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Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, released five years earlier, which was then the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on November 8, 2006, and over the following three months, it ...
- November 8, 2006; 16 years ago
Aug 9, 2010 · Windows Vista has an in-built tool, msinfo32, which can show you all the information including hardware, software, peripheral components etc. This is how you can run msinfo32 and view your system information : Press the key combination Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog. In the Run dialog, type msinfo32.exe and press Enter.
- Overview
- Speccy
- Free PC Audit
- HWiNFO
- Belarc Advisor
- MiTeC System Information X
- EVEREST Home Edition
- PC Wizard
- ASTRA32
- ESET SysInspector
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System information tools are software programs that gather all the important but hard-to-come-by details about the hardware in a computer system. This sort of data is beneficial to someone helping you with a computer problem.
My Review of Speccy
Piriform, creators of the popular CCleaner, Defraggler, and Recuva programs, also produce Speccy, my favorite free system information tool. The program's layout is nicely designed to provide all the information you need without being overly cluttered.
Something I like is the summary page, which gives brief, but very helpful information on things like the operating system, memory, graphics, and storage devices. A more detailed look at each category is organized in their respective sections.
My favorite feature is the ability to send system specs from the program to a public web page to easily share with others. Exporting to a file, as well as printing, are additional options, making saving a list of all your hardware details really easy.
This tool should work fine for all versions of Windows. I've used it in Windows 11 and Windows 10.
Download Speccy
My Review of Free PC Audit
Free PC Audit includes all the features you'd expect to find in any system information utility, including the ability for a report to be saved as a simple text file.
You can see information on all the hardware, like the motherboard, memory, and printers. It also displays the Windows product key and ID, a list of installed software, and all the currently running processes, among many other things.
Free PC Audit is completely portable, making it perfect for a flash drive.
I tested it in Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7, but it should also work fine in older versions.
Download Free PC Audit
My Review of HWiNFO
HWiNFO shows nearly the same details as these other free system information tools, like for the CPU, motherboard, monitor, audio, network, and other components.
A sensor status window is included to monitor the current and average speed/rate of the memory, hard drive, and CPU. HWiNFO can also run a benchmark against these areas.
Report files can be created for some or all of the system components, and you can also set up automatic reporting that sounds an alarm when a sensor exceeds a particular threshold.
Unfortunately, I found that this program doesn't include as much information as some of the other applications from my list. Although, the data it does display is still very helpful, and support for extensions isn't something I see in most system info apps.
It runs on Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, and older ones. There's an installer, portable edition, and a download for DOS.
My Review of Belarc Advisor
Belarc Advisor isn't as detailed as some of these other free system information tools. However, basic information on the operating system, processor, motherboard, memory, drives, bus adapters, display, group policies, and users are shown.
One unique feature I appreciate is the ability to list all the security updates Windows is missing. You can also view software licenses, installed hotfixes, program usage frequency, and version numbers for select Microsoft products.
Results of a scan open in a web browser and can be viewed on a single web page.
The program is quick to download and doesn't try to install additional programs during setup, which is always nice.
Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP are supported.
MiTeC System Information X is another free option, so that's clearly a big plus. But I also like it because it's portable, easy to use, and can create a summary report.
Among many other categories, you'll find all the standard details like audio, network, and motherboard, information. More specific information can also be shown, such as drivers and processes.
The tabbed interface makes MiTeC System Information X really easy to navigate through if you're viewing more than one report at once.
This program is said to be compatible with Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP, and 2000, as well as with Windows Server 2019 through 2008. I was able to use it without any problems in Windows 11.
EVEREST Home Edition is a portable free system information tool that scans very quickly and organizes everything it finds into several categories, including one for a summary page.
All the standard hardware details are included, like that of the motherboard, network, storage devices, and display
I like that it lets me create favorites to have instant access to any hardware component from the menu bar, and that an HTML report (of everything or just whatever you pick) can be generated.
Unfortunately, this program is no longer being developed, which is probably why it doesn't work perfectly in Windows 11. It also runs on Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.
Another tool that shows detail on a huge variety of components is PC Wizard. It's easy to save a report detailing any or all parts of the program, and you can even copy out single lines of data to the clipboard.
Out of all the system information tools I've used, this one is certainly the most informative. It includes not only the basic and advanced information on internal and external hardware, but also useful operating system details.
PC Wizard can be installed on all versions of Windows, which includes Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.
Download PC Wizard
ASTRA32 shows amazing detail on numerous devices and other parts of the system.
There are several categories to separate the information it gathers on hardware, like that of a motherboard, storage, and monitor information. A system summary section is perfect for seeing an overview of all the hardware and operating system details. Also, a dedicated section for live monitoring is included to show the temperature and current usage of various hardware components.
ASTRA32 works as a demo program, but it doesn't really mean much because it still provides lots of useful information. That said, I've placed it in this position of the list to encourage you to first try the other, better choices listed above.
It can be used on Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2000, and Windows Server 2008 and 2003.
ESET SysInspector is dead simple to use because of its search utility and well-organized interface. If some of these other programs look too difficult to work with, I recommend giving this one a try just for its simplified UI.
Results can be filtered to show information based on a risk level between one and nine. You can find basic information like available memory, system uptime, and the local time. More advanced details include things like environment variables, installed software, hotfixes, and an event log.
This program can also view a list of running processes and current network connections, active and disabled drivers, and a list of important registry entries and system files.
I like this tool because it's the only program in this list that's centered around providing detail regarding the security of the computer. However, it doesn't show exhaustive details like the higher rated system information tools in this list.
It should work in 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP, and 2000. Server operating systems are also supported, including Windows Home Server.
Download ESET SysInspector
Microsoft's newest version of its operating system is Windows Vista. For many users, upgrading to Vista won't seem as dramatic as the upgrade from 3.1 to Windows 95. But Windows Vista has a number of new features, both in the parts that you can see and the parts that you can't. At its core, Windows Vista is still an operating system.
Dec 13, 2007 · How to See System Information in Vista and Windows 7 System Information shows details about your computer's hardware configuration, computer components, and software, including drivers. This tutorial will show you how to open and see System Information about Windows. To see if your drivers...
