Free Software Uncovers the Specs on Your PC

What software do you use to get all the hardware and software specs and other details on your PC? You'll find a variety of system information tools on the Web. Different people have their favorites. Here's a look at some utilities I use to see if they can help you scope out your own PC or any PCs you support:

Belarc Advisor analyzes and reports on all the key hardware and software on your PC. It'll display details on your CPU, memory, video, network adapter, and other components. It'll list your operating system and all installed applications and even include the license numbers for all licensed software. Beyond that, Belarc Advisor is most helpful at uncovering any holes or weaknesses in your enviroment. The utility will scan all Microsoft (News - Alert) hotfixes, security packs, and other patches on your PC and point out any critical fixes that are missing. A details link for each missing hotfix points you to a Microsoft page where you can install the right patch.

CPU-Z is a great tool for getting stats on your CPU, memory, and graphics processor. CPU-Z reports on the processor name, type, speed, and internal cache. It will identify your motherboard and BIOS by make and model. The details on memory tell you what type of RAM (News - Alert) you have, how much, and which memory modules are in each slot. Finally, the tool reports on your GPU, or graphics processing unit, to display its make and model. CPU-Z is a handy utility to run if you want to upgrade your memory or other components or just need to know what's inside your PC.

inSSIDer is a network scanner that checks out local wi-fi networks and displays statistics on each one. You'll find a graph illustrating the signal strength of each nearby network so you can compare them all. inSSider also displays key details of each wireless access point, including the name (or SSID), MAC address, vendor, security level, and speed. This is a helpful tool to use if you're having trouble with your wireless connection or you just want to find stats on all the local wi-fi hot spots.

SIW, or System Information for Windows, is a comprehensive utility with full details on your software, hardware, and network configuration. Under software you'll find stats on your operating system, applications, security software, file associations, hardware drivers, DLLs and other files loaded into memory, and user accounts, among other categories. The hardware section reports on your CPU, memory, video, audio, disk drives, battery, printers, and other components. And the network area scopes out your network adapter, file shares, and other connection information.

Besides providing a wealth of details on its own, SIW offers links to other tools, including a broadband speed test, a monitor test, and a real-time graph that charts your CPU and memory usage. You can even download a standalone version of SIW that doesn't require an installation-you simply trigger it from its executable file-giving you the ability to run it on any PC from a network share or USB drive.

System Explorer is essentially a more advanced and sophisticated version of your Windows Task Manager. In fact, the tool can serve as an effective replacement for Task Manager. As such, it can show you your PC's performance in real-time, including CPU and memory usage. It can show you a list of all open tasks, files, and processes, including EXE and DLL files, and let you manually shut down any misbehaving files that won't close on their own. You can view all your startup programs and remove any non-essential ones. System Explorer will also display all installed software and allow you to uninstall any of them. If you like System Explorer you can even set it to pop up instead of Task Manager whenever you need to shut down an errant app or check on your CPU or memory usage.

Obviously, you'll find dozens of other helpful utilities on the Web-these are just a few of the ones I use. But they could come in handy the next time you need to dig deep into any PC.