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CPU-Z CPU-Z is a free application developed to provide us with exhaustive information about our computer's inner works: processor, operating system, CPU, BIOS, graphic interface, memory, and so on.
The program's interface is divided into seven tabs, each one giving comprehensive information on one particular item: CPU, caches, mainboard, memory, SPD, graphics, and program information (which includes detailed information about our installed Windows operating system).
We can use this program to know the exact model of the processor we have installed, the BIOS brand, version, and date; the graphic interface details, including the memory size, type, channels, and timings (DRAM frequency, CAS# latency and delay, RAS3 precharge, cycle time, etc.).
This program also displays details about our computer's memory slot selection, timings table, GPU name, clocks core, shares, and memory size, type, and bus width. The displayed report can be saved either as a TXT or an HTML file. Optionally, this information can even be published online.
There are four completely free downloadable versions of this program: the first one includes an executable file for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows. The second and the third ones are zipped files for 32-bit and 64-bit versions separately, without any installation. The last one is a zipped file for Windows 98 OS.
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TechPowerUp GPU-Z TechPowerUp GPU-Z is a lightweight utility designed to give you all information about your video card and GPU. This free utility supports Nvidia and ATI cards. At launch, it automatically scans your system and reports the card name, GPU, release date and transistors, BIOS version, ROPs, memory type, and memory size.
But much more than that, TechPowerUp GPU-Z gives you the full lowdown on its capabilities, status and whether it can handle the type of games or applications you're trying to push through it. The program is compatible with just about every brand of card there is and gives you data such as the name, brand, model, memory, bios version and DirectX driver among many other things.
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AIDA32 AIDA32 is a professional system information, diagnostics and benchmarking program running on Win32 platforms. AIDA32 will extract details of all components of the PC. You can display information on the screen, print it or save it to a file in various formats like XML, HTML or CSV.
For corporate users, AIDA32 offers command-line switches, network audit and audit statistics, remote system information and network management.
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HWMonitor The basic version of HWMonitor, developed by CPUID, is an extremely useful and easy to use utility that allows the user to monitor the readings of a variety of sensors located in your motherboard.
Depending on the hardware configuration the user possesses, and the sensors their motherboards come with, HWMonitor is able to display the readings of temperature sensors, voltage sensors, and fans speeds, which allow the user to monitor the physical state of hard drives, CPU, video cards, etc.
Apart from giving the live readings of the sensors, the program keeps a record of the maximum and minimum values of these readings since HWMonitor started running. This allows the user to compare the live readings with the highest and lowest values, thus being able to better see the state the component in question is. Together with this, the user is able to save this data in order to use these values again when the program is launched later.
All in all, HWMonitor is a very useful and easy-to-use program that will surely help users solve some issues they may have with their computers, or at least clarify if the temperatures of their hardware components are affecting their work or not. Of course, there exists the problem that it is not compatible with all motherboards, but it does cover the most used ones.
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SiSoftware Sandra Lite SiSoftware Sandra Lite is an information and diagnostic utility.
This program provides you with tools that will let you know exactly which hardware components and programs are installed in your system.
It can measure how fast they are running. It can also tell you what should be replaced in order to enhance its achievement. SiSoftware Sandra includes a huge benchmark database that will let you test every hardware component (processor, virtual machine, graphics processor, storage devices, etc.), as well as your software components (storage devices, operating system, memory usage, environment variables, etc.).
You will also be able to benefit from the "Support" features, that will let you enhance the way in which your system works with the registry file or your status. Having so many features to offer, the program keeps a list of the items you have accessed more frequently, and calls it "Favourites". The demonstration version of this program will work forever, but you will have more features available in the registered version.
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Process Explorer Process Explorer is a program that shows you all the processes and active tasks that are being executed in your computer. It can locate opened libraries for each process to provide and idea of the resources used by the system.
The main purpose of the program is that it provides detailed information about the processes, all the information of the DLLs those processes open, and a double view to check the owners. The program allows you to kill a process, if you want, by means of an easy-to-understand interface. You will get the complete information of any active process by name and user names that are executing the process.
Some differences between the previous version 10.2 and the new 11.33 worth mentioning are that some options have been reorganized in different tabs, to new positions. Also, the version 11.33 has a new threaded view. The software is designed to be used in Windows Operating Systems only. It runs under Windows 9x/Me, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Server 2003, Windows Vista and the 64bit versions of Windows.
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Speccy Every time you wish to download and install an application, on the homepage of the product you will find a list containing the system requirements which are necessary for the proper running of the installed program.
An easy way to find out if your computer meets these requirements is provided by Speccy, a useful system utility that offers you all the information you need in order to perform this checkout.
Available in many languages, this application will bring you an easy-to-use interface, as you can browse through the integrated navigation menu and check for the details you need. Moreover, to locate a certain detail faster, such as CPU usage or monitor's current resolution, you can use the built-in finder.
From my point of view, Speccy's drawback is the fact that, although, you can save snapshots with your computer's specifications, you won't be able to export the file with an image format (useful if you plan to use these details later on).
Speccy also comes in handy whenever you wish to upgrade your computer or sell it and you wish to find information like processor or motherboard model, the number of used memory slots, hard drives SATA type and many other. Unlike the computer's details found on My Computer's Properties menu, for example, this application will offer you the complete list of your PC's configuration.
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CrystalDiskInfo CrystalDiskInfo is a powerful monitoring tool for the health status of your disks. This handy utility enables you to keep a close eye on important parameters of your hard disk and be timely warned if any potential problems are about to occur.
By letting you foresee and prevent disk crashes and other disk functioning issues, this tool can help you save precious data that could be otherwise irremediably lost.
