1. Use Performance Monitor
“Performance Monitor” is a built-in tool in Windows that let’s you track various elements of your PC, such as networking, RAM, and disk usage. While there are a variety of things you can do with “Performance Monitor,” the two most important elements of checking PC health include the “System Diagnostics” and “System Performance” reports. These reports give you a detailed analysis of how various components of your system are running. The data isn’t always easy to understand, but you can notice trends and changes when you run the reports on a regular schedule. For most users, once a month is fine. An additional feature of “Performance Monitor” is the new “Resource Monitor” (available in later versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11). You can use it to see real-time performance for your CPU, memory, disk, and network usage. It’s kind of like Task Manager but with more details.
2. Get an Overview with PC Health Check App
The PC Health Check app was designed to let Windows 10 users see whether their PC is compatible with the Windows 11 upgrade. The free tool doesn’t give you any in-depth information3 but can provide a few key insights, such as the age of your PC, if the correct amount of memory and disk space are being recognized, and if your start time is slower than you expected, so it’s worth taking it for a spin.
3. Run a Sleep Study
When you put your PC to sleep, or in standby mode, what’s really going on behind the scenes? Running a sleep study allows you to see what’s running and using battery or power during sleep mode. This option is only available on PCs that support sleep mode. Unlike the previous tools, this isn’t a tool with a GUI. Instead, you’ll need to use the command prompt to generate a report.
4. Generate a Network Report
Suspect problems with your network connection? A “Wireless Network Report” is a quick and easy way to check PC health related to your Wi-Fi connection. Just like the sleep study report, you’ll get three days of results. The goal of this test is to see when and why your connection drops in and out. From specific apps or sites to issues with hardware or your ISP, this is one way to troubleshooting wireless connectivity issues.
5. Browse Event Viewer
There are many things “Event Viewer” can tell you. It’s a good idea to check weekly or at least every few weeks to keep an eye on your PC’s health. Often, errors occur, and you never even realize it. For instance, the DistributedCOM error often only shows up in “Event Viewer” without any other kind of error message. It’s important to note that not every error or warning is reason for concern. Something as simple as network conflict for a few seconds can result in an error. Or, a Window service not responding at the exact right moment may throw an error, even though it responds correctly just a second later. However, numerous errors or seeing the same error or warning repeatedly means it’s worth researching to see what the error code or event ID means. This could be an early sign of something going wrong with your PC’s operating system or hardware. It could also indicate a virus.
6. Check Device Manager
While Device Manager isn’t going to give you too much in-depth data about your PC’s health, it will let you know if a device isn’t being recognized properly by your computer. A less-commonly-known benefit is seeing specific events (like you’d find in “Event Viewer”) for individual hardware items.
7. Check Hard Drive Health
Sadly, hard drives often seem to fail out the blue with zero warning. However, if you know what to look for, you can discover the early signs so that you’re not caught off guard. This gives you time to ensure all files are backed up properly and that you’re ready to move to a new drive when the time comes. There are a variety of ways to check hard drive health. Keep an eye on your hard drive by using one or more of these six methods to check your hard drive regularly. Windows has built-in tools to do this, or you can use one of the third-party tools mentioned in the linked guide above. If you ever get a “Windows detected a hard disk problem” error, use these steps to troubleshoot it.
8. Use Windows Security
If you’re just looking for a simple overview of your PC’s health, use Windows Security. Even if you’re using a different antivirus app, Windows Security still gives you insights into how well your PC’s running. Of course, you might already know about the “Device Performance & Health” utility if you use Windows Security as your main line of defense. The only time you can’t use this option is if you’ve completely disabled Windows Security.
9. Use Third Party Tools
In addition to these tools and utilities built in to Windows, you can also use third-party tools to check PC health. It’s a good idea to check your current antivirus to see whether there’s a health check tool built in to your antivirus suite. This is usually only with premium versions. Some third-party tools you may want to consider include:
IObit Advanced SystemCare – This free tool provides real-time performance monitoring, cleanup tools, troubleshooters, security features, and much more. A premium version is available, but most users will be fine with the free version.CCleaner – The free home version gives you a PC Health Check tool, one-click updating for apps, security features, PC optimization, and more.HWiNFO – Monitor your system in real time for free. Get detailed reporting, system analysis and in-depth hardware analysis. If you want more technical information on your PC’s health, this is the tool to use.Speccy – This tool gives you detailed specifications about what hardware is installed on your PC. You’ll also get temperature details to quickly let you know if something is running harder and hotter than it should be. The free version gives you most of the info you need and is provided by CCleaner. You can also use these tools to monitor CPU temperatures.
Image credit: Unsplash All screenshots by Crystal Crowder
Event ViewerDevice ManagerWindows Security
It’s also a good idea to use at least one tool from the “Hard Drive” section as well. Altogether, it should take less than five minutes once a month to monitor PC health.
