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Windows 98 troubleshooting tools are a dual-edged sword
May 11, 1998
Web posted at: 7:07 AM PTby Bob O'Donnell
The new troubleshooting utilities included with Microsoft's upcoming Windows 98 look to be truly beneficial for end-users and help-desk personnel. Unfortunately, as I discussed in last week's column, I think they're about the only truly useful part of the new OS. Plus, I have a philosophical problem with charging money for tools that help fix known problems -- but I'll get to that a bit later.
Windows 98 features a whole rash of new utilities including the Microsoft System Information Tool, System Configuration Utility, Dr. Watson, Version Conflict Manager, Automatic Skip Driver Agent, System File Checker and Registry Checker. In addition, the Tune-Up Wizard helps automate the use (and usefulness) of existing utilities, such as Disk Defragmenter and ScanDisk. The standard boot floppy created by Windows 98 even includes a generic CD-ROM driver to get around the ridiculous problem of having to build a boot floppy with a real-mode driver. In fact, there's so much there, I have to wonder how several popular Windows utilities, such as Symantec's Norton Utilities, Helix's Nuts and Bolts, and CyberMedia's FirstAid 98 are going to be able to distinguish themselves.
MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE 
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PC World News Radio Computerworld Minute audio news for managers The hub of the new toolset is Microsoft System Information (MSInfo), which provides a very handy, informative overview of all the hardware and software being used inside your currently running PC. The Resources category offers details on hardware settings, the Components section lists information on drivers, networking settings and other system-configuration information, and the Software Environment category lists all software -- broken into categories such as drivers and DLLs -- currently loaded in memory. MSInfo also lets you launch many of the other utilities from its Tools menu.
What's great about these utilities is that they provide lots of help in trying to solve the most common problems that have afflicted Windows 95 users: start-up file problems or the inability to start up (System Configuration Utility), registry corruption (Registry Checker), system file corruption (System File Checker), driver conflicts (Automatic Skip Driver Agent), overall software conflicts (Dr. Watson), and even DLL problems (Version Conflict Manager and Dr. Watson, to a degree). I haven't used them all long enough to know for sure how well they work (and they are still in beta testing, after all), but the logic behind them is very solid and my initial experience has been quite good.
But I discovered an interesting thing about them in the course of my experimenting: they all work under Windows 95. So, my question is, why doesn't Microsoft make them available to all Win95 users? Think how many problems could be solved and how much time could be saved just by giving existing Windows 95 users access to these tools.
Of course, Microsoft officials feel differently on this subject. Their argument is that they're extending the capabilities of the operating system with these new tools and that's a feature worth paying for. While I can understand that logic, I don't buy it, for a number of different reasons. First, I have a hard time putting troubleshooting tools in the same category as new features. After all, the ultimate purpose of these tools is just to make your (or somebody else's) computer work right. Call me crazy, but I don't think you should have to pay extra money just to get your computer to function properly.
Second, Microsoft has already released these types of tools in the past. The RegClean utility, for example, was developed and released for free by Microsoft to solve problems that were known to occur to the Windows 95 Registry. How are these new tools any different? Microsoft has also bundled a previous version of the System Information Tool with many of their applications, including Front Page 98.
Ultimately, I feel like Microsoft is using these utilities as a carrot to lure us into upgrading to Windows 98, even though most people don't need or aren't even interested in the really new "features" of the OS. There's no doubt in my mind that with these utilities the company has done a good job of addressing some long-standing issues with Windows 95, but making us pay for fixing their problems just isn't right.
Bob O'Donnell has been writing about, talking about, analyzing, testing, and using computers and other high-technology equipment for more than 13 years. He also hosts "O'Donnell on Computers," a weekly computer talk show heard every Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on San Francisco Bay area radio station KSFO (560 AM) and on the Web via RealAudio. In addition, he is the computer expert on the "Meeting the Challenge" television program.
Special Sections:
Special Report - Target: Microsoft Related stories:
Court: Microsoft can bundle browser with Windows 98 - May 12, 1998 Related stories at IDG.net
> Windows 98 = Windows 95.1 Bob O'Donnell's May 4 column
> A list of Bob O'Donnell's columns at InfoWorld
> You can tweak your system while you wait for Windows 98 Brian Livingston's "Windows manager" column in InfoWorld
> Windows 98: A convenience you can live with or without A feature story from the September 1997 issue of PC World.
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