Over the past six weeks, Microsoft has been adding a 'Fix it' button to a few of the thousands of help documents on its website. When clicked, the computer then takes all the recommended steps automatically.
"If we know what those 15 steps are why shouldn't we just script it," said Lori Brownell, Microsoft's general manager of product quality and online support
The 'Fix it' option is still fairly rare, showing up in around 100 different help documents. Yet the effort is growing rapidly, up from just four such fixes when the programme began in December.
Microsoft continues to offer users the option of doing things on their own if they either don't trust Microsoft or just prefer being in control.
"We're not trying to hide anything," Brownell said.
The first fixes included a number of common issues, including restoring a missing Internet Explorer icon to the desktop, how to enable the DVD library in Vista's Windows Media Center, or what to do when encountering the error message in Street & Trips 2008 that "Construction information for routes could not be downloaded".
For now, Microsoft is having to go back and search its archives to see which of its problem-solving tips can be automated. Eventually, it hopes to create the automated fixes at the same time the help articles are created.
Where it can, Microsoft is also adding the 'Fix it' option into the error-reporting tool built into Windows. Initially, all users could do when a program crashed was send a report to Microsoft. More recently, the system has started checking to see if there is any information on the issue. Next up, said Brownell, is offering the option to have the issue solved automatically.
Long term, the company has even broader hopes.
While it would like to just eliminate bugs and glitches, Brownell said that is not an attainable goal.
"We'd love for our customers to never have problems," she said. "We'll never ship bug-free software as hard as we try."
Instead, she said she is aiming for a day when Microsoft's products themselves will be able to spot problems and proactively offer fixes. As an example, she noted that in Exchange, it's a pretty safe bet that once a user gets low on disk space, problems will occur. Making sure users take action before difficulties arise is an example of where the company is headed.
Another example, she said, would be for Microsoft to be able to notify users if they are running two drivers that others have found to conflict with one another. Assuming the appropriate privacy safeguards were in place, Brownell said it would be great for the user to be alerted and offered a fix before a problem occurred.
That proactive world is still largely a vision rather than a reality. That said, Brownell said the company is putting in place some of the plumbing necessary to make such things possible.
With Windows 7, Microsoft has added an "action centre" that Brownell said offers the underlying capability needed to serve up fixes within the operating system. Brownell said she would expect some opportunities for that over the life of the product, though the current beta version of Windows 7 has few examples of it.
