(https://angelcom.

com/best-computer-diagnostic-tools/)

Computer Diagnostic Tools

Computer diagnostics tools are pieces of software that give you the knowledge you need to be
able to potentially repair your own computer. Some of these tools come built in to your
operating system while others come from 3rd party software developers. Either way, these tools
help save you time and money.

Computer diagnostic tools can be used scan your computer hard drive, check your ram for errors,
check CPU temp and give you information about any other devices connected to your computer.
These tools are made to find problems that may be disrupting your computer’s normal
performance. Once a problem is found, you can then plan your repair.

Here are some computer diagnostic tools:

#1 Windows Performance Monitor

The first one on this list is built right in to Windows operating systems. The performance
monitor gives you a quick view of vital information related your computer hardware. From here,
you can check out your CPU, Memory, Disk info and Ethernet information. You can also use
Performance Monitor to examine the effects of your running applications in both real time and
by collecting data to check out for later analysis.
#2 Windows Resource Monitor

Windows Resource Monitor is number two on the list. This diagnostic tool is more robust than
Windows Performance Monitor. It is better suited for tracking individual aspects of CPU,
Network, memory and disk usage. This tool gives you an in depth look at what processes are
affecting your CPU, how much memory is being used what is using it, individual process disk
activity and network information like current Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connections and
what processes are listening on what port.

#3 Open Hardware Monitor

Open Hardware Monitor is a free open source application that runs on Windows and Linux
systems. This diagnostic tool monitors your computers temperature sensors, fan speeds, voltages,
load and clock speeds. If your computer is shutting down by itself, hanging or crashing, this tool
can come in real handy by telling you that your system is overheating or the fans aren’t working
properly.

#4 Speccy

Speccy is another great computer diagnostic tool. This application gives information on just
about everything including software, hardware, peripherals, disk info, graphics & network data.
It is easy to use layout that make troubleshooting and maintenance easier. Great application to
start with when you are looking for specific info about your computer.
#5 HD Tune

HD Tune Pro is a great tool for HDD and SSD diagnostics. This utility allows you to benchmark
your storage device showing you the minimum, maximum and average transfer rates along with
many other useful tools. The other features of HD Tune include detailed drive info, error
scanning, & drive health. The pro version allows you to check the health status of multiple
drives, offers folder usage info, secure erase, file benchmark, disk monitor, cache test & extra
tests.

Computer diagnostics are meant to serve a vital purpose. They are important tools which work
automatically, with very little effort necessary from the end user. They help you discover and fix
problems within your hard disks and network configurations. Rather than manually searching for
small, hard-to-find problems on your own, you can simply allow computer diagnostics tools to
take care of your problems for you!
(https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/disk-management/overview-of-disk-management)

Disk Management
Disk Management is a system utility in Windows that enables you to perform advanced storage
tasks. Here are some of the things Disk Management is good for:

 To setup a new drive.

 To extend a volume into space that's not already part of a volume on the same drive.
 To shrink a partition, usually so that you can extend a neighboring partition.
 To change a drive letter or assign a new drive letter.

Here are some common tasks you might want to do but that use other tools in Windows:

 To free up disk space.

 To defragment your drives.
 To take multiple hard drives and pool them together, similar to a RAID.

About those extra recovery partitions

Windows typically includes three partitions on your main drive (usually the C:\ drive):
  EFI system partition - This is used by modern PCs to start (boot) your PC and your operating
system. (Extensible Firmware Interface file)
 Windows operating system drive (C:) - This is where Windows is installed, and usually where
you put the rest of your apps and files.
 Recovery partition - This is where special tools are stored to help you recover Windows in case
it has trouble starting or runs into other serious issues.

Although Disk Management might show the EFI system partition and the recovery partition as
100% free, it's untrue. These partitions are generally pretty full with really important files your
PC needs to operate properly. It's best to just leave them alone to do their jobs starting your PC
and helping you recover from problems.

CheckIt 3.0
CheckIt, from TouchStone Software Corporation, is a diagnostic tool for generic PC/XT/AT
compatible computers. It can perform tests on RAM, hard disks, video cards, floppy disks,
motherboard resources, and I/O devices. It has an easy to use menu interface but can also run
tests non-interactively. It was followed up by the product WINCheckit.

Norton Utilities is a utility software suite designed to help analyze, configure, optimize and
maintain a computer. The current version of Norton Utilities is Norton Utilities 16 for Windows
XP/Vista/7/8 was released 26 October 2012.

Version 1.0
The initial 1982 release supported DOS 1.x and featured the UNERASE utility. This allowed files to be
undeleted by restoring the first letter of the directory entry (a workaround of the FAT file system used in
DOS).

Version 14.0

Norton Utilities 14 for Windows

The revival of Norton Utilities as standalone software was announced on 3 February 2009, along
with the discontinuation of Norton SystemWorks, which it replaces as Symantec's flagship PC
tune-up suite.

This version added 64-bit support on Windows XP and Vista. It includes Registry Defragmenter,
Registry Cleaners, Disk Cleaner, Disk Defragmenter, Startup Manager, Service Manager,
Restore Center, System Optimizer, Process Viewer, and Performance Test.

PC repair tools are software that aid in tuning your operating system by targeting specific
issues it may encounter and neutralize these issues to restore or improve the PC’s overall user
experience.

