For help in solving a tricky problem with the operating system or devices, it is better to immediately bring the computer configuration. It can give respondents a clue to the problem, and you will get a substantive answer faster than asking for a configuration. And such a request will inevitably follow, unless you turned to the telepathic community who know how to determine your configuration by the effort of thought.
It's good if you know your configuration by heart. And if not? Then it takes a couple of minutes and a minimum of effort to collect information about the configuration of the computer. Below I will talk about how to do this using Windows OS or third-party programs that can create a report that can be published on the forum.
System Information (msinfo32)
No matter how trivial it sounds, you can collect information about the hardware configuration of your computer without installing third-party programs. Windows includes a utility System information, which has the ability to export the collected data to a text file. You can run the program from the menu Start - Programs - Standard - Service or from the window Start - Execute(or fields Search in Vista) by entering msinfo32 and clicking OK.
After a few seconds, the program will collect information about the system and its hardware configuration. To export the report, select from the menu File paragraph Export, and then specify the file name and save destination. The report is ready! Since it includes various information, the file is relatively large. For publication on the forum it is better to pack it into an archive.
In Windows XP and Vista, the same result can be achieved from the command line by running the command
msinfo32 / report "<путь к папке>\ config.txt "
The file with the report will be created in the folder, the path to which you specify in the above command.
Third Party Programs
There are many free programs for determining the hardware configuration, and it is simply impossible to describe all of them. I've tested several, paying attention to the following points. The program should be free, have a small size and understandable Russian interface, be able to save a report as a text file or a web page, and, if possible, do not require installation.
In the end, I settled on two that bribed me with the simplicity of the interface and the minimum of gestures required to draw up a report.
Winaudit
Along with the hardware configuration, the program collects various information about the operating system and installed applications. You can exclude secondary information from the report by clicking the button Parameters and checking the boxes as shown in the image below.
After that, you need to press the button again Audit on the toolbar for creating a report. Press the button to save the report. Save, and the program will offer a dozen different formats to choose from. Better to save the report as a web page (HTML) or text file. When saved as a web page, the program generates three HTML files that can be zipped and attached to a forum post.
System Information for Windows (SIW)
The SIW program is about 2.2 MB in size, does not require installation (although only the English version is offered without an installer), has a well-thought-out interface, and the clarity of the information it displays deserves a very high mark. In the multilingual version, the Russian interface language, if necessary, can be set in the window Tools - Options... We are, however, interested in creating a report, this option is in the menu File as shown in the picture below.
