Windows Memory Diagnostic
Windows Vista introduced Windows Memory Diagnostic (previously available through Microsoft's Online Crash Analysis website) as a standard part of Windows, and Windows 7 follows in Vista's footsteps.
Because Windows Memory Diagnostics checks your system's standard and cache RAM before the Windows desktop appears, you are prompted to choose when to run the program: either now (requiring you to restart the system) or the next time the system is started.
When Windows Memory Diagnostic is running, it displays a plain blue screen with white and yellow text. A status bar indicates the progress of the selected tests (Figure 13).
Figure 13 Testing system memory with Windows Memory Diagnostic
To change the number of test passes (the default is two), select a different mix of tests, or to turn memory cache on or off, press the F1 key and select from the options displayed (Figure 14).
Figure 14 Viewing memory test options in Windows Memory Diagnostic
If Windows Memory Diagnostic detects any problems, it displays the results after the Windows desktop boots.