The following are some PC TOOLS:

List Of Top PC Repair Tools

1. System Mechanic Ultimate Defense

2. Restoro
3. Outbyte PC Repair
4. Windows Repair by Tweaking
5. FixWin for Windows 10
6. Snappy Driver Installer
7. CCleaner Technician Edition
8. CPU-Z
9. Microsoft Fix it Tool
10. IOBit Driver Booster
11. AVG TuneUp
12. Ashampoo Win Optimizer

DOS WINDOWS UTILITIES

Several DOS command prompt utilities can be very useful to a computer technician for memory
configuration and hard drive or floppy disk preparation. A few of the more useful DOS utilities
are described next, with an emphasis on how some of them are used through the GUIs of newer
operating systems.

FDISK and FORMAT

The two DOS command line utilities FDISK and FORMAT were described in detail in Chapter
20. It is important to remember that FDISK is a disk-partitioning utility used to separate one
physical hard drive into 24 logical partitions for more efficient use of storage. FDISK also makes
it possible for you to install multiple operating systems on one physical drive.
CHKDSK and SCANDISK

CHKDSK is an old DOS utility that was used to search out bad clusters and lost allocation units
on a hard drive. It was common to implement the CHKDSK /F command to attempt to repair bad
clusters. The CHKDSK utility has been, for the most part, replaced by the ScanDisk utility.
ScanDisk is a Microsoft disk analysis and repair utility that is used to recover and repair lost or
bad clusters on a disk. Windows 9x and Windows Me utilize a GUI version of ScanDisk that can
be accessed and run by selecting Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > ScanDisk

Disk utility software for your Windows PC

Keeping your hard drive well maintained is a must for every PC owner. If you don't, you run the
risk of encountering problems down the line. With that in mind, we've compiled this small
collection of disk utilities that can help with everything from more efficient defragging, through
to analysing what lives on your hard drive.

Auslogics Disk Defrag

This program has one goal: To put your files where they belong, so programs start faster and
your system response and performance is all it should be.

Defraggler

You don't have to defrag an entire hard drive at once. Defraggler can target specific folders or
files (which is great for gigantic files like videos). Schedule it to run whenever you want.

Disk Space Fan 4

Looking at directories doesn't tell you everything, but a beautiful pie graph can help. Disk Space
Fan's free version will diagram your drive and let you drill down to what's stored.

EaseUS Partition Master

You don't need to reboot Windows to partition parts of the hard drive or combine partitions into
one, all without losing any data.
How to use CHKDSK (Check Disk) to repair
a hard drive
Windows has a handy feature called CHKDSK (Check Disk) that you can use to analyse hard
drive errors and run repairs automatically. It can be a lifesaver for dealing with (non-physical)
hard drive faults.

A glitchy or corrupted hard drive can create a moment of panic. The potential for lost files is
heartbreaking, and hard drive failure is one of the top reported computer faults.

We explain how to run CHKDSK in Windows 10 or 8.1 in the steps below.

Remember, CHKDSK won't be of much help if you're dealing with a physically damaged hard
drive (eg after dropping your laptop), but it can be a great tool for correcting minor errors.

How to run CHKDSK in Windows 10 or 8.1

To start, open a new File Explorer window (click Windows key + E) then click This PC. Right-
click on the drive that you wish to scan - most commonly this will be your C: Drive or D: Drive -
then click Properties.
The Properties window for the selected drive will now open. Here, click the Tools tab and then
click Check under the Error checking section.
If your PC thinks everything is running smoothly, it'll show a window stating that you don't need
to scan the drive at all. However, if you'd prefer to run a CHKDSK scan, you can proceed by
clicking Scan drive below this.

Don't worry, you can't do any damage to your PC by running this scan process.
The CHKDSK function will begin its checks. Depending on the size of your selected drive, and
the amount of data stored on it, this process could take anything from a few minutes to half an
hour.

If all is well, you'll receive the good news that the drive has been completed and no errors were
found. However, if the CHKDSK scan does find errors, it will attempt to fix what it can.

Alternative: run CHKDSK from a Command Prompt

There's another, simple, way of initiating a CHKDSK process - you can do so directly from a
command prompt window.

To do this, open up command prompt (click Windows key + X then select Command Prompt -
Admin).

In the command prompt window, type in CHKDSK then a space, then the name of the disk you
wish to check. For example, if you wished to perform a disk check on your C drive, type
in CHKDSK C then press enter to run the command.
Defrag
Fragmentation makes your hard disk do extra work that can slow down your computer. Removable
storage devices such as USB flash drives can also become fragmented. Disk Defragmenter in Windows
rearranges fragmented data so your disks and drives can work more efficiently. Disk Defragmenter runs
on a schedule, but you can also analyze and defragment your disks and drives manually. To do this,
follow these steps:

To defragment your hard disk

1. Open Disk Defragmenter by clicking the Start button . In the search box, type Disk
Defragmenter, and then, in the list of results, click Disk Defragmenter.
2. Under Current status, select the disk you want to defragment.
3. To determine if the disk needs to be defragmented or not, click Analyze disk. If
you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or
provide confirmation.

Once Windows is finished analyzing the disk, you can check the percentage of
fragmentation on the disk in the Last Run column. If the number is above 10%, you
should defragment the disk.
4. Click Defragment disk. If you're prompted for an administrator password or
confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Disk Defragmenter might take from several minutes to a few hours to finish, depending on the
size and degree of fragmentation of your hard disk. You can still use your computer during the
defragmentation process.