Explore the Problem Steps Recorder in Windows 7

If you’ve ever worked a Help Desk and become extremely frustrated while trying to coax an end user into accurately describing the problem they are encountering, you are going to love a new tool in Microsoft Windows 7 called the Problem Steps Recorder. When started, this new tool will essentially record each and every step a user takes and document the entire operation in both screen captures and step-by-step details. When stopped, the Problem Steps Recorder will save the recorded information as a compiled HTML file and package it up in a ZIP file that the end user can then e-mail to the Help Desk.
In this issue of the Windows Vista and Windows 7 Report, I’ll introduce you to Windows 7’s Problem Steps Recorder.
Launching the tool
At this point in the beta, finding the Problem Steps Recorder is a bit tricky if you didn’t know that it existed as it really does not have a prominent access point. That may change as the UI matures a bit, but then again, it may remain hidden until needed-such as when a Help Desk tech tells the user to run it.
In any case, you can launch the Problem Steps Recorder in the beta by typing PSR in the Start menu’s Search box and pressing [Enter]. However, I also located it in the Control Panel by searching with the keyword “Problem”,