How can I determine a computer's specs?

Question

I have a client who has a computer they want to upgrade. They are unable to tell me the specs of this computer and they're not the type of person I could walk it through with.

Ideally, I'd like to send them an application (or a link to an application) which will generate a report telling me everything I need to know about their hardware and OS. It would have to be very easy to use. Ideally only two or three steps to generate a report.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

PC Wizard should have some easy centralized computer information to tell you. This is from the same makers of CPU-Z and it is completely free.

http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php

Answer 2

Speccy:

Speccy will give you detailed statistics on every piece of hardware in your computer, including CPU, Motherboard, RAM, Graphics Cards, Hard Disks, Optical Drives, [and] Audio support. Additionally Speccy adds the temperatures of your different components, so you can easily see if there's a problem!

If you need to add more memory to your system, for example, you can check how many memory slots your computer has and what memory's already installed.

The basic version of Speccy (with no support) is free.

Answer 3

System Information for Windows

SIW is an advanced System Information for Windows tool that gathers detailed information about your system properties and settings and displays it in an extremely comprehensible manner.

The system information is divided into few major categories:

• Software Inventory: Operating System, Installed Software and Hotfixes, Processes, Services, Users, Open Files, System Uptime, Installed Codecs, Software Licenses (Product Keys / Serial Numbers / CD Key), Passwords Recovery.
• Hardware Inventory: Motherboard, CPU, Sensors, BIOS, chipset, PCI/AGP, USB and ISA/PnP Devices, Memory, Video Card, Monitor, Disk Drives, CD/DVD Devices, SCSI Devices, S.M.A.R.T., Ports, Printers.
• Network Information: Network Cards, Network Shares, currently active Network Connections, Open Ports.
• Network Tools: MAC Address Changer, Neighborhood Scan, Ping, Trace, Statistics
• Miscellaneous Tools: Eureka! (Reveal lost passwords hidden behind asterisks), Monitor Test, Shutdown / Restart.
• Real-time monitors: CPU, Memory, Page File usage and Network Traffic.

Answer 4

belarc is also great at this.

Answer 5

msinfo32 is built into windows and gives lots of information.

Answer 6

For years Karen Kenworthy has written VB utility programs for free distribution as part of a newsletter she puts out (source code available). There are several that are fantastic and can be found at http://www.karenware.com/powertools/powertools.asp There is one that could be of particular value in this case called "Computer Profiler". I can recommend several of these little gems personally.

Answer 7

Astra32 is another good choice, but you can't save reports with the free version. Great for onsite with a thumb drive, though.

Answer 8

Could use Belarc Advisor. Its wonderful and free!And u can save report too

Answer 9

dxdiag

also allows you to save the information to a text file.