I was answering a question for a reader last week and mentioned an application I have used before. She needed several pieces of information regarding her computer for a possible upgrade. I never advise people how to upgrade a computer but I was more than happy to show her where to find the needed information.
All of the information she required is available on every computer if you know where to dig it out; however, there is a much easier way to get it. Enter Belarc Advisor found at belarc.com.
I reviewed all of my columns from the past 16 years and guess what? I had never shared with you any information regarding this great application. I have never even mentioned it in an associated article. I could not believe it as great as this application is…if you need it. If you do not need it you may not want to install it; however, it is fun to run once and see what is in your computer; hardware, software, network, and more.
First you download the application, then double-click the downloaded file just like usual. Then you run through the standards "I Agree," "check for updates to the program before proceeding," and then it will start. The "Belarc Analysis" screen is what you will see running for a while. It depends on what you have on your computer and its speed as to how long it will take. One of mine took about 2 minutes to complete and another one took less than 30 seconds.
Once the analysis completes your default browser will open with all of your system’s obtainable information shown. You will most likely have to scroll down as it will take multiple pages to give you all the facts and figures. You can choose to print it if you wish and note that this file will remain locally on your computer so you can retrieve it if you need the info again. Of course, you could also run the program again to get updated data.
Here are just a few things you can discover about your computer. Computer name, operating system version, computer manufacturer, type and how much memory, hard drive information, printer, all types of adapters, all of your software installed, some licensing information, and much more.
With this information you can not only see who to contact for an inoperable memory stick, what type of memory to purchase, and/or how much new memory your computer can take. Most anything you would need to know about your computer can be found with Belarc Advisor.
That being said, there is one thing that may or may not be found from BA and that is your Windows Operating System Product Key. This is a 25 digit "license" number that Microsoft has on each copy of Windows which is specific for that installation. If you ever rebuild or reinstall windows on your computer you may need that number to be officially licensed. However, it is not easily available for you to find.
Belarc Advisor will sometimes be able to provide that number, sometimes only the last 5 digits and sometimes none of them. I recommend one of many applications which can get that information for you. It is called "Show Key Plus" and it is usually quite effective for Product Key retrieval. You can read more and download it from "The Windows Club" (rd.dblclx.com/2s20YC0).
