Windows diagnostics is not only something that IT analysts should worry about. Anyone with a computer should be comfortable using Windows diagnostic tools to troubleshoot basic problems.
Believe it or not, you can fix most problems yourself if you have the right tools and know how to use them.
You don’t need sophisticated tools or deep computer knowledge to diagnose Windows problems. With the right tools, any computer owner can narrow down the problems they may face.
Below are 15 of the most effective Windows diagnostics you can use to determine what may be causing problems on your Windows PC.
Process explorer
The first tool is one of those diagnostic applications that you don’t even know about until you use it. Most computer experts will advise you to use the Processes tab in Task Manager to see which applications might be consuming all of your CPU time.
The problem with the task manager is that it only shows top-level processes. On the other hand, Process Explorer uses a tree structure to show you not only the top-level processes, but also the child processes associated with that application.
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This tool is a favorite of programmers who want to make sure that there are no memory leaks or CPU problems in their application processes.
Process Explorer also includes all of the following diagnostic features:
- Real-time charts of CPU, memory, I / O, and GPU.
- Color coding to see the most active processes.
- Get detailed information about processes such as memory, priority, handles, and more.
- Adjust the CPU load and process priority.
Download Process Explorer
CPUID
When you are working with remote support and need processor information, CPUID is a powerful tool for viewing all the information you need about your processor. It can also help gather GPU or memory card information if you want to upgrade your system and find the perfect match.
It is free to download and use, and it works on both 32-bit and 64-bit systems. The amount of information about your processor and other system information is impressive.
- Processor brand and all specifications
- Cache sizes
- Motherboard brand and revision.
- Current memory size and time.
- Characteristics of memory cards in each slot.
- GPU brand, clock speed and memory
- CPU and stress test tools
System Explorer
System Explorer is an impressive tool that gives you more information about the overall performance of your system than most of the other tools available.
In addition to running processes, it includes real-time graphs, all active Internet connections, and a history of process activity.
System Explorer features include:
- A tree breakdown of all active processes.
- Built-in tool to perform file security checks on active processes.
- Double-click a process to see which company created it and any modules associated with it.
- Excellent real-time system utilization graphs for CPU, RM and I / O.
- All running processes using your computer’s Internet connection
- Historical list of processor activities
Reliability Monitor
Right in Windows 10, there is one useful diagnostic tool that you can use without installation. This is called a reliability monitor.
To open it, click Start and type reliability. Select View Reliability History.
The reliability history graph shows where errors occurred on your Windows system. These are the same errors that you can see in the Windows event logs, but they are presented graphically where errors are easy to spot.
How to use the Reliability Monitor:
- Click any red X to see more information about these errors in the lower pane.
- Click any yellow! for more information on these warnings.
- Use the Technical Viewer to view more detailed warning or error information.
You don’t have to worry about all the errors and warnings. Most Windows systems experience random errors. But if you see recurring critical errors over a long period of time, you may have identified an issue that is affecting your system’s performance.
WiFi Analyzer
This is a free app that you can install from the Microsoft Store. It is a powerful tool for quickly analyzing all wireless networks wherever you are.
It provides the current strength of the available Wi-Fi signals. It also shows detailed information about the network you are currently connected to. These include channel, frequency, bandwidth, etc.
Other features of the free version include:
- a graph of all local Wi-Fi signals and their strength in real time.
- Filter Wi-Fi graphs based on wireless frequency.
- Power histogram of all available wireless networks.
- The connection speed of your currently connected network.
Angry IP Scanner
If your current network bandwidth seems slow, you can use a tool like Angry IP Scanner. This tool will scan your entire network and show you all the devices connected to your network.
Actively connected devices are displayed as IP addresses with blue dots. You will also see the hostname of the device and the current ping status.
Angry IP Scanner features:
- Export a list of IP addresses to files of various formats.
- Works with third party data collection applications.
- Includes command: a line tool that can be used to scan the network using a scheduled job.
- Available for Windows, Mac and Linux systems.
- Runs from an EXE file and does not require installation
WinDirStat
It is a powerful tool for analyzing your disk drives. Determine which folders are taking up the most space and look for areas where old files might be taking up space.
