Like your health status, maintaining your laptop’s health is extremely important. Luckily, even if you don’t know much about laptops, there are tools you can use to become a PC diagnostic pro and collect detailed information about your laptop’s ongoing performance.

There are a lot of Windows diagnostic tools online that you can download to Monitor your system’s performance, but many of them are difficult to use or are there to get you to pay for the pro version of the application instead. In most cases, looking for a motherboard diagnostic tool that tests accurate benchmarks and tests your hardware can be achieved with only a few applications. Read about why it is essential to have a way to diagnose your laptop’s hardware information, as well as the best applications to use.

Why Are Diagnostic Tools Important For Your Laptop’s Health?

Laptops and OC have come a long way since their inception, and the latest hardware available on the market can allow users to do astounding tasks in the blink of an eye. However, these new, advanced features and systems still need to be infallible, so monitoring and finding out why your laptop is malfunctioning is what diagnostic tools are there for.

Modern laptops have a 3-5 years lifespan, although this can be longer if they are correctly maintained, after which they begin to show signs of wear and tear. The hardware components are especially susceptible to damage, which can lead to the overall health status of your laptop degrade over time. Luckily, you can get ahead of any potential hardware and software issues using a wealth of diagnostic tools that Windows provides and some you can find on the internet.

If you know what the issue is, you can take proactive steps to replace the hardware part, storage device, or other hard disks causing you problems. Diagnostic tools are the ultimate tool to help preserve the main features of your laptop.

The Best Windows Laptop Diagnostic Software

Windows users prefer a wide range of Windows software, from the latest Windows 11 to older editions like Windows Vista. The laptop diagnostic software listed here will tackle the newer versions of Windows but still may work for the Windows version you prefer to use instead.

Windows Performance Monitor

Windows Performance Monitor is built right into the software of your Windows operating system and offers the slightest barrier to entry for monitoring tools. Once you open it, you’ll be given detailed information about your laptop’s vital information. Using Windows Performance Monitor, you can keep track of your laptop’s CPU, Memory, Disk usage, and any Ethernet Information your computer has.

Using Windows Performance Monitor, you can track the ongoing effects your applications have on your device. If you suspect your hardware is malfunctioning, run an application and see if the CPU begins to be used up abnormally quickly.

Windows Resource Monitor

Whereas Windows Performance Monitor is a simple and easy way to track your Laptop’s health status, Windows Resource Monitor is the more in-depth version that shows more smart information and has many other valuable tools. Like Windows Performance Monitor, Resource Monitor will show you your laptop’s CPU, Memory, and Disk usage and provide detailed results you can refer to.

This built-in application will also allow you to track other useful functionality tools like individual disk process activity, current TCP connections, and USB drives.

Open Hardware Monitor

If you want to take it a step further, you can always use an open-source application called Open Hardware Monitor, which also operates on Linux and Windows operating systems. In addition to system information like CPU and Memory, you can also monitor your laptop’s fan speeds and spin-up time and let you know if your computer’s internal components are overheating or not working correctly.

Open Hardware Monitor is a fantastic free open source that offers excellent test results for whatever test you plan to run.

Best Windows Laptop Hardware Diagnostic Tools for Download

Specific applications you can find online significantly increase your ability to monitor your data drives and graphics card, but finding them is difficult. Some download applications may lead to viruses or only provide the bare essentials if you pay for their premium version.

Here are the top computer diagnostic tools you can install right now to run SSD diagnostics and fix issues with your laptop computer.

Speccy

You can download Speccy from CCleaner’s website for free, with a premium version also available. Speccy has been designed to collect data from your laptop’s storage devices, GPU, and memory. Speccy also is an intuitive software for home users who want an easy task ahead of them – it is a solid choice if you want to tackle a specific issue on your device and are willing to download third-party applications.

HD Tune

HD Tune is an excellent choice for monitoring not only the Solid State Drive diagnostics but also the HDD drives. One great feature of HD Tune is the ability to precisely set benchmark maximums, minimums, averages, and other unique tools. It’s the complete list of devices, but it can be initially more complicated to understand.

In addition to driver health, you can also see the error rates and system health, which can increase reliability. Monitor the computer system quickly and efficiently when you have all the components from HD Tune, and if you enjoy using the application, then the paid version could be worth it.

AIDA64 Extreme

The following few entries for applications to tackle your laptop’s hardware issues are either a limited free version or strictly just a paid version. AIDA64 Extreme is a paid application only, but you receive several excellent features for what you’re paying.

They cater to businesses, engineers, home users, and other corporations, allowing you to track your computer and its hard disk continuously. While it scans your computer, it compares your data to other systems in its reference pool and lets you know if the laptop is up to par.

If you have a powerful gaming laptop, AIDA64 offers 64 multi-threaded stress testing.

CrystalDiskInfo

CrystalDiskInfo is a relatively easy and intuitive software that lets you monitor your SSD, HDD, and USB ports with a straightforward UI covering the system’s temperature and registry entries. Everything you could ever want to know about your computer’s good and bad sectors can be monitored using CrystalDiskInfo.

The only thing that this application doesn’t do is benchmark when you’re stress testing your laptop – luckily, you can use CrystalDiskMark if you want to.

HWiNFO

It’s often said that if you can get used to the unfriendly UI of HWiNFO, the application is one of the most comprehensive tools you can use to monitor your laptop computer. Everything from your CPU’s temperature to your fans’ voltage can be tracked and observed when reading scan results.

If your laptop has a Ryzen processor, then its highly recommended you download HWiNFO (which is entirely accessible, by the way) and use it instead of the monitoring application that your Windows laptop comes with – it is even better than the one you can find using a control panel.

JScreenFix

JScreenFix is a software application mainly used for one specific problem your system may be having – a stuck pixel! JScreenFix allows you to restore and repair your screen’s broken pixels and fix your issue.

Unfortunately, this won’t always work – sometimes, the stuck pixel is because of a physical defect on your computer that no software can fix.

Frequently Asked Questions

Once you’ve downloaded your application, you can regularly monitor your laptop and see if there are any issues with it. But if you still have pertinent questions about your diagnostic tool, read through our comprehensive, frequently asked questions for more information.

Does Windows 10 have a diagnostic tool?

There are a few built-in diagnostic tools that Windows provides, including the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool, Windows Performance Monitor, and Windows Wifi Monitor. Any other diagnostic tools you want to run on your Windows laptop require you to download an application from the web instead.

How do you check if Windows 10 is corrupted?

The easiest way to check if your Windows 10 operating system is by opening the command prompt system, then typing SFC/scannow, and then hitting enter! This will verify the files within your laptop computer and Windows server and repair them if required.

The system will then reboot your laptop afterwards, and your copy of the operating system won’t remain corrupted.

How do I run BIOS diagnostics?

To access Windows 10 BIOS, here’s what you need to do:

1. Go to Settings, then Update & Security, and finally Recovery.
2. Go down to Advanced Startup and select Restart now.
3. Choose Troubleshoot, then Advanced options, UEFI Firmware Settings, and Restart to open the UEFI BIOS.

Conclusion

Maintaining your laptop’s health is extremely important to keep it running for years. You can pre-emptively replace parts and ensure your laptop won’t degrade or give you a blue screen without warning. If you’re using a benchmark test for your gaming laptop, you’ll want to keep monitoring software.