Best Free System Information Utility

The freeware utility AIDA32 was the best system information / inventorying tool ever, regardless of price. It documented just about every aspect of your hardware and software configuration as well as checking networks and providing memory benchmarks. However the developer announced in March 2004 that the free product had been frozen and development work shifted to another organization where AIDA32 was re-launched as a commercial product called Everest [1]. You can however still find the old AIDA32 at the second link below [2] and the non-discontinued free version of Everest called Everest Home here [3]. The old AIDA32 works better across networks while Everest Home covers more modern hardware than AIDA32.

Another inventory utility for networks is Spiceworks [4], currently available as a free 3.1 version. It’s a browser based inventory program that allows LAN managers to quickly discover and document the hardware, software and patch status of their network PCs.

That rather bland description seriously under-sells the usefulness of this product. It’s got a terrific filter system
that allows you to target your inventory request plus a highly customizable reporting system. On top of that it has a great interface, is easy to use, can handle Linux and Mac OS X workstations and uses standard network protocols.

If you only need to inventory a single PC then you should also check out Belarc Advisor [5]. It’s free for non commercial use and while not quite as thorough as AIDA32, it has the advantage of being actively developed.

My current favorite for home use is the SIW utility [6] written by Gabriel Topala. It “displays detailed specs for motherboard, BIOS, CPU, devices, memory, video, disk drives, ports, printers, operating system, installed programs, processes, services, serial numbers (CD keys), users, open files, system uptime, network, network shares, as well as real-time monitors for CPU, memory, page file usage and network traffic. It also displays currently active network connections, passwords hidden behind asterisks, installed codecs, and more. ” That’s impressive enough for a freebie but my favorite feature is SIW does not need installing; all you need to do is run the executable. This means one less installed program on your PC as well the fact that you can run the program directly from a USB flash drive.

[1] http://www.lavalys.com/products.php?lang=en
[2] http://www.majorgeeks.com/download181.html Freeware, all Windows versions, 2.9MB
[3] http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html Freeware, all Windows versions, 4.0MB
[4] http://www.spiceworks.com/ Free 3.1, Windows XP Pro with 512MB RAM on the administrator’s PC, 7MB.
[5] http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html Free for personal use, all Windows versions, 945KB
[6] http://www3.sympatico.ca/gtopala/about_siw.html Freeware, Win98 and later, 1.18MB

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