Speccy for Newcomers

Piriform (now part of Gen Digital), the maker of the well-known CCleaner software, also offers Speccy [3], a software tool for system analysis. Besides the free version, an extended professional license offers premium support. After a brief analysis, the overview displayed after installation and startup shows on screen a mass of data relating to the system and its hardware. Clicking on the respective components takes you to further, more detailed information. The software also displays values in real time (e.g., the bus speed and CPU core temperatures) and is therefore useful for continuous monitoring.

You can export all the acquired system data in the form of a report in TXT or XML format. As a special feature, the program also lets you upload a report anonymously to the Piriform website. You can then pass on the associated URL (e.g., to exchange information with other users). Unfortunately, this operation only works for the full set of data. Just as with the reports, you cannot choose to export only certain data; instead, you need to edit the text or XML file.

Speccy is particularly suitable for less experienced admins because of its simple and clear-cut operation, although it does give you a useful collection of data relating to the hardware of a Windows system. Unfortunately, the software seems to be under sporadic development – or none at all. According to the copyright, the latest version is from 2020 and the software struggles to recognize some newer CPUs, such as an Intel Core i7 1260P from the Alter Lake family. It simply states that the CPU is an "Intel Processor," although you can still read the correct string for the chip specification in the details.

HWMonitor

HWMonitor [4] comes from the same developers as CPU-Z and specializes in reading and monitoring the parameters of a motherboard for a simple but very detailed live view of the temperature and voltage values of the CPU, fans, and hard drives (Figure 2).

Figure 2: HWMonitor impresses with a very focused display that concentrates on the live data from the various hardware sensors.

The free version can only be used on a local system. In contrast, the commercial Pro version can access the sensor data of other Windows and Android systems over TCP/IP. This version is available for a 30-day trial with minor functional restrictions and then requires licensing to give you a year of updates and unlimited use for approximately $22 (EUR22, £18). This extended version also lets you save the log data and displays the results as simple graphics. The interface is more flexible in the Pro version and you can then also store sensors in the system trays on your Windows computers. That said, the standard version of HWMonitor is fine for reading the live data from the various system sensors. The software is accurate and reliable, but only lets you save the data in a text file.

CrystalDiskInfo

The free CrystalDiskInfo [5] tool is, without a doubt, one of the best known programs for system analysis. Whereas many of the programs presented here record and display the values of the hard drives installed in a system as a nice add-on, CrystalDiskInfo is designed exclusively for disk diagnostics, delivering a full set of data and values related to hard and solid state drives (Figure 3). Besides the current S.M.A.R.T. status, the program displays the temperature, speed, write and read error rates, storage space, buffer sizes, firmware version, serial number, and operating hours of the hard drive.

Figure 3: Virtually no other tool offers the same depth of information about mass storage devices as CrystalDiskInfo.

In addition to supplying accurate data, CrystalDiskInfo uses a color scheme to provide information about the status of a hard drive. By default, the most important information about the hard disks is shown in green or blue if no problems are detected. This combination of simple, easy-to-understand information with detailed S.M.A.R.T. data makes CrystalDiskInfo an ideal tool for admins who want to analyze and monitor hard drives.