8 Windows Diagnostic Tools for PC Health Check

When your computer starts to act up or run much slower than it used to, you know something is wrong. Sure, you can guess the reasons based on your guts and you might be right.

But what if you can get some accurate data about your PC’s situation, simply by running a few pieces of diagnostic software? And you can see whether your PC has a virus, has too many junk files, or how long your hard drive is going to last, etc.

It’s always better to know in advance before your PC hard drive dies or corrupts, right? In this quick roundup, we’ll show you the best PC health check software.

1. Windows Defender (Check PC Security and Health)

• Free

If you are looking for the easiest solution to health check and protect your computer, try Windows Defender. This program is built into Windows, so you don’t need to download and install any third-party security software.

Stay up to date and click the “scan now” button, you can easily find those potential threats to your PC. The main interface (as shown above) will give you a quick glimpse of whether there is anything wrong with your computer.

Normally they are green icons, but if you find some turned into red, just click on the icon and Windows Defender will tell you how to proceed in order to resolve the issues.

2. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus (Check PC Viruses/Malware)

• $19.99 per year

You should have heard about or experienced the damage caused by those notorious computer viruses.

The best way to detect and prevent this security threat is by running a reliable antivirus/antimalware program, which should not only be powerful but light-weighted (i.e. consuming fewer system resources).

We recommend BitDefender as our team is using it and the program won lots of independent tests in the industry.

3. CCleaner (Fix Windows Registry Issues)

• Free for Home use

There are tons of PC cleaners out there, most of which are a waste of your time. CCleaner has been popular for over a decade and it stands out for several good reasons.

For example, it’s so light and easy to download and install. Simply move to the “Registry” section and hit the blue Scan button to get started, it will search for problematic registry issues on your PC and all you have to do is hit the “Fix selected issues”. Super easy!

4. CleanMyPC (Free up Disk Space)

• Free trial, $39.95 to buy

CleanMyPC is a PC maintenance program made by MacPaw (a company famous for making great products for Apple Mac users).

With CleanMyPC, you can potentially find and remove gigabytes of useless files or folders and free up a good amount of disk space.

It also includes a handful of other small utilities such as Registry Maintenance, Multi Uninstaller, Hibernation, Extensions, Autorun, Privacy, and Shredder.

5. DiskCheckup (Check PC Hard Drive Health)

• Free for Personal Use

DiskCheckup allows you to monitor the SMART attributes of the hard disk drive. SMART (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) is a feature on a computer’s hard disk that provides various monitoring indicators of disk reliability.

You can also use DiskCheckup to test whether your hard drive disk is in good condition or not. There are two types of tests you can run, a short test (5-10 minutes), and an extended test (longer than 10 minutes). Most of the issues coming up with the program can be easily resolved.

6. WiFi Analyzer (Check Wi-Fi Network Health)

• Free

If your Wi-Fi router seems to have some problems and your Internet speed is slow, but you don’t know what’s wrong, you can use WiFi Analyzer to identify the problems.

In the main interface of the program, you can easily find many relevant details of your network, including SSID, channel, frequency, bandwidth, etc. WiFi Analyzer can also tell you the speed of your Internet and the best signal in your WiFi list.

Useful tip: WiFi Analyzer uses dBm (0 to -100) to tell you the power of the signal. The expression dBm is used to define signal strength in wires and cables at RF and AF frequencies. That means the closer the value is to 0, the stronger the signal. For example, -21dBm is better signal strength than -61dBm.

7. Adblock Plus (Block Adware from Web Browser)

• Free

Are you tired of seeing those disturbing ads when reading an article on the Internet? Adblock Plus, a free Chrome extension, can help you remove many kinds of advertisements from the page, including Youtube Ads (you save time by not watching the video ads).

More than just an ad blocker, Adblock Plus also allows you to control your own way to browse the web. You can even use the plugin to block those spammy websites from targeting you for marketing purposes.

8. PixelHealer (Check and Fix Stuck Pixels)

• Free

Have a dead pixel on your screen but you can’t find it? Use PixelHealer to locate it!

Simply click the Start Flashing button and let it run for a while, then if you want to revive the dead pixel, cover it with the color window. That’s it.

Any other diagnostic software you have tried and found useful for PC health check? Leave a comment below and let us know.