Everyone who is going to buy a computer or laptop in the store wants to find out all the technical parameters of the device they like, which looks completely natural. In the same way, all other users would like to receive extended information on their terminal and the components installed in it. About how to find out the characteristics of the computer, then the conversation will go. For the average layman, several uncomplicated methods can be proposed, but the information obtained with their help can vary quite a lot.
How to find out the characteristics of a computer on Windows 7 or another modification in the simplest way?
To begin, consider the simplest method. Apparently, it makes no sense to say that to get brief information about the main components of the computer and the installed operating system, you can use the properties section, which is called up through the PCM menu on the computer icon on the "Desktop" or in "Explorer" (in Windows 10, the computer icon only available in the file manager).
Here, the current OS version and brief information about the processor and RAM will be indicated. But everyone understands that this in some situations is clearly not enough. But how then to get the maximum information?
How to find out the version of the operating system?
Now let's see how to find out the characteristics of the computer in terms of the installed assembly of Windows. Note, in this case, we are not talking about modifications (7, 8, 10), but about the assembly and version (for example, Anniversary Update or Creators Update for Windows 10). To get this information, the easiest way is to use the Run console and set the winver command in it to execute.
In a small window, the current version (for example, 1709) and the assembly (for example, 16299.248) will be indicated, which for Windows 10 corresponds to the latest installed updates.
How to find out the system characteristics of your computer?
But this is only brief information about the system, and about the components installed in it. But how do you know the full specifications of your computer? To do this, the system provides for the use of a special tool, which, in the form of the msinfo32 command, is launched from the Run menu.
There is already much more information here, especially since on the main tab it also includes data on the motherboard, and for the same version of the OS, and about the BIOS firmware, and about the processor, and RAM, and for some additional components. If you go to the component section, you can get information about all the installed hardware, and in the section of the software environment - about drivers, applications, network connections, etc.
device Manager
Now let's see how to find out the characteristics of a computer using a special dispatcher, which displays all installed hardware components and some virtual devices. You can call the "Device Manager" from the "Control Panel", go to it through the computer management section (administration) or use the "Run" console, in which the combination devmgmt.msc is entered.
In the dispatcher window and will be shown the main devices, but not all. To expand the list, you must use the show hidden devices item, which is located in the view menu. Using this tool is convenient in that you can immediately see non-working components or malfunctioning devices, update drivers, get information on equipment IDs, etc.
Using the DirectX Dialog
Now a few words about how to find out the characteristics of a computer using a special tool provided by the DirectX platform. You can call this tool from the same Run menu by entering the abbreviation dxdiag.
Here, on the main tab, brief information on the main components and version of the operating system will be presented, however, in this case we are interested in the “Monitor” tab, which contains the parameters of the graphics adapter. Why is this interesting? Yes, because this is the only way to find out the amount of allocated memory of an integrated type video card. Accordingly, in the information block located in the upper right, you can get information about the installed drivers. The same goes for the sound adapter.
BIOS options
Finally, you can view all installed devices in the parameters of the primary BIOS, which you log in when you turn on your computer or laptop. Typically, this information is located on the Main tab, but the components built into the motherboard may be located in the Onboard Devices section.
Third Party Utilities
Finally, you can get the most complete information using specially designed utilities like CPU-Z, Speecy, AIDA64, etc.
To the user, any such program, in order to find out the characteristics of a computer, provides several main sections, and the information concerns not only the basic parameters of any device or manufacturer, but also its current status (for example, the current processor temperature or the degree of RAM load).
Brief Summary
This is briefly and everything related to obtaining basic or extended information about the characteristics of a computer device, the operating system and all installed components and devices. It is logical for any user to ask what tool is best used for this. In the absence of specialized information utilities, there is enough information about the system and the DirectX dialog. However, in the case when the user is going to overclock some component programmatically (for example, a central or graphic processor), there is no way to do without third-party programs.