Q: What is the Best System Info Tool?

A: Longtime readers know I used to recommend Belarc Adviser for this purpose, but another program has come along which I now prefer. If you are wondering what is going on inside your computer, and don't want to crack the case, I have great news - just install Speccy!  Speccy is a great little System Information Tool from Piriform (CCleaner, Defraggler...).  Just install and run Speccy and in a few minutes you'll have a window similar to this one:

If you click through the different menu items in the left sidebar, all the inner secrets of your PC will be revealed. 

Another cool feature of Speccy is the ability to post a "public snapshot" of your system configuration. I use this when I'm helping people remotely and would like to see their hardware configuration.  To post a public snapshot, just choose
File-> Public Snapshot ... you'll then see

Click YES and Speccy upload your configuration to a Piriform server and give the URL for others to view it.  (Don't worry, no personal information is included!)

Click "Copy to Clipboard" and then paste it into an email and send it to your helper, and they will be able to look at your system information.

One more thing about Speccy - if you are a technician or work on many machines, you can download the "Portable" version of Speccy and put it in a folder on your USB key.  I keep sub-folders of the Speccy folder for each of my clients, and whenever I am at a client's machine, I save a Snapshot of that machine.  (File -> Save Snapshot).  So in my SPECCY\CLIENT1\ folder I have seperate snapshots for each user.  Now, when they call me six months down the road with a question, I can easily pull up their system configuration rather than relying on them to tell me what it is.

Cool!

 Do you have a System Info program that you love?  Let me know!

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