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Five apps

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1. Belarc Advisor

rnrnBelarcrnAdvisor is often considered the go-to tool for auditing/profiling a systemrnu2013 and with good reason. Belarc makes short shrift of gathering all therninformation about hardware and software on a system, as well as missingrnMicrosoft hotfixes, state of anti-virus apps, and security bench marks. Oncernthe application is run, it will display the results in a local web page. Belarcrnwill run on most versions of the Windows platform (from Windows 95 to Windows 8rnu2013 both 32 and 64 bit). The report generated by Belarc will display in your defaultrnbrowser u2013 it does not require Internet Explorer.

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Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic.

Belarc 2

Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic.

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2. MSIfo32.exe

rnrnMSInfo32.exernis the Windows built-in information gathering tool. This easy to use toolrngathers the following information: The version of Windows, OEM SystemrnInformation, type of CPU, amount of memory and system resources, BIOS version,rnlocale, time zone, user name (only present if the computer is configured to logrninto a domain), boot device, and the path to the Page file. The application canrnbe run by clicking Start and then entering msinfo32.exe. The tool is very quickrnto gather information and displays more than you’ll ever need in an easy tornread window.

Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic.

MSInfo 2

Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic.

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3. Produkey

rnrnProdukey isrnthe tool you need when you have to dig up the product IDs and CD-keys forrnMicrosoft software. This tool quickly (and reliably) grabs the information forrnWindows, Microsoft Office, Exchange Server, and SQL Server. Nothing is morernreliable when you’ve lost your keys for installed Windows software. One caveatrnto Produkey is that you might find your anti-virus solution prevents it fromrnrunning. If this is the case, temporarily disable your anti-virus and run thernapp.

Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic.

Produkey 2

Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic.

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4. LookInMyPC

rnrnLookInMyPC isrnanother tool that generates quite a bit of information about system hardwarernand software. One very nice feature of LookInMyPC is that many of the reportsrnoffer links to Google searches, so you can quickly find out more details onrnwhat some of the more obscure results mean. LookInMyPC makes no changes to yourrnPC and can be run from a portable device. As well, you can generate a handyrnzipped file and send it as an email (from within the tool itself). LookInMyPCrnalso includes command line support and auto report archiving.

Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic.

LookInMyPC 2

Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic.

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5. Speccy

rnrnSpeccy is anrninformation gathering tool created by Piriform and is called an electronicrnu201cWhat’s insideu201d sticker for your PC. Speccy will give you all the standardrnissue about your computer, plus: CPU, Motherboard, RAM, Graphics Cards, HardrnDisks, Optical Drives, device temperatures, SMART data retrieval, and Audiornsupport. Speccy is run from a self-contained executable, so it can be used as arnhandy, portable tool. The one downfall of Speccy is that it’s not going torngather as much detailed information as the other tools. But for the averagernneed, Speccy does a fine job.

Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic.

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Bottom line

rnrnGathering PC information can make your life as anrnadministrator far easier. If your company isn’t large enough to use anrnenterprise tool that gives you a constant heads up on PC information for anrnentire network, you will need to use the right tools to extract that datarnquickly. Any one of the tools listed would be an outstanding addition to yourrnalready growing admin tool kit. With these applications you’ll have every piecernof PC information you need at the tip of your fingers.

Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic.