files: Matching Error Reports with Your Company's Products

For you to be able to view error reports for your company's software, Microsoft needs to know which software associated with a specific bucket belongs to your organization. Making this connection in Windows Quality Online Services is referred to as "mapping files."

To associate particular error report buckets as belonging to your company:

1.	Complete the Request file mapping or Request file unmapping forms on the Winqual Web site. (Use the resources listed at the bottom of this page to find up-to-date directions.)
2.	When you are viewing the files associated with your organization, click a file name to add or remove a file from the list.

How System Manufacturers Can Obtain and Analyze System Data

System manufacturers can choose to include a special file, called a "marker file," on their systems. This file is used to help associate WER data with specific computer models, so that the manufacturer can view and analyze crash dumps from those systems.

To help system manufacturers identify and resolve issues related to kernel-mode error data, Microsoft can provide the following assistance:

•	Driver vendor and other developer support contacts.
•	Help facilitating discussions between vendors and manufacturers.
•	Data mining and trend analysis, upon request.

Minidump files can be made available on a case-by-case basis, based on the signed terms of use agreement. Driver vendors may also choose to share their minidumps directly with specific OEMs.

Windows Error Reporting

noreply@blogger.com (v) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:29:00 +0000

The error reporting feature enables users to notify Microsoft of application faults, kernel faults, and unresponsive applications. Microsoft can use the error reporting feature to provide customers with troubleshooting information, solutions, or updates for their specific problems. Developers can use this infrastructure to receive information that can be used to improve their applications.

Users can enable fault reporting through the Windows user interface. They can choose to report errors in various parts of the system or from specific applications. Administrators can override these settings using Group Policy.

Developers can register with Windows Quality Online Services to get information about the problems customers are experiencing with their applications and help customers fix these problems. Developers can also use Application Recovery and Restart to ensure that customers do not lose data when their application crashes and allow users to quickly return to their tasks.

Disable Error Reporting by Using a System Policy

noreply@blogger.com (v) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:28:00 +0000

To change the Application Error Reporting tool to not report errors by using a system policy, follow these steps:

1.	Start the System Policy Editor, and then make sure that the Office10.adm template is loaded.
2.	Double-click Default User profile.
3.	Expand Microsoft Office XP.
4.	Expand Corporate Error Reporting.
5.	Click to select the Disable application error reporting check box.
6.	Click to select the Check to enforce setting on; uncheck to enforce setting off check box.
7.	Click OK.

Test Changes in Error Reporting Configuration

To test the configuration of your Error Reporting Server, you can use the Office XP Application Recovery tool that is installed with Office XP. To do this, follow these steps:

1.	Star a Microsoft Office program.
2.	One the Start menu, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft Office Tools, and then click Microsoft Office Application Recovery.
3.	In the Microsoft Office Application Recovery box, select the program that you started in step 1, and then click Recover Application.

These steps will generate an application error. Additionally, you may be prompted to send an error repor

Disable Error Reporting by Changing a Registry Entry

noreply@blogger.com (v) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:26:00 +0000

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.
To change the Application Error Reporting tool so that it does not report errors, follow these steps:

1.	Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
2.	Locate and then click the following key in the registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Common
3.	On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
4.	Type DWNeverUpload.
5.	Double-click the new value, type 1 in the Value data box, and then click OK.
6.	Quit Registry Editor.

How Windows Error Reporting Helps Customers

noreply@blogger.com (v) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:23:00 +0000

From Bill Gates at PDC 2003:
One thing that's been amazing at Microsoft is the impact that our monitoring data has had on how we prioritize our software work. I'm sure you've all seen in Windows XP that whenever an application or the system malfunctions, you get the ability to send a report back to Microsoft.

We get a lot of those reports, and we've created very good data-management systems to go in and look at those things, and therefore understand what drivers aren't reliable.

We allow anyone who has an application that runs on Windows to sign up and get the reports that relate to their application, and we've got winqual.microsoft.com where people can do that.

Today we've seen a lot of that activity from the driver manufacturers, but we want to see even more at the application level so it gets us working together on anything where a user is not having a great experience.

With data from Microsoft Windows Error Reporting (WER), you can identify the most common real-world customer problems and quickly provide a solution to your customers. While customer support calls provide information about common issues, they do not always provide enough detail to debug the actual code. Further, support records indicate only those problems which prompted calls. Because it is much easier for users to submit an error report than to contact customer support, WER can provide a more comprehensive picture of the problems your customers are having. And because WER collects data at the point of failure, you can get a more detailed picture of what is going wrong.

You can take advantage of WER to investigate the most frequently reported software crashes, resolve the problems, and inform your customers of the fixes, establishing a strong feedback loop with your customers.

Broad-based trend analysis of error reporting data shows that across all the issues that exist on the affected Windows platforms and the number of incidents received:

•	Fixing 20 percent of the top-reported bugs can solve 80 percent of customer issues.
•	Addressing 1 percent of the bugs would address 50 percent of the customer issues.

The same analysis results are generally true on a company-by-company basis.

The data that WER provides can show you the product problems that are causing your customers the most serious problems.

WER data is available to software vendors, hardware vendors, and system manufacturers. Microsoft does not charge for using the service, and your products do not need to have the "Designed for Windows" logo in order to use the WER service. However, you will need a valid Winqual account and a VeriSign ID.

How To Configure and Use Error Reporting in Windows XP

noreply@blogger.com (v) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:11:00 +0000

SUMMARY

There is an error reporting feature included with Windows XP that you can use to report computer and program errors to Microsoft. Microsoft can use your reports to track and fix problems with the operating system and with programs. This article describes how you can configure error reporting in Windows XP.

How to Configure and Use Error Reporting

You can enable, disable, or modify the way that error reporting works on a Windows XP-based computer. When an error occurs, a dialog box is displayed that prompts you to report the problem to Microsoft. If you want to report the problem, technical information about the problem is sent to Microsoft over the Internet. You must be connected to the Internet to use the feature. If a similar problem has been reported by other users and information about the problem is available, you receive a link to a Web page that contains information about the problem.

To access the settings for the reporting feature:

1.	Click Start.
2.	Right-click My Computer, then click Properties.
3.	Click the Advanced tab.
4.	Click Error Reporting.

To configure the error reporting feature:

•	By default, error reporting is enabled. To disable it, click Disable error reporting. To continue to be notified when errors occur without being prompted to report the errors, click to select the But notify me when critical errors occur check box.
•	Specify whether you want to use error reporting for the Windows operating system, for programs, or for both Windows and programs.
•	To report errors only for selected programs, click Choose Programs, click All programs in this list, and then click the programs that you do not want to include.
•	To add a program that is not listed, click Add, type the name of the program, or click Browse to find the program on your computer.
•	If many programs are listed, you may want to create an exclude list. In the Do not report errors for these programs box, click Add, type the name of each program that you want to exclude from error reporting, or click Browse to find the program on your computer.

NOTE: Because all error reports are confidential and anonymous, Microsoft Support Professionals do not have access to any error report that you send to Microsoft over the Internet by using the Error Reporting service. As a result, you need to send a Dr. Watson item for Windows log file to a support personnel by the method they prefer.