System Information for Windows (Can I know what’s going on under the hood?)

The software in review today is SIW – System Information for Windows.

For all you techies and importantly non techies have you ever wondered what’s inside your computer? Sure enough if it is a desktop you might crank it open someday.But if you are a laptop user like me (who loves his laptop ) or a desktop user who would rather not open the system up just for the heck of it, this is where SIW comes in. It displays everything from the Processor to the RAM installed to BIOS, Windows Version, Serial numbers and much more.

Download Link: SIW is a freeware utility available from www.gtopala.com

The best part about SIW in my opinion is it is a standalone executable. That means you don’t need to install it to run it (note there is an installable version too). That for me just means less registry clutter and one less program to be tracked for uninstalling.

I installed SIW after downloading it from the website above (a quick download) and gave it a run and here is what I found the most interesting (there are a ton of things SIW displays for which I have couple of screenshots attached).

Interesting stuff it points out:

Hardware:

This includes everything from System manufacturer to the PC system type (mobile notebook) to the amount of RAM supported.

Then there are the other usual culprits like the motherboard (serial number), CPU (make, speed, even the technology 0.065µ in my case), the system clock, instructions supported, the RAM installed, Video, printers, battery information and much more. Honestly if you don’t understand it, its ok, be glad with SIW you are one of the few who even know what CPU technology they are using or what is the designed voltage of their battery .

Software:

This includes everything ranging from the OS- the version, the serial number, the product key, to the updates installed on your machine, the applications you have installed, the audio and video codecs you have installed to hold your breath even passwords. Yes you heard it right Passwords!!!

This program can help in password recovery. When I tested this it gave me 3 passwords that had been used on my laptop. This can help you remove private data like passwords so that it is not vulnerable to other attacks by showcasing such information to you.

Other than this I had information on installed databases, scheduled tasks and much much (believe me) more.

Network:

This includes utilities to scan your network, network information, open ports (really useful for admins) as well as ability to search the network.

Conclusion:

So the next time you are wondering if your PC is working too slow and you want to know whether you need a CPU upgrade or RAM upgrade use its internal CPU and Memory usage chart (which also shows CPU temperature) and with information that SIW provides from above, make a calculated decision on what you need changed. You can sure save a lot of bucks.

Other features include shutting down your computer, network traffic stats and Eureka (password tracking again)as well as exporting all data to HTML or CSV(comma seperated values) or text.

So what are you waiting for? Give it a try. Know more about the internals of your system so that the techie who comes to repair your system can’t fool you easily.

Your comments are most welcome.