Using Windows 7 Tools to Discover System Information
Windows 7
contains many other tools to discover system information about your computer.
Some of the tools are as follows:
- System
Information
- Task
Manager
- Performance
Information and Tools
System
Information
You can use the
System Information utility to show information about your hardware, software,
and resources. Type msinfo32 in the Windows 7 search box to launch this
utility.
Configure Performance settings
By analyzing
data, you can determine whether any resources are placing an excessive load on
your computer, resulting in a system slowdown. The following are some of the
causes of poor system presentation:
- A
resource is insufficient to handle the load that is being located upon it,
and the component might need to be upgraded, or additional components
might be required.
- If a
resource has many instances, the resources might not be evenly balancing
the workload, and the workload might need to be balanced over the multiple
instances more efficiently.
- A
resource might be malfunctioning. In this case, the resource should be
repaired or replaced.
- A
specific program might be allocating resources improperly or
inefficiently, in which case the program needs to be rewritten or another
application should be used.
- A
resource might be configured improperly and causing excessive resource
usage, and need to be reconfigured.
There are four
main subsystems that you should check. You should systematize counters in your
data collector set for each of these subsystems:
- The
memory subsystem
- The
processor subsystem
- The disk
subsystem
- The
network subsystem
Monitoring and Optimizing Memory
When the
operating system wants a program or process, the first place it looks is in the
physical memory. If the required program or process is not in the physical
memory, the system looks in the logical memory (the page file). If the program
or process is not in the logical memory, the system must then retrieve the
program or process from the hard disk. It takes very long to access information
from the hard disk than to get it from the physical RAM. If your computer is
using excessive paging, that is an indication that your computer does not have
enough physical memory. Insufficient memory is the most likely cause of system
performance degradation. To determine how much memory is being used, you need
to look at the next two areas:
Physical memory
– The
physical RAM you have installed on your computer.
Page File Logical memory– This
memory exists on your hard drive. If you are using excessive paging (swapping
between the page file and physical RAM) or hard page faults, it indicates that
you need to add more memory.
The next three
counters are most important for monitoring memory:
Memory, Available MBytes Memory, Available MBytes– This counter measures the amount of physical memory that is available
to run processes on the computer. If this number is fewer than 20 percent of
your installed memory, it indicates that you might have an overall shortage of
physical memory for your computer, or you possibly have an application that is
not releasing memory correctly. You should think adding more memory or
evaluating application memory usage.
Memor, Pages/Sec Memory , Pages/Sec– This counter shows the number of times the requested page was not in memory and had to be retrieved
from the disk. This counter’s value is supposed to be under 20; for optimal
performance, it should be 4 or 5. If the number is more than 20, you should add
memory. Sometimes a high Pages/Sec counter is indicative of a program that is
using a memory-mapped file.
Paging File, % Usage Paging File, % Usage– This counter shows the percentage of the allocated page file that
is currently in use. If this percentage is consistently more than 70 percent,
either you need to add more memory or increase the size of the page file.
Managing Processor Performance:Processor problems can increase when the threads of a process
require more processingcycles than are at present obtainable. In this case, the
process will wait in a processor queue, and system responsiveness will be
slower than if process requests could be immediatelyserved. The most common
causes of processor bottlenecks are processor-intensive applicationsand other
subsystem components that generate excessive processor interrupts(for example,
disk or network subsystems).However, you should
monitor this subsystem to make sure that processor utilization isat an
efficient level.
Key Counters to Track for the Processor
You can track
processor utilization through the Processor and System objects to determine
whether a processor bottleneck exists. The next three counters are the most
important for monitoring the system processor:
Processor, % Processor Time Processor, % Processor
Time– This counter measures the time that the
processor spends responding to system requests. If this value is consistently
above an average of 85 percent, you might have a processor bottleneck.
The Processor, %User Time and Processor, % Privileged
Time– These counter merge to show the total %
Processor Time counter. You can also monitor these counters independently for
more detail.
