Windows 7 – Problem Step Recorder
Capturing the Symptoms
For an IT support or help-desk administrator, being able to see what’s happening on screen and have an interactive conversation with the end-user, can be vital to diagnosing and solving problems as they occur.
This is why applications such as Remote Desktop, VNC or Remote Assistance (or even low-tech approaches like walking to see the problem, if practical) are really helpful, if not vital to understanding the exact issues and providing speedy resolution.
However, there are some scenarios where different time-zones and/or network and security restrictions would prevent using remote tools and this is where a nifty new feature in all Windows 7 versions called Problem Step Recorder (PSR.exe) could come in very handy.
Windows 7 Problem Step Recorder
The process that the end-user has to follow is very simple and intuitive:
- Run PSR from the Windows 7 Start Menu
- Click Start Record at the beginning of problem and continue to work normally, going through all the required steps to bring up the issue.
- Optionally, click Add Comment to type and insert other explanatory information with specific steps
- Click Stop Record To finish and the various screens and steps to create the problem will be captured in compiled html format (mht) as a zipped folder, stored where selected.
The single .mht can then e-mail or stored in a shared location and the IT Administrator opening it will have a blow-by-blow account of what clicks/menu selections produced the problem and all messages and screen details that user saw. (In short, everything needed to reproduce the problem)
An example of the typical output is illustrated in the screen-shots below – In-short, all steps screens and error messages recorded by the sequence in one place.
Read the complete post at http://www.1e.com/techblog/post/2009/07/10/Windows-7-Problem-Step-Recorder.aspx