Computer help

[acords]

Can anybody tell me what this file is?  Dr. Watson user.dmp  Do I need this?

[3rensho]

It's a Windows dump file used for debugging crashes.  Dr. Watson is a program used to evaluate these files.  Unless you're having chronic problems with your machine one doesn't need them and they can eat up disk space.

[Gizmo]

And if you believe Microsoft, they can actually read and understand the file, and more amazingly, be able to tell you exactly what is wrong with your computer.  Well, if you have a tone of cash around anyway, and your lucky.   >:(

[SKSmoker]

Giz - there is a dump program on the net you can DL right from MS. It works fantastic, and yes, you can see _exactly_ what caused the error. I have used it on a few machines at work.

[Gizmo]

If you find the link, shoot it over.  It would be interesting to see what some of the DR. are really saying.  Most of the time it is just bad programing on what I normally really use the computer for (video editing). 

[SKSmoker]

I have used it to diagnose everything from Symantec Corp A/V 9.0 trying to tie up a modem driver, to kernel level OS crashes. It takes a while to figure out how to use it, but once you do, it is really a great in depth trouble shooting tool. The symbols are picky sometimes and don't always download, but it usually obeys you after the 15th try of inputting the symbol path :P :P

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx

[Gizmo]

Thanks SKSmoker.  Hope to not have to use it.  Ya Right.

[SKSmoker]

No problem. Anytime!