Processor, Interrupts/Sec Processor, Interrupts/Sec– This counter shows the average number of hardware interrupts
received by the processor each second. If this value is more than 3,000, you
might have a problem with a program or hardware that is generating spurious
interrupts.
System, Processor Queue Length System, Processor Queue
Length is used to determine whether a processor
bottleneck is due to high levels of demand for processor time. If a queue of
two or more items exists for an extended period of time, a processor bottleneck
might be indicated. If you suspect that a processor bottleneck is due to
excessive hardware I/O requests, then you are supposed to also monitorthe System, File Control Bytes/Sec counter.
Tuning and Upgrading the Processor
If you think
that you have a processor bottleneck, you can try these solutions:
- Use
applications that are less processor-intensive.
- Upgrade
your processor.
- If your
computer supports multiple processors, add a processor.
The Memory and
Processor subsystem objects are important counters to evaluate in determining
your Windows 7 performance.
Managing the Disk Subsystem
Disk access can
be defined as the amount of time your disk subsystem takes to retrieve data
that is requested by the operating system. The two factors that determine how
quickly your disk subsystem will respond to system requests are the average
disk access time on your hard drive and the speed of your disk controller.
Key Counters to Track for the Disk Subsystem
You can monitor
the Physical Disk object, which is the sum of all logical drives on a single
physical drive, or you can monitor the Logical Disk object, which represents a
specific logical disk. The important counters for monitoring the disk subsystem
are as follows:
Physical Disk,% Disk Time and Logical Disk, % Disk
Time Physical Disk, % Disk Time and Logical Disk , % Disk Time– These counters show the amount of time the disk is busy becauseit
is servicing read or write requests. If your disk is busy more than 90 percent
of the time,you can improve presentation by adding another disk channel and
splitting the disk I/Orequests between the channels.
Physical Disk, Current Disk Queue Length and Logical
Disk, Current Disk Queue Length Physical Disk, Current Disk Queue Length and
Logical Disk, Current Disk Queue Length–These
counters indicate the number of outstanding disk requests that are waiting to
beprocessed. On average, this value should be less than 2.
Logical Disk, % Free Space Logical Disk,% Free Space – These counters specify how much free disk space is available. This
counter should indicate at least 15 percent.
Tuning and Upgrading the Disk Subsystem
When a disk
subsystem bottleneck occurs, then first check your memory subsystem.
Insufficient physical memory can cause excessive paging, which in turn affects
the disk subsystem. If you do not have a memory problem, then you can use the
following solutions to improve disk presentation:
·
Use faster disks and
controllers.
·
Confirm that you have the
latest drivers for your disk adapters.
·
Use disk striping to take
advantage of multiple I/O channels.
·
Balance heavily used files on
multiple I/O channels.
·
Add another disk controller for
load balancing.
·
Use Disk Defragmenter to
consolidate files so that disk space and data access are optimized.
Optimizing the Network Subsystem
Windows 7 does
not have a built-in mechanism to monitor the network. But only that traffic can
be monitored and optimized which is generated on your Windows 7 computer. You
can monitor the network interface and the network protocols that have been
installed on your computer.
Network
bottlenecks occur when network traffic exceeds the maximum capacity of the
local area network (LAN).
Key Counters to Track for the Network Subsystem
Local network
traffic can be monitored with the Performance Monitor utility.The following two
counters are useful for monitoring the network subsystem:
A Network Interface, Bytes Total/Sec Network
Interface, Bytes Total/Sec measure– This counter
measures the total number of bytes sent or received from the network interface
and includes all network protocols.
TCPv4 > Segments/Sec TCPv4 Segments/Sec– This counter measures the number of bytes sent or received from
the network interface and includes only the TCPv4 protocol.
Tuning and Upgrading the Network Subsystem
You can use these
measures to optimize and `enhance network performance on your system:
- Install
and assemble only those protocols are required.
- Use
faster network cards, like 100 Mbps Ethernet or 1 Gbps.
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