PC-Doctor
Encyclopedia
PC-Doctor, Inc. is a privately held corporation headquartered in Reno
, Nevada
. The company develops and produces diagnostic program
s for use by PC manufacturers, component vendors, PC repair professionals, support organizations, and end users. The software is available in 23 languages for Windows, Windows PE, many variations of Linux, BSD Unix, and DOS. Some products are embedded and are operating system-independent.
The company focuses heavily on research and development, with more than three-quarters of the company's staff employed in software development, quality assurance, and technical customer-facing roles. PC-Doctor has a library of intellectual property, including multiple patents (see Code reuse
).
. The company became PC-Doctor, Inc. in early 2000 and moved its headquarters to Reno, Nevada in late 2003.
(NTF) detection, end-user self-directed troubleshooting, product refurbishment, field service, remote assistance and other similar functions. Other products are used by PC repair and service professionals to diagnose hardware problems in the field and in repair depots.
PC-Doctor's first product was PC-Doctor for DOS, designed to perform low-level testing of the hardware components of PCs. This product is still used extensively by manufacturers . As additional operating systems were introduced, the company adapted its core technology to run on Microsoft Windows
, Windows PE, Windows XP Media Center Edition
, and Linux
. It also developed diagnostics for motherboard and in-ROM
applications.
In 2006, the company introduced PC-Doctor Solutions Architecture, that combines diagnostic tests and system information collection with known problem cases and solutions. This enables end users to solve categories of hardware related problems without relying on calls to technical support.
In 2009 the company announced a new cloud based service that delivers timely, contextual messaging that allows OEM and other business partners the ability to deliver highly personalized service and support capabilities. Lenovo's ThinkVantage Toolbox is the first customer to use this solution..
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
. The company develops and produces diagnostic program
Diagnostic program
-Traditional Definition:A diagnostic program is a program written for the express purpose of examining the state, or locating problems with the hardware, or operating system environment that it is running on/in.It repairs the PC-Evolved Definition:...
s for use by PC manufacturers, component vendors, PC repair professionals, support organizations, and end users. The software is available in 23 languages for Windows, Windows PE, many variations of Linux, BSD Unix, and DOS. Some products are embedded and are operating system-independent.
The company focuses heavily on research and development, with more than three-quarters of the company's staff employed in software development, quality assurance, and technical customer-facing roles. PC-Doctor has a library of intellectual property, including multiple patents (see Code reuse
Code reuse
Code reuse, also called software reuse, is the use of existing software, or software knowledge, to build new software.-Overview:Ad hoc code reuse has been practiced from the earliest days of programming. Programmers have always reused sections of code, templates, functions, and procedures...
).
History
The company was founded in 1993 as Watergate Software, Inc. in Emeryville, CaliforniaEmeryville, California
Emeryville is a small city located in Alameda County, California, in the United States. It is located in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, extending to the shore of San Francisco Bay. Its proximity to San Francisco, the Bay Bridge, the University of California, Berkeley, and...
. The company became PC-Doctor, Inc. in early 2000 and moved its headquarters to Reno, Nevada in late 2003.
Product history and usage
PC-Doctor products are used by most major PC manufacturers for No Trouble FoundNo Trouble Found
No Trouble Found is a term used in various fields, especially in the electronics industry referring to a system or component that has been returned to the manufacturer or distributor for warranty replacement or service repair, but operates properly when tested...
(NTF) detection, end-user self-directed troubleshooting, product refurbishment, field service, remote assistance and other similar functions. Other products are used by PC repair and service professionals to diagnose hardware problems in the field and in repair depots.
PC-Doctor's first product was PC-Doctor for DOS, designed to perform low-level testing of the hardware components of PCs. This product is still used extensively by manufacturers . As additional operating systems were introduced, the company adapted its core technology to run on Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Windows PE, Windows XP Media Center Edition
Windows XP Media Center Edition
Windows XP Media Center Edition is a version of the Windows XP operating system designed to serve as a home-entertainment hub. The last version, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, was released in October 2004.-Versions:...
, and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
. It also developed diagnostics for motherboard and in-ROM
Read-only memory
Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...
applications.
In 2006, the company introduced PC-Doctor Solutions Architecture, that combines diagnostic tests and system information collection with known problem cases and solutions. This enables end users to solve categories of hardware related problems without relying on calls to technical support.
In 2009 the company announced a new cloud based service that delivers timely, contextual messaging that allows OEM and other business partners the ability to deliver highly personalized service and support capabilities. Lenovo's ThinkVantage Toolbox is the first customer to use this solution..
Issued patents
- 6,742,148 – System and method for testing memory while an operating system is active
- 6,792,562 – Format for extensible error and event codes
- 6,829,726 – Method and system for testing a universal serial bus within a computing device
- 7,036,129 – Diagnostic system integrated with device drivers of an operating system
- 7,139,954 – Method and apparatus for testing a computing device with memory using test program code
- 7,155,645 – System and method for testing memory while an operating system is active
- 7,356,744 – Method and system for optimizing testing of memory stores