Check problematic events with the Windows Reliability Monitor

Martin Brinkmann
Nov 16, 2015
Updated • Nov 16, 2015
Windows
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While you will notice some problematic events while you are using a system running a recent version of the Windows operating system, you may miss others.

For instance, if the web browser that you are using stops working, you will notice it and if that happens regularly, may investigate the cause to fix it. You may however fail to notice the same for background programs, especially if they are restarted automatically or other failures such as updates that don't get installed successfully.

The Windows Event log is without doubt the main tool to find out more about errors and their causes, but it is not the only one.

Since it is not that easy to find your way around in the program, you may prefer to use other tools instead initially, and one of them is the Reliability Monitor.

The Windows Reliability Monitor highlights a number of successful and unsuccessful events when started, and classifies them as critical, warning or informational in its interface.

To make things even simpler, it highlights all three of those in the timeline that it displays on start so that you can see on a glance what needs your attention and what does not.

  • Critical: These events include application and Windows failures, for instance when an application stopped working, when a Windows component returned an error or when hardware failed.
  • Warnings: These are warning messages, for instance when an update could not be installed or an application upgraded or installed.
  • Informational: These list successful events, for instance installation of Windows Updates.

A click on a day in the timeline displays all events for that day. Since you can select days based on icons in the timeline, it is simple to look up critical events first and then warnings.

This can be useful after you have experienced an issue, but also for checking up on issues that you are not necessarily aware of.

Some are easy enough to ignore, for instance failed Windows Updates that went through on the second try while others may require your attention. Frequent application failures fall into that category, especially if you use the program regularly.

Each event is listed with its name, a summary, time and date, and a suggested action. For instance, you may see that Internet Explorer stopped working on a specific date, and that you may use the action to find a solution online.

The action may not be helpful all the time, but sometimes they link to additional information. Failed Windows Updates may reveal for instance an error code that you can use to investigate the issue.

windows update error

You may then use the error code or description to resolve the issue. For instance, you may run a search on the Internet to find out more about it, or hop over to the Event Viewer where you may find additional information such as system or event data.

How to start the Reliability Monitor

There are numerous ways to start the Windows Reliability Monitor. The following method works on all supported versions of Windows (meaning Vista and up).

  1. Tap on Windows-r to open the Run Box.
  2. Type perfmon /rel
  3. Hit enter.

Closing Words

The Windows Reliability Monitor offers a quick overview of important system events that may require your attention. Since it may display important events that you are not aware of, it is suggested to check it regularly (or a comparable tool) to make sure that critical issues don't slip by you and cause issues further down the line.

If you are using windows 7, check out our review of the Windows 7 Reliability Monitor here for additional information.

Now You: Do you check event logs or reliability information regularly?

Summary
Check problematic events with the Windows Reliability Monitor
Article Name
Check problematic events with the Windows Reliability Monitor
Description
Find out how to use the Reliability Monitor in Windows to verify that there are not any critical issues that you are not aware of.
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Comments

  1. Dan Donx said on January 15, 2023 at 10:29 am
    Reply

    What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?

    Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.

    If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.

  2. Dexter said on January 15, 2023 at 11:14 am
    Reply

    5. Rufus
    6. Ventoy

    PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.

    1. cdr said on January 15, 2023 at 3:32 pm
      Reply

      I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.

  3. sv said on January 15, 2023 at 6:40 pm
    Reply

    bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.

    ps…. time travelling?
    written. Jan 15, 2023
    Updated • Jan 13, 2023

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on January 16, 2023 at 5:49 am
      Reply

      This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.

  4. Anonymous said on January 16, 2023 at 8:24 am
    Reply

    Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.

  5. basingstoke said on January 16, 2023 at 11:18 am
    Reply

    I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:

    1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)

    2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)

    3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””

    4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows

    5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss

    Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:

    6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now

    Have I missed any group off this list?

    1. Heinz Strunk said on September 19, 2023 at 3:57 pm
      Reply

      You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.

      Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.

  6. ilev said on August 24, 2023 at 7:34 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update

    1. EP said on August 24, 2023 at 9:21 pm
      Reply

      only from windows update though
      KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site

  7. Anonymous said on August 24, 2023 at 11:05 pm
    Reply

    1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.

    2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.

    3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.

    This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
    Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.

    Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.

  8. john said on August 24, 2023 at 11:17 pm
    Reply

    Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.

    1. John G. said on August 25, 2023 at 12:08 pm
      Reply

      Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.

  9. EP said on August 25, 2023 at 3:10 pm
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215

  10. EP said on August 29, 2023 at 7:32 pm
    Reply

    check out the following recent articles:

    Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
    https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/

    BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/

  11. Leonard Britvolli said on August 30, 2023 at 10:33 pm
    Reply

    While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.

  12. sembrador said on September 5, 2023 at 9:32 pm
    Reply

    My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.

  13. EP said on September 6, 2023 at 11:55 am
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):

    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277

  14. Raphael Benzo said on September 24, 2023 at 9:52 pm
    Reply

    I try to disable the Diagnostics Tracking Service (Connected Devices Platform User Services) but it wont let me disable it, any help will be greatly appreciated.
    Tank you for your help

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