How in the Tech

Share your problems with Windows 7 Problem Steps Recorder

By Adam Myers ⋅ January 26, 2010 ⋅ Tags: Windows 7

Anyone who has been tasked to provide remote technical support, whether professionally or otherwise, has likely lived through the following scenario. You receive a panicked phone call from a user in peril explaining that such and such is doing this and that; everything from cause and effects, symptoms, and error messages are paraphrased. It’s frustrating for both parties that are involved, you haven’t been giving a clear description of what is going on, and unfortunately the user isn’t sure exactly sure how to describe what happened accurately. Where does this leave you both? Other than buying a Mac, there is another option that is perhaps a bit more sane!

A new feature in Windows 7 is the Problem Steps Recorder, a type of stop-motion video capture utility that is a welcomed improvement for supporting remote users. The final recordings are encapsulated in .mht files – archived web pages format – which you can then be transferred to you for final analysis and problem fixing. It’s such a simple and logical idea; it’s fantastic that it is now included with Windows. Here’s how it works:

1. Launch Problem Steps Recorder by searching for it from Windows 7′s Start Search box.



2. To begin a new recording click  Start Record. Every action you perform will now be captured visual, along with a detailed description of what you are doing. Additionally, you are able to add your own captions to the photos easily. The captions are important because anything the remote user types is not captured – it must be conveyed through the caption system!



3. When you’ve stopped the recording you are prompted to save the entire sequence in a zip file.



4. The contents of the zip file is the .mht described above, which is viewable in Internet Explorer, that describes the entire sequence of events.

Problem Steps Recorder is another utility that you must keep in mind when doing any type of technical support for someone that isn’t just down the hall.