Patent ID: 7685469

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of objectively measuring the reliability of an application implemented on a user's computer as well as the availability of the application to a user, the method comprising the steps of: determining if an interruption occurs with respect to an application in use on the computer; if an interruption has occurred, then determining if the interruption disrupts a user's interaction with the application; if a disruption has occurred, then determining if the disruption causes the application to be unusable or causes degradation to the entire computer or causes degradation of partial functions thereof; if the disruption causes the application to be unusable, then assigning one of a plurality of different classifications to the disruption, the classifications of disruptions that causes the application to be unusable comprise a first priority comprising immediate application shutdowns, a second priority comprising deferrable application shutdowns, a third priority comprising unnecessary application shutdowns, and a fourth priority comprising undetermined causes; wherein disruptions that cause the application to be unusable comprise times when the computer is performing updates and downtimes that are short in duration; if the disruption causes degradation to the entire computer or causes degradation of partial functions thereof, then assigning one of a plurality of classifications thereto; determining whether the cause of the disruption was operating system related or non-operating system related; analyzing each one of a plurality of other applications on the computer system separately to see if any one of the other applications caused the disruption; and collecting data regarding each disruption of the application and then calculating reliability metrics based thereon, the reliability metrics objectively quantifying a user's satisfaction with the application.