To open Reliability Monitor in Microsoft Management Console, right click Computer, and click Manage. In the navigation pane, expand Reliability and Performance, expand Monitoring Tools, and click Reliability Monitor. Membership in the local Administrators group, or equivalent, is the minimum required to use Reliability Monitor.
Based on data collected over the lifetime of the system, each date in the System Stability Chart includes a graph point showing that day's System Stability Index rating. The System Stability Index is a number from 1 (least stable) to 10 (most stable).
- Recent failures are weighted more heavily than past failures, allowing an improvement over time to be reflected in an ascending System Stability Index once a reliability issue has been resolved.
- Days when the system is powered off or in a sleep state are not used when calculating the System Stability Index.
- If there is not enough data to calculate a steady System Stability Index, the graphed line will be dotted. When enough data has been recorded to generate a steady System Stability Index, the graphed line will be solid.
- If there are any significant changes to the system time, an Information icon will appear on the graph for each day on which the system time was adjusted.
Reliability Monitor maintains up to a year of history for system stability and reliability events. The System Stability Chart displays a rolling graph organized by date. The top half of the System Stability Chart displays a graph of the Stability Index. In the lower half of the chart, five rows track Reliability Events that either contribute to the stability measurement for the system or provide related information about software installation and removal.
The Reliability Events recorded in the System Stability Report include the following:
- System Clock Changes
- Software Installs and Uninstalls
- Application Failures
- Hardware Failures
- Windows Failures
- Miscellaneous Failures
In addition to identifying problems with individual applications and hardware components, Reliability Monitor's graph lets you see whether significant changes in stability began at the same time. Since you can see all of the activity on a single date in one report, you can make informed decisions about how to troubleshoot.
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System Recovery Options in Windows Vista
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Viewing and Troubleshooting Windows Services
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