DrWatson

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Previous to BugTrap, which is currently integrated into Shareaza to submit crashes to our development team, DrWatson, a Microsoft utility was used to submit crash reports.

What is Dr Watson?

Dr Watson is a Windows application that helps track problems in software. If Dr Watson is running when an application crashes, it will make logs which can help identify what caused the problem, and allow it to be prevented in the future.

How to enable Dr Watson...

...on Windows XP

Go to Start, click Run
Type drwtsn32 -i

An alert will appear and show you've enabled it. Next you must configure it.

Under Windows XP, the logs will be saved in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Dr Watson

... on Windows 2000

Open the command prompt and type drwtsn32 -i (or from the "Run..." command in the Windows start menu).

By default Windows 2000 saves the logs in C:\Documents and Settings\AllUsers\Documents\DrWatson

...under Windows 9x

The Dr Watson executable is in C:\WINDOWS. Run it before starting Shareaza. Logs will be saved in C:\WINDOWS\DRWATSON, and you only need to send in the most recent log. (You can delete all the logs after you've finished)

Configuring Dr Watson (Win2k & XP)

Go to Start, click Run
Type drwtsn32 (Please note: do not include the -i)
Configure the settings as shown below:

Number of Errors To Save: 2
Crash Dump Type: Mini
Only check the following options:
Dump All Thread Contexts
Append to Existing Log File
Create Crash Dump File

Click OK

How do I use Dr Watson?

Dr Watson is now installed and configured. Run Dr Watson before starting Shareaza. If Shareaza crashes, Dr Watson will create a log file and a dump file containing information on the crash.

Shareaza has crashed. How do I report?

If you see a dialog asking you to report the problem to Microsoft, click on Don't Send.

Dr Watson has now created a Dump file and a Log file in the directory specified when you configured it.

You just need to find the most recent log entry, zip it together with the dump file, and post it on the Bugs and Beta Testing Forum with a description of what you were doing when the crash happened. Also be sure to include your system specifications, operating system and connection type.

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