Windows XP is a stable operating system, but no computer is perfect, no
software is perfect, and sometimes (as Forrest Gump said) "it happens."
You're going to have programs crash. Don't yell about it unless you
can write software that is completely bug free yourself. Accept it
as a fact of life. Your car breaks down, your wallet gets thin, and
your computer is going to blow up sometimes.
Error reporting is a nice concept. What should happen is that when a
program blows up, Windows will send along the raw information that caused
the error to Microsoft. This idea was introduced in Office XP and
seems to result in targeted service packs (updates) that fix problems and
don't make new ones. But you know what?
I don't trust Microsoft. I turn error reporting off.
This step is optional, but the paranoid survive. If you believe that
Microsoft is going to treat you confidentially and do what they say, or
maybe you just don't care, skip this. If you don't want to take the
risk, read on.
To disable Error Reporting for specific programs,
jump to the bottom of the page.
- Open the System Properties dialog box. You can get
there by pressing the Windows key + BREAK (for more on this see the
shortcut keys page), going into SYSTEM
in the Control Panel, or right-clicking on My Computer and
selecting Properties. Doesn't matter how, as long as you
do. (Screen shot 1)
- Click on the Advanced tab. At the bottom of the tab is
a button that reads Error Reporting. Guess what? You want to
click on it.
- Select the option that reads Disable Error Reporting. Leave
the checkbox underneath it ticked (notify me when critical errors
occur). Windows NT vets will recognize this as the usual behavior
afterwards.
Windows XP allows you to turn off error reporting for a specific
program or programs without completely disabling the feature. This
feature is buried in the OS, but turning it off is still simple. It is
effective for older programs that are rarely used and that aren't
particularly stable on Windows XP.
To turn the feature off, follow these steps:
- Open the Control Panel System applet.
- Click the Advanced tab.
- Click on the Error Reporting button.
- Click the Choose Programs button (visible above).
- Click the Add button.
- Enter the complete path to the application whose errors you want
to ignore, or use the Browse button to navigate to the
application's executable (EXE file).
After making this change, a reboot is required.