www.jstechs.com > System Tools > Event Viewer
There are always processes running in the background on your computer performing various tasks relating to the system, and to certain programs you are running.
In addition, these processes are interacting with various hardware components in your computer. (e.g., USB ports, video card, network card, hard drive etc.) And, as you know, sometimes things go wrong.
It is important to have a basic idea of what is going on inside your system so that you can catch a potential problem before it gets worse, or fix a problem once it occurs.
The Windows XP Event Viewer gives you an important glimpse into your system's internal operations. A hardware driver that might be causing problems, a buggy program that is exiting unexpectedly, a hard drive that might be about to fail, etc.
To access the Event Viewer go to Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer
The Event Viewer is broken up into three main sections: Applications, Security, and System.( some additional programs like antivirus and Internet Explorer add their own as pictured here.)
In these three sections, events are recorded under one of three cateigories.
Information - Used to signify an important successful event. (e.g., an event indicating that a service has started successfully)
Warning - Used to designate problems that are not immediately important, but that could cause problems in the future.
Error - Used to indicate serious problems that the owner should know about. Error events often signify a loss of functionality or data.
Application -
The first section: Application, contains a log of "important" events in the life of the program; generated by the program itself.
Examples include: When certain programs start, when an operation has completed successfully, if a file required for operation is missing, or if a program generates an error.
Security -
The Security section keeps a running log of all important events pertaining to the security mechanisms of your system.
Examples of security events include: Each time a user logs on successfully, when a user attempts to log-on using an incorrect password, when a file access is denied due to permissions, etc.
System -
The System section contains events generated by the operating system.
Examples include: control of system services, messages from hardware devices such as a network card, and all other important events occurring within the operating system.
