Yesterday night, while working on my computer, I saw the error message "Dr.Watson Postmortem Debugger has encountered a Problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."
My computer froze when I pressed the 'don't send report' button. Since I couldn't work anymore, I restarted it, but again, the same Dr. Watson Postmortem Debugger came up with a sorry message.
I could not do anything on the desktop PC. So, I started browsing on my Laptop. The first thing I did was a search using the error message and found many people were facing the same issue.
I saw multiple opinions about the error message as a system error and a possible malware attack. While surfing more, I found it was not a malware infection.
It is a built-in Windows debugger program.
Microsoft uses the Dr. Watson Postmortem Debugger to collect error reports from devices run on the Windows Operating system.
How to Fix the Dr.Watson Postmortem Debugger Error Message?
As I expected, it is not an essential tool for a user.
We can either delete or disable it without affecting the functionality of our computers.
So, I decided to disable this program to make my desktop PC work again. I tried to log on to my Desktop computer and successfully logged on to the Windows account after a few unsuccessful attempts. Then, I followed the steps below.
How to disable the Dr. Watson Postmortem Debugger?
Click on start
Click on Run (Or press the Windows and R keys together to open the Run). Type drwtsn32 on the Run window and Click on OK. Now, the Dr. Watson Postmortem Debugger options window will open.
It looks like the image below.
Uncheck all the checkboxes under options and click OK.
Where Can I read the Dr. Watson Postmortem Debugger Log Files?
As I explained before, it is a default unnecessary program installed by Microsoft to collect information regarding software errors or bugs. It keeps a log file that stores all software errors that happened and sends it to Microsoft.
The log file created by Dr. Watson Postmortem Debugger records all kinds of software errors that occur, and to read this log file, you may navigate to the following location.
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\DrWatson
It is saved in the name drwtsn32 and can open in Notepad. This log file contains Application exceptions that occurred, System Information, Task List, etc.
We can change the log file path of the Dr. Watson Postmortem Debugger by accessing it by following the steps below.
Click the Windows Start button, and click the Run.
Type drwtsn32 on the Run and press OK.
You can change current settings (including the log file location) from here. You can specify a different address for the log file if you want.
Since it is an error reporting tool from Microsoft, you will get the error message "Dr.Watson Postmortem Debugger has encountered a Problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience" when a program crashes. It is not because of virus infection but a feature (unnecessary though) that does its duty only in an annoying way.
why IP ADDRESS 127.0.0.1 is taken from Class B
ReplyDeleteHi Ajay,
Delete127.0.0.1 is called loop back address. You cannot use this address for any kind of network connections other than representing your own computer.
I am having the same problem but It doesn't give me the time to click on run and type anything in before it pops up a freezes. I went in safe made and it still does the same thing. I am furious with it now. I am also getting the same problem error about explorer. What in the world could I do? I can't open, download, or hardly look at anything before it freezes. PLEASE someone email me at earthquakemagma@comcast.net with some solutions. Thanks alot.
ReplyDeleteHi Joey, You should try to boot your computer in clean boot. They try the steps provided in the same post.
DeleteHi TuneUP,
ReplyDeleteI have read your article and understand there Dr. Watson Postmortem Debugger is not affecting the functionality of our computer.
I disabled this Windows error reporting feature only because I found it as a nuisance. I never checked whether it affects the performance of our Windows XP computer or not.