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Resolved Question

Event viewer

Jan 1, 2012 6:22AM PST

Anyone know a good way to learn event viewer? I guesse the answer to that question lies in beeing able to find the meaning of an error found there.
Windows XP Pro

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Best Answer

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The Event Viewer
Jan 1, 2012 6:32AM PST

I'm sure there will be topics and tutorials available in a Google search, but the best way is to get stuck in.

If you open the Event Viewer the two main logs you need to look at are the "Application" and "System" log entries.

They will give you " i " for information, " ! " yellow triangle for warning, and and " ! " Red circle for error.

The logs log everything that happens during the running of the OS and all the information entries are fine and can be ignored unless you are looking for anything specific.

When you highlight any entry, you will see a detailed report below. For XP you will see an Event ID with details of what caused it, eg source of the error. The Event ID can be searched for in Google.

If you have a particular error you want to know more about, tell us what it is and perhaps someone here will know more about it.

Mark

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><
Jan 1, 2012 6:51AM PST

Great thank you Mark,
So Google simplifies everything uh?
Whatever the event detects Google helps in determining the course of action.
Cool.
There is one alert i could not find how to deal with... 'system event' it was called I beleive.
Will need to get home to my pc and confirm that

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Well...
Jan 1, 2012 6:55AM PST

Google isn't a panacea and won't always get you straight to any solution, but it might get you on the road to diagnosing the problem with possible remedies.

If you do let us know more information about any errors, don't forget to give details of what led up to them, and what the errors cause on your computer. It all helps.

Mark

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Answer
As Mark said ...
Jan 1, 2012 1:44PM PST

the best way to learn to use it is to start using it and experiment with filtering results. These links might be helpful if you read them:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/snap_event_viewer.mspx?mfr=true

You can then make use of internet searches for SOURCE and Event ID and you can also look them up here:
http://www.eventid.net/search.asp

If you subscribe to the EventID Database services (limited free link above) you get a LOT more for a very small amount of cash:
http://www.eventid.net/subscription.asp