Case Projects

Case 2- Windows Steps Recorder

Dale Andrews, a desktop support technician, walked into the support center late one afternoon after a busy day diagnosing PC problems. He called out to anyone who was listening, Help!Dale explained to the support agents who were in the office that he had spent most of his day trying to replicate problems that several users were experiencing on their PCs. He said, I spent several hours trying to figure out exactly what each user had done to cause the problems they reported. In some cases, I just couldnt get the problem to reveal itself.

As one of Dales desktop support colleagues, you suggested the support group investigate how to use a tool in Windows 8 called the Steps Recorder (this tool is called the Problem StepsRecorder in Windows 7, and in prior versions of Windows, it is called Screenrecorder). Several of the support staff expressed interest in this tool because they have all had experiences similar to Dales. Complete the following steps:”

Questions to answer:

1. Research how the Windows Steps Recorder works.

2. If you have access to a  Windows  PC,  set up an example of a common problem, then use the  Steps  Recorder to try out the utility.  For example,  with the  StepsRecorder running, open an application, such as Word or Excel, and try to open a document that doesnt exist on your computer. You should get an error message. Next,  inspect the output from the  Steps  Recorder to learn about the kinds of information it captured when you tried to open a file that doesnt exist.AlthoughSteps Recorder only works with recent Windows versions, if you use Windows XP or Vista, you can try out a similar tool called Screenrecorder, which can be downloadedfromtechnet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.03.utilityspotlight2.aspx.

3. Write a brief procedure targeted to end-users that explains how to use the Steps Recorder”