Belarc Advisor is a highly rated and detailed program that builds a profile of any Windows computer and presents it to the user in html format to review in a browser. The detailed system profile includes installed software and hardware, network details, missing and installed Microsoft hotfixes, anti-virus status and also security benchmarks.
Belarc Advisor begins by asking and downloading security advisories to accurately check the system for the latest security and hotfixes released by Microsoft. It then starts to build a profile, a process that usually takes a couple of minutes, it will also survey the local network for information about the network the computer may be on. When the process is complete the report opens automatically in the computer’s default browser.
A non-exhaustive list of information included is operating system and system users which includes users’ last accessed date(s), system model (if possible with a link to the manufacturer’s support site), processor, graphics card and display specifications, motherboard model, (any) virtual machines running, USB controller and devices used in past 30 days, any local and network drives plus a network map of sorts, any printers installed, virus protection information and details about all installed and any missing hotfixes (KB numbers, release dates and some information about them via a link to the Microsoft’s knowledgebase site). Perhaps most useful to some is a list of any product keys it can find, including Windows’ own and a list of all software installed as well.
Belarc Advisor keeps the information local on the computer. It runs on computers as old as Windows 95 and is free for personal use.
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