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Debug Tools For Windows [4]

 1. Microsoft Console Debugger Tool


The Microsoft Console Debugger is a program that allows you to see what your computer is doing at any time. It allows you to debug your code, step through it line by line, and even watch variables change over time as you run the program.

The great thing about the Console Debugger is that it doesn’t take up any memory on your computer, so it will always be there when you need it. The downside is that it can only be used with Visual C++ programs written in C++ Builder or Visual C++.

How to Install Console Debugger

Here’s the procedure to follow while installing the Console Debugger:
  1. From within Windows Explorer, navigate to C:WindowsSystem32dllcache.
  2. Right-click on dllcache and select ‘Properties’ from the resulting context menu.
  3. Click on the Security tab, then click Edit from the window’s lower-right corner. Make sure that ‘Allow file system access’ is selected.
  4. Click OK to save your changes and then close the dialog box.
  5. After that, restart your computer so that Windows can load all the required files into memory.

Features of Console Debugger
  1. The ability to debug native applications on Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.
  2. Attach to any process on your system.
  3. Set breakpoints in your code and watch them execute step-by-step.
  4. View variables at runtime and step through each line of code in a process as it executes.
  5. Set conditional breakpoints that are only triggered when certain conditions are met (for example, when an error occurs).

2. WinDbg Preview Debugging Tool




The WinDbg debugger is among the debugging tools for Windows. It allows you to analyze the state of running applications, including program data and memory state, breakpoints, watchpoints, and call stacks.

WinDbg can also show a human-readable view of the disassembly of any managed code in memory or saved to disk. This allows you to see how your application works at runtime.

Furthermore, WinDbg supports IDA Pro decompilation.

Features of WinDbg

This debugging tool for Windows comes with lots of features, including:
  1. Breakpoints: You can add breakpoints to your code to stop execution or examine values at specified locations.
  2. Watch: WinDbg will display changes in real-time if a variable is modified.
  3. Step Over: Step over the current line and continue executing it until it hits a breakpoint, then step over all subsequent lines until another breakpoint is hit.
  4. Step Into: Execute the following line after the current one until it hits a breakpoint, then step into other lines until another breakpoint is hit.
  5. Step Out: Execute all remaining lines after the current one until it hits a breakpoint, then exit from all other lines until another breakpoint is hit.
  6. Continue/Break/Continue All/Break All: Continue executing all remaining lines until another breakpoint or exception occurs. Break from execution if exceptions occur.

3. Fiddler

Fiddler is another open-source web debugging proxy that can intercept and modify HTTP connections between your computer and the internet. It’s distributed under the GNU General Public License.

Fiddler is an HTTP connection debugger and proxy tool that allows you to inspect requests and responses as they are sent over the network interface on your computer. You can also change or add headers to the request or response. Fiddler also allows you to modify the request while the browser is processing it.

Features
  1. Fiddler Proxy Server: This allows you to control all traffic in both directions at once.
  2. Debugging Proxy: You can view the request and response headers of any page that passes through Fiddler.
  3. HTTP Header Viewer: This allows you to view all fields in an HTTP header.
  4. Scripting API: Write scripts in JavaScript using a simple object model.

4. Visual Studio Debugger


The primary tool for debugging in Visual Studio is the debugger. You can use the debugger to step through your code line by line, set a breakpoint that will stop execution at a specific point in your code, and watch variables as they change.

You can also use this tool for debugging to set up data watches and see how your program’s variables change over time. For example, you might want to know whether a variable gets bigger or smaller over time or whether it gets larger or smaller concerning another variable.

The first thing you need to do is open Visual Studio and start a new project. Once your application is created, you can use its debugger to debug the code running in it.