Effective Troubleshooting Through Your PC’s Event/ Log Viewer

It is always a bummer to open your personal computer and then find it not working properly or worse, not working anymore. These problems may pertain to certain crashes and errors that will cause error on your computer. The good thing about these kinds of errors is that they can be easily tracked on your computer to be able to come up with a corresponding solution to the problem. These errors, just like any other processes and events, can all be seen using a unique tool called Event Viewer. This tool enables its user to view and locate all sorts of log files the computer had stored over time. And in this particular article, we will be able to show how this simple step can be done even by those who are not into troubleshooting computer errors.

When you computer system crashes, that particular event will automatically be logged on by Windows itself to the event log by default. Now for some reason you weren’t able to write down the information about the Blue Screen of Death which is what normally happens to a Windows computer when it crashes, you will be able to locate that particular information in the Event Viewer.

Step 1: Opening Event Viewer

After computer startup, open Windows Event Viewer by first clicking on the Start menu. And then from the Start menu, go to the option for the Administrative Tools. You can then see a list which will include an option to click Event Viewer. Click Event Viewer. This will enable you to see log files that you would wish to open. The Event Viewer interface should look like this:

Step 2: The Event Viewer Window

You will be able to see 2 different panes. The first pane from the left will give you the 3 event categories which are Application, Security and System. The next pane which is located on the right side will show you the messages for whatever category you select from the left pane. Since we are looking for an error on your computer, you will be searching for errors in the right pane.

Step 3: System Log Option

For example, when you click the System Log option, you will then be able to locate an error, depicting the time it occurred on your computer

Step 4: Continue to Do the Same Process

From then on, you can continue to do the same process to the other categories like the Application Logs, Security Log. When you locate an error, you can then right click on that selection and click on Properties. The information shown on the selection would then be helpful for you or your IT specialist to look for a specific solution for that particular error. The properties will look like this: