Computer Tips for ‘Regular People’ - How to Check Computer Specs
Imagine:
- Your standard Dell or Gateway computer crashes and you contact the support number, only to get asked a bunch of questions about your computer’s hardware and memory configurations that you don’t know how to answer.
- You have an IBM compatible system that your late Uncle George built for you and the sound and video doesn’t seem to work. You call a local “fix my computer” specialist who asks all sorts of questions about what kind of hardware you have, and you’re clueless.
The reality is that these situations are not at all uncommon.
There are a number of ways that you can find out your computer specifications.
Use Help and Support
The easiest way to check your computer specs if you have a newer Windows operating system, is to use the “Help and Support” feature.
To access help and support, click START which is a button on the lower left-hand corner of your screen, then select Help and Support.
Once you’re in the Help and Support program, you’ll notice that there is a search bar at the very top of the page. Type “computer configuration” in the search box and click enter.
A number of topics will show up in your search results. Under the task, select the link that reads “Get information about your computer.”
When you select the task, you will find the following screen:
The “general” information will display some helpful data.
To find out what kind of hardware your system has installed in it, click the link that reads “Find information about the hardware installed on this computer.”
Here’s an image that partially shows the results of the hardware that’s installed on my system:
An Alternative Way to Find Out Computer Specs
You can also get your computer configuration information by right-clicking on the “My Computer” icon that’s on your desktop.
When you right click, a menu will pop up. Select “Properties.”
NOTE: If “My Computer” does not show up on your desktop, do the following:
- Select START.
- Select Programs.
- Select Accessories
- Select Windows Explorer.
- From Windows Explorer, right click on the “My Computer” icon that appears.
Regardless of whether you have right-clicked My Computer from your desktop or from within the Windows Explorer program, a screen will pop up that looks like this:
As you can see, the first screen gives you general information about your system. To find out specific information about your hardware, select the tab that reads “Hardware.”
Within the Hardware screen, you’ll see a button for “Device Manager.” When you click that, all of your hardware will appear. The hardware is grouped by type. You can expand these groups by clicking the + sign. Then, right click on whatever device your need to know about, select Properties and you will see the information you may need to make sure your computer is properly configured:
For Additional Information
This article shows you how to get computer specs. If you are having device conflicts or other problems and are not sure what you are doing, check with your manufacturer’s support or local computer repair person. If you’re not sure it’s a hardware issue that is creating computer crashes or other problems, services such as XP Repair Pro will scan and repair over 60,000 common Windows problems. The program works with Windows 98 and up. 2.71 million computer users have downloaded this award-winning product and found the help they need. XP Repair Pro has a free trial, so check it out.
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Thank you Urbain for reading and commenting on my posts. To get some positive feedback feels magic, as writing is not my work, just something I do from my heart.
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Tanja