Tag: Specifications

PC Wizard: Even More System Specs Than You Need

PC Wizard (Version: 2010 1.961 as of this post) is a freeware from the same developers as CPU-Z, the popular CPU information utility. PC Wizard provides a lot of information about its host PC.

Upon startup, which takes a few seconds, the Hardware section is first.

Hardware has 12 sections for System Summary, Mainboard, Processor, Video, I/O ports, Drivers, Printers, Devices, Multimedia, Network, Power Status and finally Voltage, Temperatures and Fans. The information available are specs for system manufacturer, Direct X, PCI slot, Open GL, disk drives, Twain devices, UPnP, audio and video codecs, network card and connection, battery status, if applicable, and lots more.

The Configuration section features information on Windows serial number, system uptime, default browser, default email client, control panel, desktop appearance, running processor and threads, DLL files, OLE applications, Microsoft components, fonts, Windows updates installed, uninstall info, startup info, file extensions, Window security status, services, .NET Framework and also a passwords section. Interestingly passwords detected one old and one current MSN (Live) Messenger password on the PC tested!

The System Files section has viewers for boot.ini, system.ini, event logs, internet explorer cookies and history and a section on environment variables such as system paths, architecture and more.

Resources section has IRQ info and a network sniffer with a list of IPs, ports and their state (listening, established, etc.)

The Benchmark section has tools for various memory, processor and video tests and a global performance benchmark test to do them all together.

Each section is printable and highlighted entries can be captured by the clipboard. The Tools menu has extras for enabling processor monitoring and gathering overclock information. PC Wizard is by no means the fastest program. Some info, like the DLL list for example, take a bit more than a few additional seconds to gather and present.

PC Wizard is available in both portable and installer versions and should run on all Windows versions. As always with benchmark and system profile utilities some information may not be available if they are not supported either by the software or if they are not present on the host system.

January 27, 2012
System Information Is Another System Profiler

System Information is a system profile and information utility. It presents the gathered information in a tabbed interface divided into System Info, Drive Info, Memory Info, Network Info, Installed Programs, Hardware Devices and Printers and Faxes.

System Info is an overview of the computer with Windows version, manufacturer, CPU type and speed and screen resolution. Drive Info has the specifications of the hard disk such as manufacturer, size, number of partitions, sector size and more. Memory Info has the RAM amount, total memory (including virtual) available and used. Network Info shows the network adapter type, machine name and MAC address. Installed Programs has a list of all programs, .NET framework, Adobe Acrobat and Internet Explorer versions installed. Hardware Devices is much like Windows’ device manager with a tree view showing processors, USB controllers and others (see image). Additional information on the devices is available when they are highlighted. Printers and Faxes provides information on peripherals and others like Microsoft XPS Document Writer and as the hardware tab before it additional info and properties are shown on the right hand side.

The generic name of the program is sure to confuse. System Information requires .NET Framework 2.0 and should run on Windows 2000 and newer.

January 10, 2012
System Spec: Lots Of Information About Your PC

System Spec (Version: 3.05 as of this post) is a system information utility that has some of the most comprehensive and complete set of information available. The initial screen provides a general system profile with the likes of Windows to BIOS version (see image) but there is lots more.

System Spec divides the information it gathers into sections. These are, Personal Info, Memory Info, Display info, Disk Info, CD/DVD Info, CPU Info, BIOS Info, Internet, Installed Programs, Network, Printers, Sound, USB, Date and Time, Input Devices, Windows Version Info, Developer Info and USB Drives. A bit about the aforementioned sections follows.

Personal Info. Windows username, install date, version, key and others.

Memory Info. Total RAM, RAM speed, memory (RAM + virtual) totals, page file size and others.

Display info. Monitor type, refresh frequency, GPU type, all resolutions supported by the graphics card and more.

Disk Info. Hard disk size, (any) SMART info and file system flags.

CD/DVD Info. Info on all optical devices installed including manufacturer, product ID and read and write speeds.

CPU Info. A usage meter, CPU manufacturer, family, code name, voltage, clock speed, cache size and lots more.

BIOS Info. BIOS identifier, version and date.

Internet. Internet Explorer version, start page and other browsers detected. Explorer favorites and history.

Installed Programs (see image below) is more impressive than most. A list of all programs installed, shortcut to uninstallers, installed location, date. Information on publishers and help info/URL if available.

Network. A list of networks and network devices such as network adapter and if available a list of computers on the network.

Printers. A list of attached printers.

Sound. Sound card info and specs, a tone generator, shortcuts to system sounds, mixer settings and buttons to test speakers.

USB. Number of USB controllers and info on any USB devices attached.

Date and Time. Current time, time zone, system up time, UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), daylight savings start and end dates and more.

Input Devices. Information on the keyboard and mouse such as the type of mouse (number of buttons) and more.

Windows Version Info. Root folder, service pack, 32 or 64 bit and a bit more.

Developer Info. Java version, .NET version(s), ODBC drivers and IIS version among others.

USB Drives. This section information that is already accessible in the section on attached devices.

System Spec also features a whole set of commands and system shortcuts to control the system. Everything from shortcuts to safely remove USBs, start the run box, Windows Explorer, Task manager, Group Policy and hiding the taskbar (System menu). An on screen keyboard, System File Checker, Device Manager, Defrag, Scan Disk and Sys Edit (Programs menu). Standby Monitor, Eject CD and Mute Speakers and Microphone (Hardware menu).

The File menu can save information to a CSV or HTML file and also print a selection. The Edit menu offers to save selected specs to the clipboard but this didn’t work in tests.

System Spec is a freeware portable download and works on Windows versions going back to Windows 98.

January 8, 2012
Freeware Shorts: HWM BlackBox (System Information)

HWM BlackBox (Version: 2.3 as of this post) is a hardware or system information and profile builder. Much like others of its kind it takes a few seconds upon startup to gather information.

The interface is tabbed and divided into Processor, Memory, Graphics, System and Benchmark. The Processor tab has information on number of cores, speed, cache and technology (90nm, etc.), bus speed, voltage, temperature and also live usage info. Memory has info on RAM slots filled or available, memory type, frequency, manufacturer, serial number CAS Latency and more. Graphics has GPU information like memory, temperature, max speed, DirectX version, raster operators and more. System has computer manufacturer, BIOS version, number of slots (PCI, etc.), fan speed and more, plus information on disc drives, optical drives and network devices. The Benchmark tab works only on Windows Vista and 7 machines. It will run various performance tests most likely only useful to gamers and overclockers.

The arrow to the top right has options to save collected data to text or XML files, change refresh rates for the usage info, take screenshots of the program and a few other settings.

Some specs may not be available depending on the hardware’s and/or BlackBox’s support to retrieve them. HWM BlackBox comes with an online upload tool (see About tab) to measure up benchmarks and system specifications with or against others. HWM BlackBox is a single exe file, exists for both 32 bit and 64 bit systems and and requires the .Net Framework 2.0.

November 28, 2011