Windows System Info

Nikolai

Wanna know what is actually under the hood of your PC - without opening the box or unplugging all the cables?
Run "winmsd" command, and you'll be rewarded...

HTH

Andy

Nikolai wrote:

Wanna know what is actually under the hood of your PC - without opening the box or unplugging all the cables?
Run "winmsd" command, and you'll be rewarded...

HTH

:hide

Andy

nik, i'm sure you didn't mean to put this thread in the hall of wisdom - i moved it.

Nikolai

I was not sure

andy wrote:

nik, i'm sure you didn't mean to put this thread in the hall of wisdom - i moved it.

where to put it at all, but I thought it's a darn good built-in tool which deserves some attention...
Anyway, I'm fine with it being here, thanks!

Andy

the hall of wisdom, is for "the best threads ever" and stuff goes in there by nomination by dgrinners....

thanks nik

David_S85

Nikolai wrote:

where to put it at all, but I thought it's a darn good built-in tool which deserves some attention...
Anyway, I'm fine with it being here, thanks!

Nikolai, what version of Windows do you have that has this program included?

kdog

Nikolai, that's very cool. I hadn't seen that before. A lot of that information is available other places, but this program is nice because it consolodates it into a single place. It's a shame that Microsoft chooses to hide away useful system tools like this. I guess it's job security for their technical support services.

Thanks for the tip.
-joel

kdog

David_S85 wrote:

Nikolai, what version of Windows do you have that has this program included?

I can tell you that XP and Windows2000 both have it, as I just tested it on both systems.

-joel

David_S85

Don't look for it in WIN XP Pro
A hah! That's why it wasn't on my wife's machine!

luke_church

Nikolai wrote:

Wanna know what is actually under the hood of your PC - without opening the box or unplugging all the cables?
Run "winmsd" command, and you'll be rewarded...

HTH

Something like this has been in Office for donkey's years, I think it probably migrated from their into the OS...

If you really want to know about the insides of your computer and what's happening have a play with some of the SysInternals tools: www.sysinternals.com just be prepared to have to work to understand some of the answers and what they actually mean....

Luke

kdog

David_S85 wrote:

A hah! That's why it wasn't on my wife's machine!

I think you're missing the point. Under XP Pro it does invoke a program that tells you every nuance of your system. If that didn't work for you then you're not trying hard enough.

Go to your Start Menu and select Run...
Enter "cmd" in the box and press return
That will open a command window. Enter "winmsd" in that window and press return. Voila, you will have the system viewer which will tell you all about your system. That was the point of Nik's posting as far as I know. The fact that the command "winmsd" invokes a program titled "System Information" is really irrelevant. It does do what Nik says, and I'm fairly certain it will work on your wife's system too.

behr655

kdog wrote:

I think you're missing the point. Under XP Pro it does invoke a program that tells you every nuance of your system. If that didn't work for you then you're not trying hard enough.

Go to your Start Menu and select Run...
Enter "cmd" in the box and press return
That will open a command window. Enter "winmsd" in that window and press return. Voila, you will have the system viewer which will tell you all about your system. That was the point of Nik's posting as far as I know. The fact that the command "winmsd" invokes a program titled "System Information" is really irrelevant. It does do what Nik says, and I'm fairly certain it will work on your wife's system too.

Cut out the middle man. Just enter "winmsd" in the Run box.

Bear

David_S85

behr655 wrote:

Cut out the middle man. Just enter "winmsd" in the Run box.

Bear

OK, I will try that next time she's out!

Andy

I'm hearing all sortsa jabber here but I so totally don't understand... by any chance are y'all talking about bbq? :food

David_S85

andy wrote:

I'm hearing all sortsa jabber here but I so totally don't understand... by any chance are y'all talking about bbq? :food

Andy, just go raid the fridge. You'll feel lots better. :eat

Seymore

Another feature...
If you "run" DXDIAG from the command line, you get even more info... Including the clock speed of your machine. You can also test for any disparities in your hardware/drivers. Most accurate with W2k and XP.

Nikolai

Nice one, Seymore!

Seymore wrote:

If you "run" DXDIAG from the command line, you get even more info... Including the clock speed of your machine. You can also test for any disparities in your hardware/drivers. Most accurate with W2k and XP.

Although it's tuned for DirectX, it's a nice tool to have!
Thank you for sharing!

davemj98

System Inventory
There is a free program that does a total inventory of your system and all of the software on it at Belarc.com;nice to have a written copy of this around before the drive crashes.

Nikolai

Pretty neat!

davemj98 wrote:

There is a free program that does a total inventory of your system and all of the software on it at Belarc.com;nice to have a written copy of this around before the drive crashes.

I agree!