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

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.