Software diagnostic tools provide information on hardware devices, installed software, network statistics and system information in a readable format. Some diagnostic tools provide additional functions such as benchmarking and testing utilities (stress tests) to provide additional information about the system. Free diagnostic tools exist that perform as well as expensive diagnostic software.
Son of Snoop On Steroids
Son of Snoop On Steroids detects hardware and software profiles, security and configuration information. It also gathers information from computers on a network (other diagnostic tools don't do this). Son of Snoop on Steroids requires Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0; it is public domain software with no license restrictions.
Son of Snoop on Steroids supports Windows 98, Windows XP Home (Service Pack 2) and XP Professional, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2000 (Service Pack 4), Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 (R2).
The program name evolved from Version 1 (Snoop) to Version 2 (Son of Snoop) to Version 3 (Son of Snoop on Steroids). Version 3 has more capabilities than Version 2, hence the name.
System Information for Windows (SIW)
SIW detects software and hardware profiles and creates inventory profiles. Software inventory profiles include information on the operating system, installed software, licenses and passwords. Hardware inventory profiles include information on memory, sound and video cards, the monitor, the CPU, sensors and the motherboard. Network profiles include information on network statistics, network/NIC cards, open ports, scanning, pinging and tracing. SIW also monitors the CPU, memory, page file and network usage.
SIW supports Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows XP Home (Service Pack 2), Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2000 (Service Pack 4), Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 (R2), Windows NT4 and Windows Tablet PC.
SIW is free for non-commercial use; the free version only exports inventory reports as HTML (web page) files.
A technician version of SIW is available for $69; a business version is available starting at $100 (less than 10 computers). The free version may ask if you want to install the optional "bing" toolbar from Microsoft.
PC Wizard by CPUID Developers
PC Wizard detects hardware including Bluetooth hardware, biometric sensor devices, PocketPC and SmartPhones that other diagnostic tools overlook. PC Wizard also provides benchmarks (testing) for video, memory and processor functions.
The processor benchmarks include MIPS (Millions of Instructions per second) and MFlops (Millions of Floating Point Operations per second).
PC Wizard detects and supports multiple processors. PC Wizard exports results in text (TXT), web page (HTML), printable/Adobe (PDF) and comma-separated value (CSV) formats.
Commercial use is prohibited; the free version may ask if you want to install the optional "Ask" toolbar.
PC Wizard supports Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows XP Home (Service Pack 2), Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2000 (Service Pack 4), Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 (R2) and Windows NT (R4).
Tags: Windows Windows, Windows Server, Service Pack, diagnostic tools, Pack Windows, Service Pack Windows, Snoop Steroids