How To Get My Solutions Into Windows Problem Reports and Solutions

Question

Windows Vista added a Problem Reports and Solutions facility that records software problems, reports them to Microsoft, and then say they collect and make solutions to those problems available to users.

So when my program hits a bug and crashes, the user gets an exception report:

This then gets captured by Windows as one of it's problems. Every so often Windows warns the user that they've had problems and asks if they want to look for solutions. It brings up the Problem Reports and Solutions windows:

So then you click on the "Check fo solutions" and it runs through the 255 "problems" that I've encountered for about 50 different software packages, and it results in this:

Hopefully, this facility has been improved upon in Windows 7.

But even so, my question is how I can get my solution into the system to direct users to go to my website or contact me if they encountered a problem with my software?

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Thanks Larry for your answer.

That is a good article that I previously hadn't found. But it is a bit old, referring to Windows XP. I don't mind that, but the key website it referred to: Microsoft Online Crash Analysis (MOCA) at https://oca.microsoft.com/ does not exist.

Even-so, I thought it would be simple to then type Microsoft Online Crash Analysis into Google to see if I can come up with the correct url. The links bring you to various pages in various languages that are part of MOCA. But if you want to get to the starting page, which will have the index on the left, the correct link seems to be: http://oca.microsoft.com/en/welcome.aspx.

That link no longer gives a valid page. The last page in the Internet Archive is from May 8, 2008, but even it seems to be very nebulous in nature.

Unless I am mistaken and somebody knows better, it appears Microsoft has abandoned their MOCA, even though all their operating systems contain major connections to it.

If someone knows that I'm wrong in this assumption, please add an answer and let me know.

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Larry pointed out in his now-accepted answer that MOCA turned into WinQual.

How nice of Microsoft to require registration now if we want to provide them information that will make their tool better. That registration requires a digital certificate which most good programs will have, but it also requires it to be from Verisign and only Verisign. There is some significant online discussion about this.

Answer 1

This article shows how to set up OCA for Windows XP, I believe that the steps still apply for Windows Vista and Windows 7.

It turns out that the current name for OCA is "WinQual". The official web site is here.

Answer 2

How nice of Microsoft to require registration now if we want to provide them information that will make their tool better.

The reasoning behind it is probably this:

• Registration is for your own protection: If there was no registration, anyone could have error reports for your app problems sent to them. Even (and specifically) your competitors!

• A Certification Authority (CA) verifies the identity of the ISV (independent software vendor) companies that register with them. Microsoft uses the certificate as proof of identity of an ISV company that registers with Winqual. If they had to do the ID checking themselves, they'd likely need an own department for this.

• The registration is to allow you to make your application better, to cut down on future support and to keep your customer base happy. It's not for "their tool". Correct? :-)