# What app to get Computer info?



## Hunter_Thompson (Jul 16, 2007)

Hi all, long time reader, first time poster.

I am just a backyard bandit, playing with my own machines I decided to go do some study, got my MCP, and then told all my mates I know computers - what a big mistake. Everybody calls me up with problems which is what I wanted (Need to learn the hard way, textbooks don't give me the knowledge just allow me to pass the exams...) but they seem to think I will have the answer straight away and I even get calls from businesses asking for help - hey man I am just a dude tryin to get experience so maybe one day I can get into the IT industry! So imagine how glad I am there is a site like this that I can turn to for research, well done to all that contribute and give up time and information.

I am starting to realise a site like this means nothing unless you provide all the configuration and hardware information about the system in question. Because I am looking at different machines, I was after some advice as to what application I could use to "grab" the relative system information to post here.

I have SiSoft Sandra, but tend to think this may be a little full blown for just grabbing certain information? Or am I being lazy, and all the info I need will be somewhere I have to navigate to and just read? What would be a good checklist of things to list in a post on these forums asking for help?

Thanks in advance for any advice!
HUNTER


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

PCWizard








or Mitec System Information


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## Hunter_Thompson (Jul 16, 2007)

Elvandil, thank you for your respone.

PC Wizard looks great, am installing and playing with it now. I have a neighbour who is having "random freezes" with MYOB and Illustrator, so I have a sick machine to play with.

Like that I can run it on a USB flash drive.

Thanks again, this is great stuff.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

If I remember right, I ran PCWizard from a flash drive. I just copied the whole Program Files folder. But I think there is a driver involved, so I'm not sure if you get all the functionality that way.

Many other apps will run as standalone apps, too, like Spybot S&D, Ad-Aware, and many more that are not advertized to be standalone apps. But they come in handy on a USB drive.

If you are interested in portable apps, try portableapps.com . They have a suite that includes a menu that you can run from the host computer to access programs on the flash drive. You can run your tools from there. Even Paragon Partition Manager runs as a portable app.

Belarc Advisor is another popular sysinfo app.

here are some others, though the links are old and not sure they all work.

Try one of these system information applications to get details of your system:

ReSysInfo System Information Viewer
System Information for Windows
Everest Home Edition
Computer Profiler
Fresh Diagnose
System Spec
Emsa FlexInfo Pro
System Properties
HWiNFO32


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

SIW, which is the second on Elvandil's list, is the one I use most often.


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## RSM123 (Aug 1, 2002)

Not sure if it's of any use, but there is also :

http://pcpitstop.com/


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## Hunter_Thompson (Jul 16, 2007)

Hey everyone, thanks for the responses.

Hey, look at all these cool apps I never knew about - I am trying them all! SIW looks very powerful, I am going to try this one on a sick laptop tonight (random freezes, not blue screen but big time application hangs).

The ability to run off a thumb drive is great - I am learning that there are, as you guys say, heaps of apps that will run off a flash drive, including some peer to peer clients!

Thanks once again for your links, Elvandil - this is a top collection that is exactly what I was looking for.:up: 

Hunter


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## Hunter_Thompson (Jul 16, 2007)

I'm bumping this thread.

I got into trouble. I used Belarc advisor on a server I was asked to look at. It was running out of space on C drive, my job was to reclaim some space and upgrade any drivers needed. I used Belarc to get a snapshot of the system and find out what kind of Ram the machine used, and now the sysadmin has chewed me a new one because he can see instances of this third party app all over the logs of the server, and if anything is NOT Microsoft it does not get installed. He also claimed that anything could have spyware in it, and any kind of security hole on a corporate server is a big red cross.

I felt like an idiot.

So I would like to revise my question, what is a good program for grabbing system information that does NOT need to install any software on the machine being analyzed? I am starting to realise all the "tricks" I have are actually 3rd party applications (like C Cleaner) that are not allowed on servers - I have full reign on Workstations but on a server I cannot install any new apps - any advice?

Hunter


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Good system information apps need to use a driver to access the hardware. Failing that, you're pretty much looking at Device Manager.


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## Hunter_Thompson (Jul 16, 2007)

Thanks for the informed reply.

I am not comfortable with any drivers going on the servers I analyze so I am just going to learn how to extract all the info manually, as you say, through Device Manager and SysInfo.

In many cases, there is a service agreement between the hardware provider of the servers and the company using the servers for data management. If the company installs ANYTHING OTHER THAN Microsoft software on the server, the agreement is null and void. Even if a problem arises that obviously has nothing to do with a 3rd part app you installed, the agreement is cancelled and no support will be given and no guarantees or warranties are maintained.

Important information for aspiring techies out there - I learnt the hard way and look a bit stoopid for it. :down: 

Hunter


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## 1002richards (Jan 29, 2006)

Hunter,
When you get a chance, have a look at the portable progs on this site as well:

http://www.portablefreeware.com/all.php

Richard.


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## WhitPhil (Oct 4, 2000)

Check out SIW as noted above. It is a non-installable, run directly app and as such certainly appears not to require any specific drivers.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Portable programs may be the way to go. Thinstalled programs remove drivers when they are finished.


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## dez_666 (May 30, 2007)

Well if you need something from microsoft, try going start-> run -> type "msinfo32"

not such a bad tool >_>

or start -> run -> type "dxdiag"

or maybe sysinterals would be good? :]

microsoft bought rights to sysinternals, if your administrator asks. link in sig..


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## Hunter_Thompson (Jul 16, 2007)

Hey yeah... sysinternals is now Microsoft, isn't it? Thanks dez_666!

msinfo32 is pretty damn good, just can't seem to find manufacturers of the hardware, like RAM and NIC card which sometime helps.

Downloading sysinternals now. I thought Microsoft aquired it just to take it away.

Oh, and I have been given virtual machines to test my theories before installing stuff on servers so I can be sure I am doing good things, probably a good practice.

Thanks again for the responses.

Hunter


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## dez_666 (May 30, 2007)

CPU-z is an excellent tool for getting processor/motherboard and RAM info.

surely your boss would trust CPU-z?

And Sysinternals has limited 'info' tools. im not really up to look through all the tools i have to see which ones give you useful info..

try cpu-z though.


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