14 DAY TRIAL // The hardware information tools family is large and has a lot of members worthy of your attention. I don't have to say much about the need of knowing what's inside your computer case, this should be a topic known to everybody by now.
Just to know where to place it, I will tell you that Everest and Sandra are two older brothers of today's program. Its name is HWiNFO32 and reached version 1.62.
The installation kit of the 14 day trial version that I have here is 1.7MB in size. The setup process ends quickly, without any problem, and you end up facing the main window of this program.
HWiNFO32 has a nice interface and it's extremely easy to use. The menu bar could be removed without any loss, in my opinion, since all functions performed by menu items are present on the toolbar. The main work area of the program is composed by a treeview to the left and the view pane that takes up the rest of the space.
Let's browse through the treeview branches now and save the additional features for the finish. The main branches deliver only basic general information, while the children give you an insight of your computer's devices.
The CPU and memory information branches have only one child each. Don't worry about this, you will get to know everything you need and even a bit more about each of them. Information about CPU cache, TLB, feature flags or memory timing is no problem for HWiNFO32.
Moving on, we meet maybe the most complex component of a computer, after the CPU. The Motherboard area has an impressive amount of data available. Plug and Play System Nodes, ACPI Devices, SMBIOS DMI, System Slots and other areas wait for you to explore them.
If it wasn't the help file, these would sound rather strange for most people, but this way, it's a lot easier. While exploring your computer's devices, you can also learn more about computer terminology.
No hardware devices are missed by HWiNFO32, and you will get information about your video adapter, monitor, drives, network and audio devices before counting to three.
Information on system devices is a pleasant topic for me, and I could tell you a lot of stories and histories about computers and hardware devices, but I have to move on to the three goodies of this program: the report, benchmarks and sensors modules.
Detailed system reports can be generated and exported to a file in one of the following formats: LOG, CSV or XML, but, unfortunately, this feature is only available in the paid version.
The benchmarking module is a basic one, covering CPU, disk and memory benchmarks. It's good to know that there are a lot of reference results to compare your system with, but some of the configurations there seem really strange to me, such as Athlon Xp 2000+ CPU on KT133 mainboard.
At last, the sensors module has the purpose to display the values of the monitoring sensors installed on your computer, but unfortunately you can't enable alerts or at least display that info in the system tray, so the practical use of this feature is very limited.
This is HWiNFO32, but I didn't pick all the fruits, as usual, there are some nice features left especially for you, waiting. Are you ready to start?
The Good
This software is very good as an entry-level system information tool ? it's easy to use, provides a good amount of useful information and has even a well done help file! The benchmark and sensor monitorization modules are two nice additions to HWiNFO32.
The Bad
The trial version that I checked today is surpassed by many freeware programs, and, although the program's price is small, I can't see why paying for a program that doesn't have anything new compared to other free applications, such as Fresh Diagnose or PC Wizard.
The Truth
Take your time and try this application, it may be useful to you, especially if you don't have a better one yet. Why use a program when there are better ones out there? Every program deserves a chance, and I think that HWiNFO32 has this right too. This is not a leading member of the system information tools family, but he's not a bad one either.
Don't be hasty, take your time, you have 14 days available to check it out. Good luck!
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
