Good, Affordable PC Diagnostic Software?

RebornData asks: "I do freelance computer support for small businesses, and after running into a string of hairy hardware problems, decided to buy some generic PC diagnostic software. My searches turned up numerous vendors but very few independent or reputable reviews and comparisons, so I embarked on an evaluation of my own. What I found was an industry filled with con artists, bitter feuds, and outdated products. I'm now out $400 and am wondering whether my hope of finding useful diagnostic software was a naive dream. Has anyone found something that works for you?"

"The premise of PC diagnostics software is simple: provide an easy way to test for PC hardware problems, independent of software configuration. Some hardware vendors (like Dell) provide diagnostics with their systems, but they are usually model-specific and not even all major vendors provide them. Of course there are free utilities like the well-known memtest86, but I was wanted something more comprehensive.

So I started my research, and found a variety of packages, including PC Doctor, PC Check, Microscope, PC Certify, Tufftest Pro, among many others, ranging in price from $500 to $35. Some come with associated hardware, such as loopback connectors for parallel, serial, network or USB ports, or ISA / PCI cards that will show low-level POST codes for machines that appear completely dead.

Some of the vendors provided demos, but most were severely crippled. The cheaper software tended to be outdated and incomplete, lacking support for newer hardware features. Almost all practiced high-pressure sales tactics over the phone, and I discovered that one company was actually a spinoff of another by a disgruntled former employee, resulting in a bitter, lawsuit-ridden feud.

Microscope, by Micro 2000, seemed to have the most online feedback, mostly positive, but they didn't provide a demo. After contacting their sales, they suggested that if I bought a full copy for my evaluation, I could return it in 30 days if it didn't meet my needs. Well, it turned out to be buggy and missing important features found in other, cheaper products. When I called to return the product, the salesman disclaimed all knowledge of the promise they made, and they've refused to take it back. Some further digging found that I'm not the first person to be taken in by these tactics.

I still would like to find worthwhile PC diagnostics software, but the (a) lack of independent reviews, (b) shady industry sales tactics and (c) poor performance of a 'well regarded' package leave me wondering... am I a sucker for buying into the whole concept in the first place? Can anyone point me towards a reputable vendor, or an alternative set of independent tools that will do the same job?"

Comments

Sandra

[stratjakt]

Sandra is a good info/benchmark util.

For windows machines, I found a little app called RegSupreme which actually does a good job of cleaning/fixing keys in the registry.

Best "tool" for tech support is a good working knowledge of the PC. If you're looking for a piece of software to do support for you, then I'm sure the rest of the self proclaimed "IT Guru's" here at slashdot will warm a spot for you in the unemployment line.

Re:to start you off

[mkettler]

Memtest is a great tool, however it is specificaly mentioned in the article itself.

If you read the article, RebornData is looking for something more comprehensive than memtest offers. (ie: more than just a memory test. I assume to include disk, bios, video, cpu information, and a variety of other system tests and checks.)

I myself question the need for much more than a disk-surface-scan tool and a copy of memtest, but it's what RebornData is looking for.

Re:Low Cost

[etnoy]

I totally agree. And the Gentoo LiveCDs all contain the excellent mentest86 program (type memtest on the boot command line) And also, the ISO is a lot smaller than the knoppix one (if you choose the bare-scraped one you'll just need 60 megs of downloading)

Aida32

[lawpoop]

Aida32 is a great windows-based system information application. It's wonderfully complete --- I've used it countless times to find drivers for those 'unknown devices' (modems, sound cards, network cards) that windows can't recognize, and that I didn't want to take out of the machine. However, it doesn't really do diagnostics, such as checking memory or serial ports.

Free for personal use, businesses must register. Well worth it.

Re:The state of PCs

[fruey]

This is modded funny, but there's many a true word spoken in jest. Half the time, having a good backup of valuable files means precisely not losing hours to recover your machine. I've lost countless hours bringing my machine back purely because my backup set was too old and I wanted files back.

Re:Excellent Software

[Evanrude]

I've used The Troubleshooter on numberous occasions and can attest to its ability to pinpoint most hardware related problems. It's a great program for anyone that does a lot of hardware maintenance.

swapping out as a diagnosis technique

[geoswan]

swapping out can really suck as a diagnostic technique. More precisely, it can really suck if not done very thoroughly. Horror story follows.

There was this little mom and pop computer shop, where I bought some stuff, and my buddy bought a whole computer, circa 1993-94. My buddy paid $800 for 16 megs of RAM. And he paid $250 for a honking big tower case, with wheels, and hinged panels, and almost a dozen external bays.

That honking big case was a honking big mistake. He never populated those bays, and it was too bulky to carry on public transit. Well, I had a car, and he didn't. So, when he had hardware problems he would beg me for a lift.

I can't remember how many trips we made to this store. A bunch of them concerned his flaky hard drives. The fellow replaced the drive, at least once.

Well, one time my buddy asked me to take his computer to this store for him. And this time I watched the owner's diagnostic technique. The first thing he did was take the drive out of the big honking case, and put it in his test rig. He also confessed to me that he wasn't replacing the drives any more, he would just test it, and if it was okay he was telling my buddy he had replaced it.

When I got the computer back to my buddy's place, I opened it up myself. I found that one of the pins on one of the power connectors had come loose. So it was only making intermittent connection. And this was causing intermittent problems.

Diagnosis through swapping out components failed here.

Sounds like AIDA is on its last legs

[mccrew]

The future of AIDA does not sound all that bright. From their website:

Due to the constantly decreasing interest about our 16-bit DOS system information tool AIDA16, as of February 16, 2004 we have decided to discontinue the product and to remove all AIDA16 related contents from our website aida32.hu. ... Please do NOT ask for source code of AIDA16, it is confidential and will not go public.

and

So as of February 16, 2004 we do NOT provide any official support for AIDA32. ... We preserve the right to ignore all messages about installation, configuration and application problems, however we will still be active on both the international and the Hungarian discussion forums.