Another new feature on my XP is the sending of error messages to Microsoft every time it crashes. I wondered what happened to these messages when they were received, whether they have staff who have to collect them and process them, and then try and repair the software bugs for Windows updates.
Or they go into a computer that logs every error message, stores it , and someone publishes and saves the statistics for the boss every month.
Does anyone know the true fate of them, and whether it actually makes any difference if we bother to send them?

The error reports go into a database and are used by Microsoft software engineers to analyse and prioritise bug fixes. If there are many incidents of the same error report a fix will, hopefully, be included in a future update.

This is what Microsoft says about error reports.

That's a relief, I did hope that was the case, but you do hear stories like all the recycle boxes being emptied back into one after you've sorted them, and similar, that I did wonder if it was done more for show than any practical use. I may be cynical, but sometimes when you've got a look behind the scenes and seen what goes on in businesses, anyone else would be as well

Microsoft should at least acknowledge your reply. The customer is owed the courtesy.

Yes, I feel the same way. But unless they used an impersonal computer reply, judging from the amount of errors I generate, they'd need about a million new staff to keep us informed about our individual problems if that was average. But a generic email with latest bug fixes should do it, so we at least could see which of our temperamental programs had been calmed down thanks to our joint efforts.