Free utilities for monitoring your PC’s performance. Keep in mind, the free PC Matic diagnostic scan also provides some of this same data.–PC Pitstop.
Monitoring Your PC’s Performance
by Marc Thomas for Daves Computer Tips
How cool is my PC?
I confess to being a sucker for desktop monitoring utilities probably because, like the proverbial Magpie, I love to see gauges, LEDs, tuning knobs and dials. Maybe it was all those home brew electronic sets I had as a kid or that crystal radio I managed to clamp to the bedroom radiator and pick up the BBC World Service on, who knows? If it’s got flashing lights, winking diodes and it’s shiny, I want it.
Why monitor your PC? If you’re driving your car around every day you’ll be wanting to know how much fuel you’ve got and whether the engine is about to go pop and leave you stranded, plucking the banjo whilst squealing like a pig Deliverance style. You wouldn’t want that would you?
Which hardware monitor should I choose?
A PC is built with several core components and until the day arrives when it’s powered by a single blob of ice cool Kryptonite, we’re stuck with silicon chips that get hot and need to be kept cool by all means necessary.
There are now hundreds of monitoring utilities available, many of which are provided by your motherboard, CPU or GPU manufacturer and many others by independent programmers and large corporations alike. In the early days only a few were available such as SpeedFan and Everest, which were both Windows 98 friendly and gave you real-time monitoring in an easy to use but albeit, rather dull interface.
