Every now and then I happen upon a utility where I think – how did I live without that? MSINFO32 is one such utility and surprisingly enough it comes bundled with XP.

Click Start->Run then type msinfo32.exe which will bring up the utility and you can click in the information tree to find out useful information about your setup.

Click on the File Menu and you can also Export this information to a text file. To get a complete summary ensure that “System Summary” is highlighted.

There are a number of command line options you can use to generate information (perhaps in a startup or logon script) . Microsoft Support site have a good overview of these switches in their article “How to use System Information (MSINFO32) command-line tool switches” but one particular example is:

msinfo32 /report C:\TEST.TXT

Which creates a text report and places it in the path specified.

Other sites that talk about MSINFO32 include:

How to generate a startup log using MSINFO32?
http://www.winxptutor.com/msinfo32.htm

MSINFO32: You’ve Already Got It! Use It.
http://www.lockergnome.com/windows/2006/06/01/msinfo32-youve-already-got-it-use-it/

Methods to detect Trojans viruses on your machine

http://dotnet.org.za/brianwilson/archive/2005/04/25/18737.aspx

For more tips check out the Tech Advice section on Jason Slater Weblog at http://www.jasonslater.co.uk/techadvice/

Related

• XP IP Information
• Syslog and the need for retaining event information
• European Intranet, obtaining the Nielsen report
• SFIA: Skills Framework for the Information Age
• Power Shell