Even though I’ve used Windows on every PC I have owned, I still sometimes get surprised by the hidden tools buried in layers of menus.

Windows has gotten more useful over the years, meaning you don’t have to rely on third-party software for certain features as much. While I was aware of the ability to manage drive partitions and markup screenshots without needing additional software, I was intrigued when I was recommended Reliability Monitor—a Windows tool I had previously missed.

What is Reliability Monitor?

A quick overview of system stability

The Reliability Monitor provides an overview of your PC’s stability by recording application and hardware failures, along with system warnings and any other relevant information. The best part is that it doesn’t require you to download anything or activate the feature—it’s already there and ticking away in the background.

The tool measures your system stability using an index scale measured from 1 to 10. It visualizes this as a line graph that shows your system score over the last few days or weeks. It also provides icons to note critical events and warnings on particular dates.

You can access Reliability Monitor in a number of ways. The easiest is to just use your search bar to look for “reliability” and then select View reliability history.

You can also go to Control Panel -> System and Security -> Security and Maintenance -> Maintenance -> View reliability history if you prefer that route.

What makes Reliability Monitor so useful

It doesn’t require your input or configuration

While Windows power users will likely be aware of Reliability Monitor, as well as other tools that can diagnose system issues, it’s a great tool for casual users or those who want to use it as a starting point when troubleshooting.

If you’re the designated tech support for your family members, it’s also really useful, as it’s just a search away. If you have ever tried to explain to a non-tech-savvy relative how to access a hidden menu over the phone, the fact that you can just use the search bar and start up Reliability Monitor without configuring it makes it much easier to pick up issues.

What I particularly like about the tool is that it can be used for both malfunctioning hardware and software. When it comes to errors and warnings, it also displays the error code and the related software. For example, for the past few weeks, I’ve been having critical errors for noshow.exe.

By clicking on the error, I could see that it was related to the F.lux application, which I use to apply a warm filter on my displays due to my chronic migraines. I could also see that the error was happening at a similar time each day when I was starting up or using my PC, rather than the time of day when I shut it down.

Since it can flag smaller issues that I didn’t even notice in my daily usage, along with freezing applications I have noticed in the past few weeks, I hope that it will bring my attention to any issues that actually impact my experience consistently. I also like that it automatically sends reports for Windows-related errors that save me from having to manually report the issue when I may not have noticed the crash in the first place.

Using Reliability Monitor in conjunction with other built-in tools

You can use Reliability Monitor as a starting point

One limitation of Reliability Monitor’s monitoring history is that it is limited to 28 days. If you want to see a longer history, you will need to use Event Viewer, which is another built-in tool.

However, I do find that this is less user-friendly just due to the amount of data the tool handles, with significantly more information in the logs.

But Reliability Monitor is a good starting point that can be used in conjunction with other built-in Windows diagnostic tools. For example, if you’re experiencing app crashes related to a single app, you may want to check for conflicting software and see if there are available updates to resolve the issue.

If you’re seeing more widespread issues, you may want to use a tool like Resource Monitor or Memory Diagnostic to see if any components are possibly responsible. If built-in tools aren’t giving you the information you need, though, you might need to try out different third-party tools.

For example, there are some great tools that you can use to test your storage drives. Windows does have some built-in utilities for this, but they are limited in scope.

When it comes to hardware errors, I’ve also found that the tool isn’t as descriptive as it could be. This could be down to my not having many hardware errors to use as examples, since I only found one on my laptop and none on my desktop PC. However, at least having an error name gives you a place to start to diagnose and troubleshoot an issue. Reliability Monitor also gives you a good idea whether it’s a one-off issue or something that is recurring.

Reliability Monitor packs in a lot of functionality

While I wouldn’t recommend Reliability Monitor as the only way to diagnose problems on your PC, I think it’s a great, user-friendly tool for keeping an eye on system stability. The fact that it provides historical data and doesn’t require setup also means that it’s simple to use when you just want to take a quick glance at how your system is performing.

Since it’s not really viable to constantly monitor your PC with a variety of tools if you’re a casual user, Reliability Monitor provides a happy medium where you’re still making note of any important errors.