How To Get Detailed Information About Your PC
Do you want to easily find detailed information about your Windows PC in one easy to use application? There are several system information utilities available and today we will look at three that do a very good job.
SIW – System Information for Windows
We covered some of the features of SIW by Gabriel Topala in a previous article, and SIW continues to get better and supply a lot of information. You can run run it from a USB stick or use the installer version which is free for personal use. There is also a Business and Technician's version that allow the creation of reports in different formats. SIW looks deep into your system and reports on software, hardware, the OS, and essentially anything else you can imagine.
You can add even more hardware and software categories by going into preferences.
Download SIW (System Information for Windows)
AusLogics System Information
This free utility from AusLogics does a good job of presenting different aspects of your system information in an attractive, easy to use interface. Categories include General Information, Operating System, Devices, Video, Memory Usage, Performance, Hard Drive, Programs, USB devices, and Network.
You can create full detailed reports in HTML, XML, or plain text.
Download AusLogics System Information
Sysinternals Suite
Finally we will look at what is arguably the most comprehensive system info utility…Sysinternals Suite from Mark Russinovich. This suite is a collection of more than 60 individual tools and help files for all aspects of your system. There are far to many great tools in this collection one of which is Autoruns, a great utility to see every single startup item such as applications, explorer add-ons, drivers, services and much more. For more on using this utility check out The Geek's article on using Autoruns to track startup apps.
Also included in the suite is Desktops 1.0 which is a very neat virtual desktop app that allows up to 4 desktops on one screen, similar to the Linux feature, this comes in very handy in XP and Vista Home edition.
You can choose your hotkey combination to toggle through the different desktops.
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That's a lot of applications. I've been using CPU-Z/dxdiag for finding hardware information up until now, although SIW and Sysinternals Suite seem to offer a whole lot more. Do you recommend one over the bunch worth downloading?
You gave wrong link to AusLogics.
Hi! I have a A20m model 2628-4/SU O/S Windows XP prof vs Serv pack 3 build 2600
I have a Powerful LG Pro DVD/CD. What do I need (if possible) to be able to write on a cd-rom?? I just want to write regular files. This is what I have: MDT type DVD/CD-rom Drivers and Hitachi DVDE-Rom GD-S 200. Thank you for you help.
If you want the something on a Linux system, I use a program called SysInfo on my Ubuntu systems. http://sourceforge.net/projects/gsysinfo/
On my systems I installed it from Add and Remove.
Mohan thanks for the linux heads up
SIW is the best system information tool. It tells you everything about your computer.
Here is the correct link for Auslogics's System information download:
http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/system-information/download
Keep the information coming, Mystic Geek, it's very much appreciated!
~Steve
We can find computer information through belarc advisor also.
Wow. This really helped! Now I know how much memory I have (no wonder my computer is so slow…)
How about Belarc Advisor for getting computer information?
I've used also HW32info… simple but useful.
You left out one of SIW's most useful features:
It displays your product keys for Windows, Office, etc.
VERY handy utility - give you more info about your memory, cpu and mobo than any other utility I have tried.
Thanks, nice post, i don¨t use any of these utility, but i will try SIW , looks useful . I personally find computer information through winmsd .Just in Run option type winmsd
SIW gets my vote. Simple and awesome at the same time.