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Microsoft launches beta of Windows 'Fix It' site, service

By | April 16, 2010, 11:39am PDT

Microsoft quietly launched this week a beta of a new Web site and service designed to help users diagnose and troubleshoot problems with their Windows PCs and servers.

Fix It Center and the accompanying Fix It Online service is a new self-help diagnostic tool from Microsoft Support. The pair are meant to help users running Windows XP (with Service Pack 3 and the SP2 version of 64-bit XP Pro); Windows Vista; Windows 7, Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. The beta includes a software client that is installed on as many PCs as a user wants.

Here’s how Microsoft’s Web site describes Fix It Center:

“Fix it Center finds and fixes many common PC and device problems automatically. It also helps prevent new problems by proactively checking for known issues and installing updates. Fix it Center helps to consolidate the many steps of diagnosing and repairing a problem into an automated tool that does the work for you.”

Fix It Center scans your device to diagnose and repair problems, then gives you the option to “Find and fix” or to “Find and report,” according to the site. There are customized settings and options to manage multiple devices from a single view.

(I could have really used this last week, when I started getting random blue screens on my new Windows 7 laptop. It turned out to be two banks of bad RAM. Thanks to my new favorite local PC Fix It guy, Mohamed Uddin at DataVision –a Microsoft partner and authorized service center, on Fifth Avenue in New York City — my issues were quickly resolved.)

The new Fix It Center and service build on the Fix It brand Microsoft launched last year, as News.com notes. The new service has 300 fixes already built in, with more to come.

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Topics

Microsoft Windows Server, PC, Microsoft Corp., Beta, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Operating Systems, Servers, Software, Hardware, Mary Jo Foley

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

Disclosure

Mary-Jo Foley

Freelance journalist/blogger Mary Jo Foley has nothing to disclose. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). I do not own Microsoft stock or stock in any of its partners or competitors. I have no business ventures that are sponsored by/funded by Microsoft or any of its partners or competitors.

Biography

Mary-Jo Foley

Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 25 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She has kept close tabs on Microsoft strategy, products and technologies for the past 10 years. In the late 1990s, she penned the award-winning "At The Evil Empire" column for ZDNet, and more recently the Microsoft Watch blog for Ziff Davis.

Got a tip? Send her an email with your rants, rumors, tips and tattles. Confidentiality guaranteed.

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RE: Microsoft launches beta of Windows 'Fix It' site, service
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
Excellent website online. Quite a bit nfl jersey of practical data and specifics right here. I am sending it to some close friends!
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0 Votes
+ -
Fix?
jscarey 16th Apr 2010
I am missing how FixIt would have helped in your
predicament. I have encountered several of these
scripts over the last year and had very mixed
results. Most are duplicated by functions found
in lots of third party utilities that give more
information about the problem and have a higher
success rate. Nice idea, though.
0 Votes
+ -
Windows Advisor/PC Advisor
xp-client 17th Apr 2010
This is the same tool previously called Windows Advisor and later Microsoft PC Advisor which is now modified and adapted as Fix It Center.
0 Votes
+ -
Did not work
MoeFugger 17th Apr 2010
Gave it a try and get error messages when it starts then it says it cannot download files even though it is allowed in the firewall settings.
Thats OK my puter works great. I will wait till the official release version comes out being that this one is just a beta.
0 Votes
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Doesn't Work
jpr75_z 18th Apr 2010
I downloaded and installed Fixit Center and then it told me I had to be logged on as an Administrator to use it. I am logged on as an Administrator - even tried tried Run As Adminstrator. Did they test this?
0 Votes
+ -
FIRST MS needs to FIX.....
carlsf@... 19th Apr 2010
The problems they have with their users.
EG.....
WIN7 with NO "CLASSIC" option
WIN7 Libraries
WIN7 TASK BAR what happened to the old one
WIN7 File Manager
WIN7 Folders and raid controllers

Just for a start.

If they sort that lot out we might go the WIN7 way otherwise we stay with XO and VISTA.
0 Votes
+ -
Hum...
silentblue 19th Apr 2010
Sorry but don't think you fix's are going to happen, XP and Vista should still be support till 2014 so your be ok there wink

By then Win 8 or 9 will be out then you can upgrade to 7?
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Microsoft launches beta of Windows 'Fix It' site, service
akfaka@... 19th Apr 2010
Fix? Once again, Microsoft passes the responsibility of its
design flaws to the users.

Imagine your contractor built you a house, the foundation
of the house is badly built, now the contractor, instead of
fixing the foundation, he keeps giving you the 2x4s to hold
the house up to prevent it from collapsing?

I cannot think of another company that's as irresponsible
as Microsoft.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Microsoft launches beta of Windows 'Fix It' site, service
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
Excellent website online. Quite a bit nfl jersey of practical data and specifics right here. I am sending it to some close friends!

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