When you first run the tool, it will perform a full scan and analysis of the disk. This information is presented in three areas and in three formats:
- Directory List: Displays a complete list of all directories on disk.
- Treemap: Shows directory contents in ad tree format.
- List of extensions. View a list of all types of files on disk along with statistics.
The graphic display at the bottom allows you to quickly identify what is occupying the most space on your hard drives.
If you click on the largest areas, you’ll see a list of these files and their locations so you can delete them and quickly clean up disk space.
CrystalDiskInfo
This free utility is another useful tool for analyzing the hard drives on your system. It is a useful tool to monitor your drives and ensure they perform optimally. View temperatures, error rates, power problems, and more
Key features of CrystalDiskInfo:
- Sound and power controls.
- S.M.A.R.T. disk graphs
- Set up email alerts when your disks have problems.
- Receive system notifications when errors occur.
It’s a simple application, but it can quickly fix disk problems before they get serious and you lose all your data.
HWiNFO
This impressive diagnostic utility combines existing Windows diagnostic tools into one package.
It provides you with an overview of your entire system, including information about the hardware in your system, real-time monitoring of all components of your system, and the ability to log and export detailed reports about your computer.
Features include:
- Detailed information about all hardware listed in Device Manager.
- View data from all sensors installed on your computer.
- Generate reports on the data collected by the utility.
- Configure the utility using the HWINFO64 settings.
hddscan
This free tool provides you with many tools to diagnose any type of hard drive, including RAID arrays, USB sticks, or SSDs.
The software includes testing functions to check for bad blocks and bad sectors, and collects several parameters about your hard drives.
Features include:
- Check the health of your disks.
- Predict the life of your drives based on their deterioration.
- Get a complete SMART report on your drives li
Windows Sysinternals Suite
Process Explorer listed in # 1 is a SysInternals application available for download from the Microsoft website. SysInternals offers a complete set of utilities and tools. You can download them all at once by downloading the whole package.
This set includes utilities such as:
- AdExplorer
- Autologon
- ClockRes
- Coreinfo
- Desktop computers
- DiskView
- PageDefrag
- RAMMap (image shown above)
- Sysmon
- TCPView
- Much more
If you need software that can monitor processes, hardware, services, and everything else on your system, this set of utilities is probably the best all-in-one diagnostic package you can download.
Malicious software
Malware is a scourge that affects computers, slows down your system and interrupts your time on the Internet. Antivirus software is great for removing viruses and infected files, but it can sometimes ignore malware.
Malwarebytes is a tool designed specifically to identify and clean your system of any malware that might have entered your system.
Using Malwarebytes is easy too. Once installed, just run a full system scan and see what the utility finds. You can also configure the application to run automatically on a schedule so you don’t have to worry about your system becoming overloaded with malware over time.
JScreenFix
This online utility is probably the simplest diagnostic tool since it works on the Internet.
If you’ve ever had a bright dot that stays on the screen no matter what you do, it’s caused by what is known as “pixel stuck”. You can find them by looking at a black screen and looking for light points.
Using the JScreenFix utility, you can drag and drop a static block onto a stuck pixel and that will fix the problem in less than 10 minutes.
ESET SysInspector
If you don’t want to dig into system errors and troubleshoot yourself, you can try this versatile tool, which will scan your system and try to diagnose common system problems.
It is a free application and usually integrates with ESET antivirus software. At the very least, this is a great first tool to try if you’re unsure of where to start. The software scans and detects problems with all of the following:
- Processes and services
- Suspicious files
- Problematic software
- Incompatible hardware
- Outdated or problematic drivers
- OS files requiring updates
- Registry problems
- Suspicious applications accessing the network or the Internet
Even if you don’t find the answer, it will at least point you in the right direction.
Correction Diagnostics 2
This tool for advanced Windows users allows you to create full memory dumps of the Windows process and run debug diagnostics to analyze the file.
This diagnostic tool will make you analyze dump files easier to understand than digging through the files yourself.
This tool is best suited for users who already understand how dump files work (and how to create them). This tool will greatly simplify your job of analyzing these files.
Use Windows Diagnostic Tools
As you can see, there are many tools for a wide variety of purposes. Which one you choose depends on what problems you are having.
The list above should help you decide which one to download and use to fix any Windows problems you may have.
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