Even though it provides undeniably important benefits, CrystalDiskInfo is a simple tool, both easy-to-use and resource-friendly. Its interface is straightforward and can be used with ease by anyone. Anyway, this tool is also powerful and comes packed with plenty of useful functions and features. CrystalDiskInfo can monitor any kind of disk as long as that disk supports the S.M.A.R.T. monitoring technology. This means that a lot of disk health parameters will be accurately checked and tracked, including vital ones like the temperature.
One of the best things about this program is the fact that it features customizable alerts. When a monitored disk parameter reaches a critical threshold you can be notified by e-mail or with the use of a sound alert. Cutting long story short, this handy tool works like a charm and represents a great solution for monitoring the health status of your disks.
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Nokia Monitor Test Nokia Monitor Test is a freeware utility by Nokia that will guide you through testing and adjusting any monitor for an optimum display. There are test patterns for Geometry, Convergence, Resolution, Moire, Brightness, Contrast, Focus, Readability, Color and Screen Regulation. You put up the test pattern and then make the adjustments to your monitor.
Nokia Monitor Test does not make any adjustments to your settings, but only displays the selected patterns, leaving it to your expertise to decide where the problems are located (if any).
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Process Hacker Process Hacker is an open-source alternative to the popular Task Manager integrated in Windows. It includes various tools that can help you terminate processes, edit or view memory addresses, as well as run applications and create new services. Additionally, it comes with a generous number of plugins that were created by the developers for purposes like network monitoring, handling sandboxing processes, etc.
The program runs on both 32- and 64-bit systems and is supported by all Windows versions (including Windows 8).
Although, I was quite impressed by the functionality of this program, I consider that it should be used only by users with advanced PC knowledge. It should be mentioned that beginners might find the program quite difficult to use. Also, there is the possibility to cause your system to malfunction if you make wrong changes in the process list.
This version of Process Hacker comes with improvements like the ability to save process priority, as well as to terminate processes on 32-bit Windows 8. Also, minor modifications were performed on its graphical user interface.
In my opinion, Process Hacker has all it takes to become your default “task manager”. It even offers you this option when you first run it.
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PC Wizard PC Wizard is a powerful application that shows you both general and detailed information about every component of your system. Besides, the program offers you a series of benchmark tests that you can use to know the real performance level of your system in various areas. The program is updated monthly, so that its latest version is always compatible with the most modern hardware.
PC Wizard offers a tabbed user interface that groups all the tests and reports available into 5 sections. The first one is "Hardware", and it shows you very detailed information about your system components, such as the mainboard, the processor, the video card, the network card, and the printers, among others. Besides, a general system summary is also available. The "Configuration" section, on the other hand, shows you the configuration details of many areas of your system, like the active processes and threads, the control panel, the true type fonts, the security, and the Internet, just to mention some.
Next is the "System files" section, which offers you both the contents and general information about files such as system.ini, config.nt, or the Internet Explorer's URL history. The fourth is the "Resources" section, and it allows you to know more about your TCP ports and connections, your I/O ports, your interruption requests (IRQs), and the Direct Memory Access (DMA). Finally, the "Benchmark" section allows you to select among several benchmark tests that you can execute to have a clear idea about your system's real performance. However, these tests may overload your system very easily. To give you an idea, the "Windows Performance Rating" test took almost 8 minutes on my system, and it turned out to be very unresponsive (I was on the verge of restarting my system).
As you can see, PC Wizard is a complete set of tools that gives you access to highly detailed information about your system's hardware and software components ─ and their performance level. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the information that this program provides, it is only suitable for advanced users and system administrators.
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Memtest86+ Memtest86+ is a memory test software programs designed to test and stress test an x86 architecture computer's random access memory (RAM) for errors. It repeatedly writes an enormous amount of different patterns to all memory locations and reads them back again and verifies whether the result of the read is the same as what was written to memory.
There can be a multitude of reasons for running memtest, but foremost of all is of course to test whether your memory modules might be bad. Whenever you suspect your modules to be bad because of system crashes, lockups or reboots it would be nice to know whether the modules are in working order. Memtest86+ is a utility which tries to answer that question for you.
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System Explorer System Explorer is a comprehensive system data collecting and monitoring tool that offers you an exhaustive amount of information about various aspects of your system.
It is capable of depicting in a very thorough manner the performance parameters of your system, representing a great helping hand to keep your system under strict control as well.
System Explorer lists all the running processes and enumerates a lot of details about each of them. It also lists the running modules, services, drivers, connections, the opened files, the opened windows, and so on. Every of them can be forcedly closed or checked for security issues. The reliable VirusTotal service is used to check any suspicious files and processes. Determining the unwanted processes and threats is also made easy thanks to the very comprehensive file database that this application uses.
System Explorer also monitors important system resources and displays their evolutions as easy-to-understand graphs. It also includes powerful and effective functions that enable you to manage the system startup entries or to uninstall applications. As you can see, it’s truly comprehensive and powerful. Even so, using it is not difficult at all. Its interface is well-structured, intuitive, and straightforward. Though it’s a tool mainly addressed to experienced users, it can be used by beginners alike.
Proving that the “Best things in life are free” statement is true, System Explorer also comes for free, despite being unparalleled in terms of comprehensiveness and reliability.
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Victoria Victoria is a small freeware application for low-level HDD diagnostics, designed to assess performance, test and perform minor repairs to your IDE drive and SATA HDD. Victoria designed primarily for HDD repairmen in stationary conditions and is not intended to test the system hard drive.
Victoria has a lot of useful features, including: full HDD information, disk image creation, 10 disk tests, surface scan, low-level format, Automatic Acoustic Management (AAM), S.M.A.R.T. information, ability to change disk size, and much more.
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