The folks over at Microsoft have really been hard at work trying to make all the things that could go wrong, respond in a manner that can help the end user resolve his or her problem. Problem Reports and Solutions is a effort to help you all figure out how to fix or resolve the problems that you have with software running on your machine. This application usually presents you with good information about who to contact regarding the piece of software that has a problem.

But what happens when a Microsoft application has a problem? You'd suspect that the same all knowing application would pop up and show you where you can get your questions answered. I have to say that I have never once been given a solution to a Microsoft problem, nor do I expect one. Vista says it is up-to-date and so there shouldn't be any fixes for the problem. I just have to wait for a patch to possibly fix whatever problem it is, if it was actually sent to Microsoft.

So anyway, I've been having a problem with Internet Explorer crashing. This was a direct result of the last automatic updates. I half expect the "Problem Reports and Solutions" dialog to help me send this error to Microsoft and offer some information about the problem so I can try to resolve it. But what do you do when you see the above error message for "Problem Reports And Solutions"?

I can't explain this problem to someone over the phone. There is really no use in talking to someone in india for an hour when I can't explain what happened. (I don't need to reboot or check to make sure the plug is plugged in.) Of course, I open Internet Explorer again and click "Help > Online Support". Has anyone looked at this page? Under "Error Messages" they actually have "Turn off a computer: Frequently asked questions". Maybe I should heed their advice.

I have several tools that I have used for years. One of my favorites is GuidGen. I wrote this several years back so that I could generate a mass quantity of GUIDs in Visual Studio. It really isn't fancy or spectacular, but it does the job its suppose to do. It copies a new GUID in a desired format to the clipboard. You could file it under one of those "PortableApps". I always end up droping it into the windows folder so I can just run it from the command line.

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Note: Creative Commons License 3.0 applies since I've include code and the binary.

usage: GuidGen.exe /[Z][B|D|N|P|E]
 Z: Zero Guid
   00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
 D: 32 digits separated by hyphens (Default - No Parameters)
   xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
 B: 32 digits separated by hyphens, enclosed in brackets
   {xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}
 N: 32 digits
   xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 P: 32 digits separated by hyphens, enclosed in parentheses
   (xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx)
 E: Base 64 Encoded Guid Byte Array

Z can be combined with any of the format types to produce the Empty GUID in the desired format.


Add to Visual Studio 2005 External Tools

Tools > External Tools...
[Click Button] Add
[Title] GuidGen
[Command] GuidGen.exe
[Arguments] From above, the default is "\D"
[Checkbox] Use Output Window
[Click Button] Move Up (to the top if adding keyboard shortcut)

Adding the Keyboard Shortcut
Tools > Customize > Keyboard (Button at bottom)
Show Commands Containing: "Tools.ExternalCommand1"
Assign Key ctrl~ (Ctrl-tilde)
[Click Button] Assign
[Click Button] Ok

Now when ever you need a GUID, press Ctrl-tilde to create a new one and ctrl-v to paste!