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Windows tip of the week

How long has your PC been running?


By Ed Bott


When was your current version of Windows 10 installed? How long has your current Windows session been running?


The answers to those questions provide potentially valuable troubleshooting information. For example, seeing the system "up time" can alert you to when the last restart took place, which often coincides with the installation of a security or reliability update. Likewise, knowing when the most recent feature update was installed can help you narrow the cause of a software or driver compatibility issue.


If you began experiencing crashes or hangs shortly after either event, there's a strong possibility you need to look for a software update.


To see how long your current session has been running, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager and click the Performance tab (if you don't see any tabs, click More Details to expand the view). Then look at the Up Time value to see this value, expressed in Days:Hours:Minutes:Seconds.


To see when the most recent feature update was installed and the exact time the current session began, open a command prompt and enter the SystemInfo command. Look for the Original Install Date and System Boot Time values, respectively.

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