Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (
More info?)
The first big question has to be why do you want to enable PCHealth? Do
you actually know what this entry does? If not see the paragraphs below.
Even if PCHealth is enabled in MSConfig | Startup what do you actually
think you should be seeing when you click Ctrl - Alt Del? The correct
answer is nothing. There is nothing to see, al that the PCHealth entry
does is ensure that the PCHealth entry in the Task Manager is present when
the system is booted.
Given this information I'd like to know what help it is you require. What
follows might help your understanding the purpose of the PCHealth entry.
PCHealth Scheduler for Data Collection:
The PCHealth entry in MSConfig | Startup and also in the Task Scheduler,
refers to the PCHealth Scheduler for Data Collection routine (pchschd.exe)
which launches winmgmt.exe to collect software and hardware configuration
data that can be accessed using Help & Support's System Information's
History view. In other words it allows you to see changes over a period of
time to your system such as drivers. The details collected are contained
in the files CollectedData???.xml files in the folder
...\windows\pchealth\helpctr\DataColl.
Note that all that pchschd.exe is doing every ten minutes is checking if
the system is idle or not. If idle it launches winmgmt.exe to collect the
information and sets itself to run again in 6 hours, if not it continues
to run at ten minute intervals until it finds the system is idle.
As to whether you need this historic data or not, only you can decide. A
number of us have long since decided to disable pchschd.exe having no use
for the collected data. It should be noted that if you contact MS or an
OEM for help that it is possible that they might request you send them
these files. If you do choose to disable pchschd.exe it is ESSENTIAL to
delete/disable it from both MSConfig | Startup and the Task Scheduler as
otherwise the startup entry will recreate the Task Scheduler entry when
the system is rebooted.
One advantage of disabling the PCHealth Scheduler is that it minimizes the
chances of winmgmt.exe causing problems. What happens is that quite often
winmgmt.exe doesn't exit correctly when it has finished but instead
remains resident and using cpu cycles.
Note also that disabling these entries does NOT affect either System
Restore or System File Protect, nor AutoUpdate or your ability to use Help
& Support, all part of what Microsoft call "PCHealth".
--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby@gmail.com
pioneerfan <pioneerfan@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> Hey all. I recently unchecked pchealth in msconfig startup. But I
> decided I wanted it back, so I checked it and rebooted. Now, when I
> ALT TAB DELETE I still do not see PChealth running in the background.
> Please help! Thanks.
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