Here's my first posts after realizing my mistake. I will be starting off on getting to know small small things in Microsoft Windows (no I am not explaining where the start button is) and this will be for users of Microsoft Windows. Although you may have been using Windows for a long while now and is quite good at getting your day today work done you might be at a loss when you need to get something technical done. Let's say for a instance that you want to know what type of RAM (or memory as most would call it) you need to buy to upgrade your computer or may be before downloading or buying a software you need to know whether your system would support it and you have absolutely no clue in finding that out. Well that's what I will be trying to help you out with. In this process I will introduce you to some not so famous software as well which you will find quite useful.
First we will start off with finding out basic information about your computer system. That is what is the operating system you're having, what is the current RAM (memory) capacity, what is the speed of your processor and how many processors you're having etc. For this you don't need any new software. All you need are few mouse clicks. For this right click on My Computer once and on the list of items that pop up click on the bottom one called Properties.
In the window that appears you will see the basic overview of your system. That is it would mention the Windows type you're running, if a Service Pack is installed what it is, the processor type (if a multi-processor system then for each one it would show the type), installed RAM, system type (whether the operating system is 32 bit or 64 bit), your computer name, the workgroup or network you're connected to and of course whether your Windows if genuine or not.
The picture I have uploaded here is of a Windows 7 system. So for other Windows versions (older than Vista) the look will be different but still the information will be available (the grayed out part will have some information than a gray bar. It's just me taking precautions not to have Bill Gates on my tail).
That's for getting a basic system overview. But for some reason if you wanted more information (like system manufacturer, BIOS version, display or sound device information) there's another method. This is not just a click away though. First you will have to go to start menu and from there click RUN (for Windows 7 users and Vista users using service packs you will have to type "run" without quotes in the search box that appears in the start menu and press enter). In the dialog box that appears type "dxdiag" without quotes and press enter. This would open up a new window (it might prompt you asking if you want to view this. Just click yes).
As you can see this gives a much more detailed description of your system. If you want information about the display or sound you just have to click on the appropriate bar on the top (Display is for display info and Sound for sound info !!!).
These are two methods supplied by Windows itself to find out information about your system. Normally this would be enough for you in getting around normal requirement gathering for a software upgrade or anything of the sort. But sometimes you might need much more detailed information than this about your system. For that there is a software available (not available with Windows. They are not that helpful) and fortunately enough this software is free.
CPU-Z (to download the software click on the link and in the new page that appears click on "Download Latest Version" on top right hand corner) is a software available to provide you with all related or unrelated and needed or not needed information about your system (even your system vendor wouldn't know all this information I'd guess). The software is 100% free and 100% virus or any other malicious software or add on free. There is no installation to do. You just have to unzip the downloaded file and run the .exe file (if you're running Windows Vista or later it will request user permission and just click yes and if you have Kaspersky anti-virus installed on the first run it would give a warning and simply click allow).
Well you can see from the picture itself the details the software provides you with. Even I don't have a clue about most of the information supplied here (not that I know that many) but it gives possibly every bit of information there is to now about it. The CPU tab obviously provides you with details of the processors of your system. The cache tab provides details about the cache memory. Likewise all of the tabs delivers information about the particular system aspect that is mentioned on its name. Now you don't have to worry wondering whether you should buy a DDR 2 RAM or DDR3 RAM for your system and trying to take it apart. Just run the program and click on the memory tab and you will see what type of RAM you have and if you want separate information on each of the currently installed RAMs (ya right !!! Must be crazy to look into that information) you just have to click on the SPD tab. This is an absolute marvel and a really great tool in finding out information of your system.
So folks that's about it for today. So next time before you take your system apart to find out the RAM type just bother to get this software installed and save yourself the trouble and also if you just need the small stuff remember to right click. Wishing you a good day me out.
In the window that appears you will see the basic overview of your system. That is it would mention the Windows type you're running, if a Service Pack is installed what it is, the processor type (if a multi-processor system then for each one it would show the type), installed RAM, system type (whether the operating system is 32 bit or 64 bit), your computer name, the workgroup or network you're connected to and of course whether your Windows if genuine or not.
The picture I have uploaded here is of a Windows 7 system. So for other Windows versions (older than Vista) the look will be different but still the information will be available (the grayed out part will have some information than a gray bar. It's just me taking precautions not to have Bill Gates on my tail).
That's for getting a basic system overview. But for some reason if you wanted more information (like system manufacturer, BIOS version, display or sound device information) there's another method. This is not just a click away though. First you will have to go to start menu and from there click RUN (for Windows 7 users and Vista users using service packs you will have to type "run" without quotes in the search box that appears in the start menu and press enter). In the dialog box that appears type "dxdiag" without quotes and press enter. This would open up a new window (it might prompt you asking if you want to view this. Just click yes).
As you can see this gives a much more detailed description of your system. If you want information about the display or sound you just have to click on the appropriate bar on the top (Display is for display info and Sound for sound info !!!).
These are two methods supplied by Windows itself to find out information about your system. Normally this would be enough for you in getting around normal requirement gathering for a software upgrade or anything of the sort. But sometimes you might need much more detailed information than this about your system. For that there is a software available (not available with Windows. They are not that helpful) and fortunately enough this software is free.
CPU-Z (to download the software click on the link and in the new page that appears click on "Download Latest Version" on top right hand corner) is a software available to provide you with all related or unrelated and needed or not needed information about your system (even your system vendor wouldn't know all this information I'd guess). The software is 100% free and 100% virus or any other malicious software or add on free. There is no installation to do. You just have to unzip the downloaded file and run the .exe file (if you're running Windows Vista or later it will request user permission and just click yes and if you have Kaspersky anti-virus installed on the first run it would give a warning and simply click allow).
Well you can see from the picture itself the details the software provides you with. Even I don't have a clue about most of the information supplied here (not that I know that many) but it gives possibly every bit of information there is to now about it. The CPU tab obviously provides you with details of the processors of your system. The cache tab provides details about the cache memory. Likewise all of the tabs delivers information about the particular system aspect that is mentioned on its name. Now you don't have to worry wondering whether you should buy a DDR 2 RAM or DDR3 RAM for your system and trying to take it apart. Just run the program and click on the memory tab and you will see what type of RAM you have and if you want separate information on each of the currently installed RAMs (ya right !!! Must be crazy to look into that information) you just have to click on the SPD tab. This is an absolute marvel and a really great tool in finding out information of your system.
So folks that's about it for today. So next time before you take your system apart to find out the RAM type just bother to get this software installed and save yourself the trouble and also if you just need the small stuff remember to right click. Wishing you a good day me out.
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