Finding Information about your Windows Computer

System information and benchmarking programs for Windows computers

There are a number of free utility programs available which give you valuable information about your machine.

The most popular have been the Belarc Advisor and Everest. Unfortunately the free version of Everest is no longer being updated, so if your PC is less than 3 or 4 years old it won't give you a complete report.

Belarc Advisor

Belarc Advisor creates an HTML file – that's a page which can be displayed in a browser; like the one you're reading now. It's particularly useful if you wish to send information about a computer to someone else. If, for instance, you're selling a machine or you're seeking advice from a technician or online forum.

You can see a Belarc Advisor report for my desktop PC if you click right here.

I've recently switched my allegiance to the relatively new System Information for Windows.

SIW - System Information for Windows

This is a gem. The Rolls Royce of System Info freebies. It displays detailed information about your hardware, network and software. You can check your operating voltages and temperatures and you can monitor your memory usage and your CPU load.

SIW is a standalone utility. That means that it does not require installation; you just run it from the downloaded file. You can put the file anywhere on your PC and, if you so choose, create a shortcut to it on your desktop or in your Start Menu. Or you can run the program directly from a USB flash drive or from a floppy disk.

SIW System Summary

System Summary

SIW System Temperatures

System temperatures

SIW System CPU and RAM usage

CPU and RAM usage

Create a report

To create a report of your system from SIW:

On the menu bar select: File » Create Report File » HTML

Choose a location for your report and click the "Save" button.

This creates an HTML page with all your system information. You can double click on the HTML file to view it in your web browser. The TXT, XML and CSV options for report creation aren't available in the free version of SIW but not to worry, HTML serves the purpose admirably.

PC Wizard 2008

This is also a very good info program. It's very user friendly and covers all of the information that most users need.

Never mind the expense, get them both!

PC Wizard is available free from here.

PC Wizard 2008 screenshot

 

From PC Wizard's website:

Hardware Information

System Information

System Benchmarks

MEMORY and CACHE: These benchmarks measure the maximum achiveable memory bandwidth. The code behind these benchmarks method is written in Assembly (x86, SSE, SSE2, SSE3). Memory benchmarks utilize only one processor core and one thread.

PROCESSOR : These benchmarks measure performance in terms of Integer Millions of Instructions Per Second (Integer MIPS) and Millions of Floating Point Operations Per Second (MFLOPS). The code behind these benchmarks method is written in Assembly (x86, x87, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, 3DNOW!). Processor benchmarks are HyperThreading, multi-processor (SMP) and multi-core (CMP) aware.

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