# What does Microsoft do with all those error reports **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 11, 2021, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-microsoft-do-with-all-those-error-reports/941871 "2021-05-11T21:12:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jaguars](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaguars/32/5879_2.png) [@Jaguars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaguars)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2021, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-microsoft-do-with-all-those-error-reports/941871/1 "2021-05-11T21:12:41Z")
We all know the little error box that pops up when a non-responsive program is closed. Often the program has little or nothing to do with Microsoft other than running on their system. Therefore there must be a heck of a lot of completely worthless reports being fired across the internet and presumably digitally put on a spike at Microsoft error HQ. So do they use it for anything? Do they delete it? Do the programmers of my Australian Industrial CAD software get a signed E-mail from Gatesy himself informing them that their meddling has caused yet another memory leak where there was none before? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-microsoft-do-with-all-those-error-reports/941871/2 "2021-05-12T01:42:19Z")
This is a few years old but it gives some insight into the usefulness of Windows Error Reporting: > **[Windows Error Reporting - Win32 apps](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/wer/windows-error-reporting)** > > Enable Windows error reporting through the Windows user interface. For a performance report, register for Microsoft application error reporting with Windows Quality Online Services. > Developers can register with [Windows Desktop Application Program](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/appxpkg/windows-desktop-application-program) to get information about the problems customers are experiencing with their applications and help customers fix these problems. Developers can also use [Application Recovery and Restart](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/Recovery/application-recovery-and-restart-portal) to ensure that customers do not lose data when their application crashes and allow users to quickly return to their tasks. If nothing else, it might give application developers information about the problems their apps are experiencing in the wild, and can help them patch those problems. I imagine it might do the same for developers of Windows itself as well. > [@Jaguars](#): > > Do the programmers of my Australian Industrial CAD software get a signed E-mail from Gatesy himself informing them that their meddling has caused yet another memory leak where there was none before? If they register, yes they could. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-microsoft-do-with-all-those-error-reports/941871/3 "2021-05-12T18:15:03Z")
My guess is Microsoft does nothing with that data, until they run into a problem and want to go back and see when it first started happening. They can then look at any code changes that were released about that time and perhaps narrow the possibilities. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-microsoft-do-with-all-those-error-reports/941871/4 "2021-05-12T22:35:49Z")
Now that there have been a couple of serious answers, I’ll add, “I believe they read them out loud in the employee break room over beer and nachos and laugh their asses off.” ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-microsoft-do-with-all-those-error-reports/941871/5 "2021-05-13T00:01:29Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Now that there have been a couple of serious answers, I’ll add, “I believe they read them out loud in the employee break room over beer and nachos and laugh their asses off.” I think that IS the serious answer. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-microsoft-do-with-all-those-error-reports/941871/6 "2021-05-13T15:56:39Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > My guess is Microsoft does nothing with that data, until they run into a problem and want to go back and see when it first started happening. They can then look at any code changes that were released about that time and perhaps narrow the possibilities. Since the 3rd-party question is answered, I’ll answer for 1st party apps: There’s a lot of trend analysis, so this is true to a degree. But they’re definitely always looking at where the top problems are (within an app, that is. Which is to say, the Excel team is looking at where the problems that users are experiencing with Excel occur.) If there are a lot of users experiencing the same crashes, or something new is starting to happen, all those crash reports contain a ‘minidump’, which lets Microsoft know where the crash happened, metadata about the app and system (version numbers, etc), and a fair amount about the state of your system when the app occurred. That lets a developer meaningfully reproduce and debug the issue.