Features

1. CPU-Z
www.cpuid.com
Size: 450KB

It's no coincidence that this tiny utility ends up installed on all the PCs and notebooks that come into the PC Pro Labs: it takes mere seconds to tell you everything you need to know about the core components. Constantly updated to support the latest CPUs, it gives you real-time clock-speed readouts, along with details of steppings, multipliers and cache; motherboard model and chipset; RAM speed, timings and even the memory slots you've filled. In short, it's a Rough Guide to your own PC.

2. DupKiller 0.8.2
www.dupkiller.net/index_en.html
Size: 3.9MB

You'd be surprised at how much disk space you can free up by running this program, which detects duplicate files on your hard disk. It will also search network drives, removable storage and CDs or DVDs. You can choose to exclude certain folders or file types from your search, and whether to delete the files to the Recycle Bin or directly from your hard disk. Binary comparisons mean the files don't even have to have the same filename. Very clever.

3. SpeedFan
www.almico.com/speedfan.php
Size: 1.5MB

It's only natural to be curious about the health of the components in your PC, but to be absolutely certain you need this brilliant little utility. SpeedFan collects the information from the temperature-sensing components in your PC, allowing you to determine whether your noise-killing fan adjustments are making your CPU run too hot, for instance. You can also control fan speed and see the SMART status of your hard disk, giving you access to your disk's early warning system.

4. JDiskReport
www.jgoodies.com
Size: 0.5MB

Hard disks are like sock drawers: they always seem to be inexplicably full. JDiskReport shows you where all your precious space has gone, visually breaking down your usage by folder - so you can see which directories are the fullest - or by type, enabling you to see at a glance whether your MP3s or your family photos take up more space. There's even a simple "top 50" file list, to lead you straight to the worst culprits.

5. SiSoftware Sandra
www.sisoftware.co.uk
Size: 12.8MB

While techies love the raw figures provided by CPU-Z, Sandra gives a wider-ranging overview of your system, laying bare every detail of your BIOS and hardware in a series of easy-to-read reports. It can also benchmark components and compare scores against a huge database of hardware, so you can check how your system measures up. A paid-for version adds extra modules, but the free edition is fully functional and not restricted in any way.

6. Gainward ExperTool
www.gainward.com/support
Size: 3.5MB

Is the whine of your Nvidia graphics card's fan driving you up the wall? Nvidia's latest driver control panel lets you control fan speed, but only in 3D mode, which doesn't help when it decides to spin up while you're editing a Word document. Intended only for Gainward cards, ExperTool nonetheless works with a great many other Nvidia-based cards, and allows you to control the fan in both 2D and 3D modes for blissful silence - without forking out £50 for a quiet heatsink. A little gem.

7. Process Explorer
www.pcpro.co.uk/links/157technet
Size: 11.7MB

Process Explorer is a powerful replacement for the Windows Task Manager. It gives you full diagnostic and descriptive information for all the processes running on your system, including details of which DLLs and memory-mapped files have been loaded by each process. Colour highlighting lets you see at a glance what state processes are in, and naturally anything unwanted can be killed with a mouse click. It's the system-monitoring tool that should have been bundled with Windows.

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