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Computer technicians have a reputation similar to that of auto mechanics: You hear they are overpriced and are effective only sometimes, and when you finally find a good one they decide to change careers. Deserved or not, this prejudice, combined with the desire of most IS managers to be self-sufficient, has driven the market for computer analysis tools that let you climb under the hood of your PC yourself.
Diagnostic software not only helps set up and document the contents of recently purchased computers (see sidebar, page 69) but also debugs the system failures of older machines.
The computing environment of the '90s is more conducive to throwing away broken computers than it is to spending the time and resources trying to fix them. One reason for this is that system prices continue to drop. Also, as corporate computing environments get exponentially more complex, it becomes significantly harder to determine whether it's the system hardware, operating system, Windows' network drivers, or applications that are causing the problems. Windows itself poses some special challenges in that it insulates software from hardware. Nevertheless, many users still want to know where the problems lie.
HEX APPEAL. Diagnostic software typically displays a screen that provides information on a system's installed components, including processor type, amount of memory, and hard drive size, with submenus providing even more detailed information on these components.
Using the diagnostic utilities' information gathering tools, you can determine such things as EMS driver version and the presence of a math coprocessor. In addition, these programs deliver more specialized information that can be useful to IS personnel trying to debug application problems--for example, the video adapter chip set manufacturer. Finally, diagnostic software usually provides problem diagnosis--tests that drive a computer in an effort to locate failed or marginal components.
The packages we evaluated--TouchStone Software Corp.'s CheckIt Pro, Version 1.0; Watergate Software Inc.'s PC Doctor, Version 1.0; DiagSoft Inc.'s QAPlus/Win, Version 5.11; and Dariana Software Inc.'s WinSleuth Gold, Version 3.04--provide all these capabilities to some degree. CheckIt Pro and PC Doctor (not to be confused with the antivirus program of the same name) are strictly DOS programs. CheckIt Pro comes as a two-volume set: SysInfo (for system information) and Test and Tools (for diagnostics). QAPlus/Win and WinSleuth...