One of the good things about Windows Vista is the fact that, compared to Windows XP, it incorporates a set of really good troubleshooting tools. You no longer have to buy third party tools or go to a specialist to learn what is wrong with your system.
Now everybody can easily check the health status of their systems. All you have to do is to use the Reliability and Performance Monitor included in Windows Vista.

To generate a quick system health report, you need to follow these simple steps:

In the Start Menu search box, type the word performance. From the list of returned results, click on Performance Information and Tools.

The Performance Information and Tools window will be opened. On the left side of the window there is a list of links. From it, select Advanced tools.

A list of available tools will be opened. Go to the bottom of the list and click on Generate a system health report.

The Reliability and Performance Monitor will start and automatically scan your system. After a while a report will be generated.

By default, the report will show first the errors found on your system. All the errors will have an appropriate description: symptom, cause, details, resolution and links to related information that might be helpful to the user.

The report has plenty of sections and sub-sections such as: diagnostic results (warnings, performance), software configuration, hardware configuration, CPU information and so on.

To read the information that interests you, expand the appropriate category and sub-category. You will learn all there is to know about the health of your system.

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