Belarc - Belarc Advisor 7.2 review

Traverse the computing message boards and forums of the Internet, and there's always going to be a new post from a user struggling to identify the components that are sat inside their PC. Be it identification of something simple, such as a graphics card, through to the requirement for an exact name for a motherboard, it's a question that most of us have faced and many of us have answered.

The easiest way to head such a query off at the proverbial pass, though, is with the superb Belarc Advisor, now up to version 7.2. This is a comprehensive tool for rooting around the insides of your PC and revealing just what hardware lies within. Furthermore, there are no vagaries here: the answers you get are thorough and specific.

The program is a free-of-charge release from system management specialists Belarc, that's not even a couple of megabytes in size. Once opened, it invites you to check for security updates and then it requires generally just a minute or two to explore your computer (although it was nippier than that on our two testbed machines).

It generates a fairly formal looking report, perhaps the least user-friendly part of the program. However, the detail in the report is staggering. On top of identifying the exact nature of the hardware in the computer - right down to serial numbers if you need them - it also gives you an overview of your drives (and the remaining capacity on them), user accounts on your system (including last log-in times) and the build of your operating system.

And there's more. A lot more. Belarc Advisor digs right down into the software that's installed on the machine (including version numbers and serial numbers where appropriate), delivers a list of Windows hotfixes that have been installed and digs into the available devices on the system.

It's a staggeringly comprehensive report, that inevitably comes with a link to Belarc's system management products at the top, although it seems churlish to quibble with that given the level of information you're provided with. What's more, it's a program that answers a legitimate need, in a way that leaves you with no doubt whatsoever.

In an ideal world we'd like to see the report screen overhauled and just made a little more penetrable for the absolute novice user. But on the other hand, we admire the fuss-free way the tool uncovers, audits and reports on information without the need for fanfare or fuss. Belarc Advisor isn't a program you'll be needing very often, but it is a handy one to keep around.