Easy ways of Viewing Computer Configuration
Viewing computer configuration allows us to perform many tasks
ranging from simply checking computer specs, fault finding,
or even pre checks to find out possible upgrade
information such as RAM amount and types, processor types and
socket or even which type of USB ports a computer has.
There are many different ways to view computer
configuration and most of these are built into Windows itself,
they can be slightly involved depending on the level of
information needed, but if you have the time they can report on
just about any part of your computer.
Below you will find detailed information on
finding computer configuration
Four common ways
of how to see computer configuration
-
My Computer Properties
-
Device Manager
-
Msconfig
-
Winmsd
-
Belarc
Startup Items
Not all applications can be viewed from the
standard Startup Groups, by going to the Start > Run menu type >
msconfig > Startup Tab

You will now be able to see a list of all Startup
Items, this can be a very useful way to see which applications
startup with your computer.
Plus
we also get the path where the application is loading from,
making it easy to completely remove.

System Configuration
Right Click on My Computer > Select Properties > General
Tab
This will give you very basic system information in terms of the
computers name, its processor type and speed and the amount of
RAM
For a more detailed view of the hardware installed in your
computer, select the Hardware tab > Device Manager
button

From
here you can see base descriptions of all hardware resources
running on your computer, select one of the crosses to the right
of a hardware type and you will be given a drill down of
specific hardware installed on your computer, if any components
are not working properly this will be highlighted by a yellow
exclamation mark, any disabled components will be highlighted
with a red cross (find out
more about disabling unused components to make
your computer run faster)

Initially the view gives us a breaks down of the most common
system information such as
OS Name usually Windows XP or Vista
Version of the operating system
System Name or computer name
System Manufacturer the hardware manufacturer of your
computer, this really reflects the name of the motherboard.
System Model model name of you computer
System Type processor type
Processor the speed and processor model, this will be
repeated for processors with more than one processor or core.
BIOS Version/date gives the actual BIOS revision and its
creation date.
SMBIOS Version system management BIOS version information
Windows Directory this will be the default directory that
your operating system has booted from
System Directory default location of the system32 directory.
Boot Service hard drive number and boot partition.
Locale your country/region that the computer is set for.
Hardware Abstraction Layer or HAL is the medium between
hardware and software.
Username reports the current logged in user with local or
domain information.
Time Zone reports your local time zone (needs to be accurate
for services such as Windows update,
read more on this)
Total Physical Memory gross total RAM in the computer
Available Physical Memory amount of RAM currently
available
Total Virtual Memory total allocated virtual memory
Available Virtual Memory current amount of virtual memory
unused
Page File Space total amount space available for the paging
file
Page File location of the paging file
read more on how to tune this
Other sub categories of the System Information interface include
Hardware Resources
Provides a break
down of how to see computer configuration
resources being used such as memory, interrupts, software ports.
Very useful way to monitor and view conflicts
Components
Provides in information on all hardware information resources
initially the same as device manager but offering much more in
depth information.
Software Environment
Give detailed information about system drivers, variables and
even print jobs
Internet Explorer
Provides a quick view of all Internet Explorer settings
Office xxxx
Information in regard to each Microsoft Office application in
terms of addins, security, in depth settings.
All of the ways above as I am sure you will agree can give a
wealth of information when viewing computer configuration , but
unless you know what to look for and where it can be a time
consuming process, but luckily there are some utilities around
that can simplify the process further, if your looking for
conflicts and port usage the Windows tools are generally
considered best for viewing computer configuration of this type.
If on the other hand you would like a simplified view that will
give you system information, installed updates, serial numbers,
even which ports have do not have RAM in them (which is very
useful for memory upgrades without having to take of the cover
to ascertain the memory configuration) then there is a wonderful
little application called Belarc Adviser, checkout our
other page here for more on this and where to download for free.
For more on viewing computer configuration
Read more on viewing computer configuration and other repair
tools built into Windows
computer adviser
viewing computer configuration article |