About.com
About.com is one of the largest Internet portals and it has information on about any topic you can think of. Its computer sections are very well written and they are fun and informative. The PC Support section contains tons of information about hardware and software problems users might encounter, as well as the solution to these problems. The list of Windows error messages is one of the most comprehensive on the Net and that is why About is one of the first places to check, when you get a Windows error message you don’t understand.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/Find_by_Error_Message.htm
Microsoft
Quite logically, the site of Microsoft is one of the places where you can find a lot of information about Windows error messages. While generally the information there is technically correct, it is rarely easy to understand, especially by novices. So, if you are a pro, or at least an advanced user, you might want to check the link and see if the explanation of the fatal exception errors is what you are looking for.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q150314
Error Messages for Windows
This is a cute little program, where many error codes and their explanations are gathered in one place. It is a little bit outdated because the latest version is from 2005 but still for many common error messages, which haven’t been changed in the recent versions of Windows, this program is a valuable source of information.
http://www.gregorybraun.com/MSWinErr.html
Smart Computing
Smart Computing is one of the leading IT sites and it offers a lot of useful information of interest to both beginners and pros. The list of error messages in the link contains some more error messages, which you might encounter when using Windows or browsing the Net. The style of Smart Computing is technically accurate, yet they write in plain English, which makes it a good resource for beginners.
http://www.smartcomputing.com/techsupport/errorbrowse.aspx
Windows Support Center
The Windows Support Center offers many helpful resources for dealing with all kinds of problems you might encounter while using Windows. The section about error messages contains information about Windows error messages in all versions of Windows – from Windows 95 to Windows Vista. Stop messages, which are some of the most serious Windows error messages, are covered in great detail.
Easy Desk Software
The page from this link is one more list of common Windows error messages and their explanation. Some of the Windows error messages in the list describe relatively rare situations but when you have been out of luck and you are stuck in the middle of one of those rare situations, you will certainly appreciate how useful this resource is.
http://www.easydesksoftware.com/error.htm
Bug Club
The Bug Club is one more place where you can find lists of Windows error messages, or more precisely – a list of common categories of Windows messages, a brief description of the problem and a link to the page on Microsoft’s site where you can find more information, if you need it.
http://bugclub.org/beginners/windows/errors.html
Help With Windows
Windows Explorer is one of the most important parts of Windows and because of that problems with it can seriously disrupt your work. Very often Windows Explorer crashes without any visible reason and even if you get an error message, it usually does not explain what has happened and how to prevent it. So, if you want to be able to successfully deal with these situations, you need some help. There are many sites, which offer resources about Windows error messages in general but there are also sites, where you can find information about Windows Explorer errors only. One such place is the page in the link below.
http://www.helpwithwindows.com/techfiles/explorer-crashes.html
Internet Fixes
Blue Screens of Death (BSOD) are among the most severe Windows errors and if your computer shows Blue Screens of Death, you must pay attention to it right away. Sometimes BSODs happen without any logical reason and in these cases troubleshooting is especially difficult because you don’t have any idea whatsoever about what might have caused the error. However, very often the Blue Screen itself contains a lot of information about what went wrong – you only need to know what to look for and how to decode it. The page in the link contains such information.
http://www.internetfixes.com/customer_support/BSOD_error_messages/index.htm
Oneonta (College at Oneonta)
The resource in the link below lists some common Windows error messages and freeze-ups. Although most of the information is a bit old – i.e. it applies to Windows 9.x and XP, still there are many useful things. If you need an explanation about the basics of Windows error messages and freeze-ups, this resource is certainly helpful.
http://helpdesk.oneonta.edu/resnet/training/win_errors.htm
Microsoft error messages
Windows error messages start even before you have started using Windows. Although the installation of Windows is generally user-friendly, still there are tons of things that can go wrong and when you get an unclear error message, this certainly does not improve things. The link leads to a page, where you can find explanation of many of the error messages you might encounter during Windows setup. The article lists error messages in older versions of Windows but still it is useful.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/129971
Microsoft Media Player Error
Windows itself can make your life pretty hard with its cryptic error messages but even if it doesn’t crash once a day, there are many applications, which have that habit and Windows Media Player is one of them. If you use Windows Media Player and are tired of its cryptic error messages, the following page will help you to understand what went wrong.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/9series/playererrors.aspx
Microsoft application Error
Installing applications on Windows is also an activity, which can bury you in tons of difficult to understand error messages. Well, sometimes the reason why an application can’t be installed is obvious but more often than not this is not the case. So, you may want to check some common errors, which appear when you try to install applications with the Windows Installer.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/229683
Vista123.net
If you still haven’t had the chance to use Windows Vista and don’t have personal impressions of its valuable error messages, the article in the link will compensate for that. The article does not list all the error messages you can find in Windows Vista but it gives you an impression about the flavor of Windows Vista error messages.
http://www.vista123.net/content/why-microsoft-should-fix-its-error-messages-windows-7
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is one of the most respected sources of information on the Net and there is hardly a topic in any area, which is not covered in a Wikipedia article. The article in the link above is a brief description of page fault and some other common Windows errors. If you want to know more technical details about Windows errors, BSODs, etc., check this resource.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_fault
Microsoft BCCode
If you want to know more about BCCode errors (and you have the technical expertise to understand complex texts), then the resource the link points to will be of great help for you because it explains in detail what BCCode errors are, why they happen and how to deal with them.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316424
Techtarget
This resource is about error messages in Windows 2000 but it is worth having a look at it because this is one of the most comprehensive lists of error messages one can find on the Net. The list is certainly intended for IT pros because it contains a lot of error messages and not enough explanations for an end-user to understand.
http://searchenterprisedesktop.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid192_gci990463,00.html
