From this month's Windows Secrets newsletter I subscribe to, this may help folks who have crashes and hangs:
 

"Track Windows problems with Reliability Monitor
When Windows freezes or an application suddenly stops working, the event is logged by the operating system. It can be difficult to troubleshoot those failures, but Windows' built-in Reliability Monitor can help.
The Reliability Monitor resides under Windows' Action Center, but the easiest way to find it is via Windows' search bar. (It's included under the Action Center section of the all-commands folder discussed above, but — oddly — you won't find it in Windows' Administrative Tools folder.) Click the View reliability history link to launch Reliability Monitor.
After you click the link, the application will take a few seconds or minutes to generate a report. It then displays a graph based on date and a stability scale of 1 to 10. Below the graph, a details section lists events, failures, warnings, and other information triggered by applications and Windows. The Action column in the details list includes links to possible solutions.
Here's a real-world application. After a recent update, my Windows 8.1 laptop kept freezing. The only solution was a hard reboot. A check with Reliability Monitor pinpointed Microsoft OneDrive as the culprit. Although the solutions link did not provide an answer, at least I knew the source of the problem — which gave me a starting point for possible fixes."
 
I hope the above is helpful in getting to the bottom of crashes and hangs in Windows.
 
Here is another nugget from that same issue - though more of a general tidbit:
 
The info below describes how to unlock a hidden bonanza of about 250 shortcuts to all kinds of Windows settings changes and other stuff, unlocked by simply creating a folder with a specific set of characters in the name.  The nickname for this is 'God Mode', and I just did this on my desktop in Windows 8 and it instantly created a folder with massive numbers of REALLY useful Windows shortcuts to all kinds of functions.

To do this, go to the Desktop, right click, and click on New Folder, then paste the following text EXACTLY as the name of the new folder, and something magical will happen - Windows will populate the folder with something like 250 normally hidden or hard to get to commands.  The nickname for this is God Mode.

The first part of the folder name can be whatever you want, BUT you must paste in the following line exactly as it appears - with the dot and all - to be the ending part of the folder name.  Once you paste that in, hit Enter to finish naming the folder, and Windows will INSTANTLY populate it with 250 or so function shortcuts, all nicely grouped.  It's quite spectacular.  The following line is what you need to paste to the end of the folder name, for this to work: 

.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
 
So, on my system, I the complete folder name is: 

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Bob Bone

Bob

On Windows 7 the same thing is in Control Panel -> Action Center
 
Where you can turn on or off sending problems to Microsoft or view besides the Reliability Monitor the View All Problems Report on that screen.
 
I just set mine to Off (because that is just another program that runs on the computer slowing it down, and if nothing too serious is happening then it is just another program that may interfere to smooth running of the computer.
(God-Mode I have not tried).
 
Edited: (forgot the link).
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/windows-7-privacy-statement#T1=highlights
 
 
 

Thanks Bob!

That was indicated in the text I had posted - I should have spaced out the paragraphs better, to make it quicker to read.
 
Thanks, 
 
Bob Bone
 

Hi, Bob. I'm going to derail this for hopefully two seconds but I cannot find BLEEPING easy answer anywhere to my seemingly simple (and incredibly stupid) question.
 
On my DAW I have a DVD+RW burner
 
On my laptop I have a DVD-RW burner
 
I need to buy a stack of DVDs. If I buy DVD-R discs will they BURN in the DVD+ drive?
 
This is for data, images, boot discs, etc. for use  with computers.
 
NOT for playing movies or whatever in consumer DVD players that one would hook up to a TV.
 
Sorry, stupid question that I should know the answer to but the damned internet isn't helping and I never use discs if I can help it.
 
Thanks and sorry for being a derp.

Probably, to be sure look up to be sure look up the compatibility info based on the DVD device name in the Windows Device Manager.

Unfortunately the Plextor site is currently hacked and apparently ruled by Skeletor. I can't get at the PDF for my model burner on the DAW and my laptop is just telling it's a generic burner (probably because I did a clean install recently).
 
BUT if there is a potential compatibility issue depending on the drives (like all +/- will NOT burn their opposites) that is still helpful because if that is the case I can fall back on the brute force plan of just buying a stack of each.
 
That unfortunately will cost more but I'd rather avoid problems.
 
Thank you, scook.
 
And to clarify I was simply going to buy DVD-Rs (or RW) but if there is a chance they won't burn on the DAW... well that would be annoying. I could have sworn I bought a +/- burner when I built the system but that is not what the front panel on the device is saying.

I would imagine the info is available on other sites.

You'd think but the only listing in the search for that model was from Plextor which, as I said, is now apparently a prisoner in Castle Grayskull.
 
Really I'm just going a little apers on this because it is something I've tried to figure out before with no luck (it's the not knowing that makes me crazy) but I'm just going to get a 50 stack of - because a lot of the things I'll be using them for is on the lappy. Then I'll try them out in the DAW. If they work... great. If not I guess I have to grab so + ones.
 
DAMN YOU "DVD FORUM" AND/OR "DVD ALLIANCE"!!!
 
Can't we all just get along?!

I was able to get to some download pages on the Plextor site - http://www.plextoramericas.com/, and some firmware on: http://www.plextoramericas.com/index.php/download?task=viewcategory&catid=129
 
Don't know what model you have - but it looks like the site is OK - just loads slow.
 
Bob Bone