14 DAY TRIAL // A computer is somehow like a jet fighter - it has so many features and its hardware is extremely complex, that in order to know everything about it your have to be a real pro. While pilots have to know as much as possible about their planes, since their life may depend on that knowledge, with computers it's different.
If you have bought a standard computer configuration and you started using it without asking yourself too much about the hardware or software part, you can get into a situation where you will need information. Why?
For example, a friend starts telling about his new video card and its game performance and when asked about yours, you can't even tell who manufactured it. Even worse, you have problems with a software that you bought and you call the support line. They ask you some details about your computer's configuration and you have no idea what they're talking about. It's clear; something needs to be done about this. But what?
The old-fashioned way to solve this problem would be to call a human to help you, while the right solution is to use a computer program to solve this computer-related problem. The program that should be used to get information about your computer's configuration can be picked from the large family of system information tools.
Today's subject is a brand-new version of one of the most famous members of this clan, and once was known as AIDA32. Now, it is named EVEREST and comes in more that just one flavor, but I have chosen the strongest one, called Ultimate Edition.
The installation kit of this program is almost 7MB in size, while the setup process is extremely easy for everybody (you can choose between a self extracting install package and a ZIP archive with all the files needed to run the program).
The interface of this program is clean and very easy to use for everybody. It has a menu bar, a toolbar and the work area, composed by a tree view panel to the left and the main view area to its right. Of course that the problem we have to solve now it's "what" and not "how", so let's start!
The branches from the tree view can help you get all the needed information about your system and even more. I'll tell you what to expect to find in the most important areas, leaving the rest for you to discover, of course...
First category is called Computer and contains general information about your PC, such as Summary, Computer Name, DMI or Sensor information.
Next, we have the Motherboard and all that's on it: CPU, Chipset, Memory or BIOS. You can also check details about the CPU (CPUID page) or memory (SPD information).
The third stop - Operating System. What about it? You can find out almost everything about your Windows: general properties, running processes, started services, loaded device drivers or details about your system's uptime.
Next four stations are called Server, Display, Multimedia and Storage. The last one has a very useful feature that displays SMART information so you can see how healthy your hard drive is.
I will only name the other categories from the tree view and I will stop then at the last one, so here it goes...Network, DirectX, Devices, Software, Security, Config, Database and Benchmmark.
There are ten benchmarks available: four on memory and six built to test your processor, with three of them being FPU tests. The recorded results that you can compare your system with start with hardware platforms over a decade old and finish with the brand new Core Duo processor.
EVEREST Ultimate can also perform a system stability test that is able to stress your processor, memory and hard drive(s) while monitoring the temperatures reported by your system's sensors.
This application also has a diagnostics module for your monitor, it can create reports about your system and display the sensor information inside the system tray.
Although this program is a bit annoying, having a pop up that keeps coming back to remind you that you're using a limited trial version, its price is very good and you get all that you paid for, and a little extra.
The Good
EVEREST Ultimate Edition is, maybe, the best program in its family. Anyway, nobody can say that this is not a fast, easy to use and extremely detailed system information tool. Add a very useful Help file to this and you will get an excellent result!
The Bad
This application uses low level routines for hardware detection and this may cause freezes on some computers. A feature that I missed here is a graphics benchmarking tool.
The Truth
The truth is yours, not mine, and in order to get to it, you have to download, install and run the program, that's all! ...but if you really want to hear my truth, I will say it here: EVEREST Ultimate Edition is a program full of useful features, easy to use, with a very good price, and the trial version still has a lot of power in it. What are you waiting for now?
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
