Use System Configuration's Tool Tab In Windows Vista

Vista has lot of tools that we can employ while troubleshooting a system. Unfortunately, these tools are located in various places in the operating system. For example, some are located in the Control Panel, some are located on the Start menu, and some are accessible from the command line. However, not known to many Vista users, the Tools tab in System Configuration utility provides you with a single access point for a wide variety of useful tools.

This is a good tip to use your vista configuration tool tab. You can quickly launch the System Configuration utility by pressing the Windows Start Button and typing the word system. By the time you type sys, System Configuration should appear at the top of the results pane where you can select it. Keep in mind that you’ll first have to go through a UAC dialog box.

Once System Configuration launches, just click the Tools tab and you’ll discover that the list of available tools is comprehensive and even includes detailed descriptions, as shown in Figure 1. Plus, it’s easy to use: just select the tool you want and click the Launch button.

Figure 1:
The Tools tab makes it easy to access and run the operating system’s advanced diagnostic
utilities – just select the tool you want and click the Launch button.

As you can see, when you select a tool in the list box, the command line used to launch that tool appears in the Selected Command box. This allows you to easily create shortcuts to those tools you use the most — just select the command line and paste it into the Create Shortcut wizard. You’ll also notice that the command lines for the Internet Protocol Configuration and Performance Monitor tools provide an Advanced Options check box that when selected adds a switch to the command line. For example, the cutaways shown in Figure 2, show the command line for the Internet Protocol Configuration tool with and without the Advanced Options check box selected.

Figure 2:
The command line for Internet Protocol Configuration tool provides an Advanced
Options check box that when selected adds a switch to the command line.