Windows Vista Security: Praxisorientierte Sicherheit für Profis

Detecting and Resolving Computer Problems

|

735

Computer

The name of the computer where the event occurred

Details

A text description of the event followed by any related data or error output

You can examine events by double-clicking the entry to view the detailed event

description. Use the information provided to help you resolve problems. To learn

more about the error or warning, you can click the link provided in the error descrip-

tion or search the Microsoft Knowledge Base for the event ID or part of the event

description.

Resolving Problems with System Services

Just about every advanced facet of the operating system runs as a system service. If

an essential service stops, the related functionality will not be available and your

computer won’t work as expected. When you are troubleshooting problems, you’ll

want to ensure that essential services are running as expected early in your trouble-

shooting process. To manage system services, you’ll use the Services entry in the

Computer Management console. You can start Computer Management and access

the Services entry by completing the following steps:

Figure 21-1. Tracking and reviewing errors and warnings in the event logs

736

|

Chapter 21: Getting Help and Handling Advanced Support Issues

1. Click the Start button, right-click on the Computer icon, and then select Man-

age from the context menu provided.

2. In Computer Management, double-click the Services and Applications node and

then select Services.

3. As Figure 21-2 shows, you’ll now see the available services. Services are listed by:

Name

The name of the service.

Description

A short description of the service and its purpose.

Status

The status of the service. If the entry is blank, the service is stopped.

Startup Type

The startup setting for the service.

Log On As

The account the service logs on as. The default in most cases is the local sys-

tem account.

Once you’ve accessed the Service node in Computer Management, you can work

with services by completing the following steps:

1. In the Services view, scroll down on the right side of the window until you see

the service you want to work with. Double-click the entry to view the properties

of this service (see Figure 21-3).

2. If the service startup type is listed as Automatic and the service status is not

listed as Started, click the Start button to start the service.

3. If the Start button is dimmed, click the Stop button and then click the Start button.

Figure 21-2. Tracking and reviewing the status of services

Detecting and Resolving Computer Problems

|

737

4. If a service that should have a startup type of Automatic has a different configu-

ration, set the startup type as Automatic.

5. Click OK.

As part of the comprehensive overhaul of the Windows operating system, essential

services in Windows Vista are set to restart automatically if they fail. You can review

and configure the restart settings for a service by following these steps:

1. In the Services view, scroll down on the right side of the window until you see

the service you want to work with. Double-click the entry to view the properties

of this service.

2. On the Recovery tab, the first, second, and third restart actions are listed as

shown in Figure 21-4. Restart actions you’ll see include Take No Action, Restart

the Service, and Restart the Computer.

3. As necessary, use the “First failure” list to set the first failure option.

4. As necessary, use the “Second failure” list to set the second failure option.

5. As necessary, use the “Subsequent failures” list to set the third failure option.

Figure 21-3. Checking the properties of the service