How To Use Windows Event Viewer

Sometimes you are facing a problem or problems in your Windows that you are incapable of finding their solution. For example when the Windows displays the death blue screen, hang or Windows Explorer closed suddenly; and these problems continue till you have no alternative than installing your Windows operating system again and it is not pleasant for anyone. But with help of the way I plan to introduce you in this article, you can find the real cause of the small and large events that take place in your system. Very simple but very effective way to help you find solution for Windows problems.

In all Windows versions that Microsoft has produced, there is a program called Event Viewer. This program records all events that occur in Windows and user may need. Any error that happens, any program or software that installs or removes, Windows hangs, a program crashes… all are recorded in Event Viewer. This trick works on all old and new Microsoft Windows versions.

1. From the Start Menu go to Control Panel. Then go to Administrative Tools and double-click on Event Viewer.

2. After you open the Event Viewer, if you use Windows XP, on the left side you will see Application and System. But if you use Windows 7 or Vista, just from the left panel expand the Windows Logs to see Application and System.

If you click on Application or System logs, all reports about your system applications or system logs will be listed for you. You should know that all reports about install or remove programs, Explorer errors, and generally all matters related to applications and processes will be listed in the Application. Also all reports about Windows system’s core and hardware problems will be display in the System.

3. Now assume you have a problem in your system that you are not able to solve it. To find a solution for your problem the first step is to open the Event Viewer window. Then you look at the list for this issue. Since the exact time and date of each event has been written in the Date and Time column, it is not hard to find a specific event.

Suppose the explorer.exe has suddenly hangs. This event will be displayed in the Application. If you know the time and date of this event, then simply you can find it among the reports.

4. The next step after finding the desired event in the Event Viewer is to click on the report. Then double-click on the event will open a new window. In the new opened window you should look for two words, EventID and Source. In front of the EventID is a number and in front of the Source is the name of the process.

5. With finding the number and name of the process we are going to next step. All you need is to connect to the Internet and go toEventID.net website. This site has more than 10,000 solutions and suggestions for different events in its database. As well you can check the users comments and discussions about each report that they would be helpful also. In other words you can find solutions for your problem with help of this site, if you have the EventID and Source.

In EventID.net, in Event ID section enter the EventID number and in Event Source write the process name and the click on the Search button to search for the problem solution in the website database. Click on Comments and links for… link to see the solutions suggested by the users.

6. One more way is to use Microsoft TechNet help center. For this click on the Event Log Online Help link in Event Properties window to allow the Windows to search for the error details and resolve in Microsoft website.