Find Out More About Your Hardware

I've read of a bug that affects a certain type of motherboard chipset, but this information isn't exactly laseretched on the front of my PC. How can I find out what's inside my PC without having to pop the hood?

Your PC is made up of dozens of separate components, most of which aren't made by your PC vendor. Although you can certainly open up your computer and look at the label on your hard disk or CPU, most of the "devices" are nothing more than chips soldered to your PC's motherboard. Rather than trying to read the microscopic text on each chip, you can use software to scan your system and produce reports in excruciating detail.

First, open up Windows's own Device Manager by going to Start --> Run and typing devmgmt.msc .

Here, you'll see a manifest of every device for which a driver is loaded. Unfortunately, the information can be spotty at best. For instance, your FireWire controller is probably called simply "1394 Net Adapter." If you're trying to find out whether or not it's a VIA VT6306, for instance, you'll have to look elsewhere.

One of the best tools for this, and a free one at that, is Everest Home Edition, available at http://www.lavalys.com . (Lavalys also offers commercial versions with more features.) Among other things, Everest displays copious details about your hardware, digs into your CPU (indicating, for example, whether or not it can be overclocked), and even performs system diagnostics and memory benchmark tests.

Another worthy tool is WCPUID/XCPUID, available for free at http://www.h-oda.com , which provides exhaustive details about your processor (CPU). This tool's output is useful for overclocking, as well as for finding a compatible CPU if you're interested in upgrading.