Microsoft Fix it Center Aims to Solve Problems Microsoft Probably Created in the First Place
A little over a year ago, Dave told you about Microsoft's Fix it site, which offered automated troubleshooters for common PC problems.
That site has evolved into Fix it Center, a free utility that promises to -- wait for it-- fix common PC problems. All you do is choose the issue you're having, then let Fix it Center find a solution.
In theory. In practice, Fix it Center is a confusing mess.
After I installed the tool, it ran a quick scan of my system and detected two apparent problems -- both involving Internet Explorer. I told it to go ahead and repair them, after which I landed at the main Fix it Center menu.
That menu lists a couple dozen items, but they all have vague headings like Aero, Display Quality, and Network Adapter. You can click the little Show arrow for a description of the item, but don't be surprised if that's equally vague. The Aero description, for example, reads as follows: "Display Aero effects such as transparency." Huh? Exactly what problem are we troubleshooting, here?
Meanwhile, the two aforementioned problems that were detected during installation apparently hadn't been fixed. They lacked the green check-mark that appears after manually running a fix.
On top of that, some of the troubleshooters produce confusing results, like the one I ran for HomeGroup ("View computers or shared files in a homegroup." Again: huh?). It required me to run the Network Adapter troubleshooter first, and from there the whole thing just stopped making sense.
Maybe I'm being overly harsh, but I'm hard-pressed to see who this tool is going to help. The troubleshooters list itself is a head-scratcher: Are these issues that need resolving on your particular PC, or just ones that Fix it Center can resolve? (Turns out it's the latter, but I was initially confused.)
If you've encountered a vexing Windows problem, Fix it Center is certainly worth a try. And, hey, who knows, it might just save the day. But don't be surprised if you find yourself even more vexed than when you started.