Microsoft Sharpens Desktop Troubleshooting Tools

In a Tuesday post to the Windows Vista team blog, Chris Flores, a director on the Windows Client team, highlighted the improvements Microsoft has made in the troubleshooting capabilities of MDOP 2008.

MDOP 2008 features Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset 6.0 (DaRT), a set of tools for debugging and troubleshooting unbootable PCs, and Desktop Error Monitoring 3.0 service pack 1, which keeps track of error messages generated during application and operating system crashes.

New features in DaRT 6.0 include the ability to reset a local administrator password, remove malfunctioning hotfixes, and scan hard drives to uncover malware that renders PCs unbootable, even when the issues are linked to hidden rootkits, according to Flores.

The update for Desktop Error Monitoring 3.0 adds little in the way of new features, but does improve the product's performance, scalability, and reporting functions, Flores wrote.

Incidentally, Flores earlier this week took over the reins of the Vista team blog from Nick White, a former product manager in the Windows Vista team who has left Microsoft to pursue another opportunity.

MDOP initially was a bundle of application virtualization, inventory services, group policy management and recovery, and System Center desktop error monitoring tools, but Microsoft has been steadily adding new features and functionality. Last month, Microsoft moved to add desktop virtualization to MDOP by acquiring Kidaro, a Redwood City, Calif.-based startup.

MDOP is part of Microsoft's push to add more value to Software Assurance, a volume licensing program that gives companies the right to upgrade to new software versions released during the term of the contract with Microsoft, and to spread payments over a three-year period.