All Windows Vista versions (but Starter) bring an improved performance monitor compared to Windows XP. On Windows XP you could monitor CPU, memory and network utilization on Task Manager (CPU and memory on Performance tab and network on Network tab), with graphs plotted in real time. Windows Vista maintains this feature and adds disk access, plotting these four charts on a single window. This feature, called Performance Monitor (see Figure 8) can be accessed thru Control Panel, Administrative Tools icon, Reliability and Performance option or by right clicking Computer icon on Start menu, choosing Manage and then clicking on Reliability and Performance option or by clicking on Resource Monitor button found on Task Manager (see Figure 7).

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Figure 7: Windows Vista Task Manager is similar to Windows XP’s.

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Figure 8: Performance Monitor.

The reliability monitor, which can be accessed by clicking on “Reliability Monitor” option found on the left pane on the windows shown on Figure 8 is also something new on Windows Vista. This option creates a “System Stability Index” based on the number of faults your computer had so far. Vista needs you to use your computer for at least 24 hours to calculate this index.

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Figure 9: Reliability Monitor.

The Reliability Monitor also logs software uninstalls and failures your system had, divided into application failures, hardware failures, Windows failures and miscellaneous failures (see these options listed on Figure 9). So thru the Reliability Monitor you can investigate all failures your system had to date, helping you to solve a problem you may be experiencing with your PC.