A few days ago I told you that Technical Support Sucks and You Are Partly to Blame. Today I have another example and an easy, free tool to help you get the answers needed. If you are contacting technical support and they ask you about the hardware in your computer, could you give them any details about it? How about knowing what exact version of Windows you are running? What driver version are you using for your video card? Most computer geeks couldn’t provide all of that information off the top of their heads!
Look at the screenshot above and you’ll see a detailed overview of my computer. If I wanted even more details, all I need to do is click on the category list (not shown) and I get more information that I could possible use on each subsystem. All of you need a utility like this so you can provide technical support with detailed and accurate information!
The screenshot above is from a utility called Speccy from the same folks who bring you CCleaner. It is free for personal use and business licenses are available. I took this screenshot within a minute of installing the utility so it is really easy to use! Get your copy installed now so that you’ll be prepared the next time someone asks about your computer.
Wow, it certainly has all the details! I use Belarc Advisor for its OS/Software/Network information, but Speccy seems to have everything and then some. The screen images are unreadably small on my 24″ 1920×1200 monitor, but the print option prints all the information, a total of 90 (!) pages about my desktop system. It prints as a default in a gigantic font (at least 14 points). When I printed it 2-up duplex, it made a very readable listing and printed on 29 sheets. I will send it to a PDF in the future for storage.
Thanks for the blog!
Kirk
Austin, Texas