Are memory dumps of any use?

[munkyeetr]

I have always, upon reinstalling Windows, gone into Startup and Recovery settings and set Windows to create no dumpfile in the event of a system failure. I have not seen them as any use, as they basically just write the contents of your RAM to disk taking up diskspace.

Just out of curiosity (because I could definitely be wrong on their usefulness) are these dumpfiles of any use to the average (or above average) computer user?
Can information be recovered from them?
Are there tools that are needed for this?

Any insight on this would be appreciated.

 

[Cromewell]

To the average user they are not usually helpful. To someone who knows what they are doing they can be very helpful. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315263