Quick Diagnostics

[Trajet]

At our shop we offer a Quick Diagnostics service (that we charge for).

It consists of running;
1) KillEmAll, UKV equivalent = Kill all non system processes.
2) CrystalDiskInfoPortable, UKV equivalent = None
3) CCleaner, UKV equivalent = System Booster.
4) ADWCleaner, UKV equivalent = Ultra Adware Killer. (which is better IMHO than ADWCleaner)

Now, whilst this is not infallible, it does give us and our customers a snapshot of what the problem might be, the charges it will cost to fix and if they want to continue with any repairs. (We don't charge the quick diagnostics fee if they go ahead with the repairs)

It would be really great if something like this could be incorporated in UVK.

[Fred]

Hi Trajet.

I think I see what you mean. UVK would calculate the size of temp files, and junk files, the number of system booster invalid items, and the number of adware items found. It would then display a report, but wouldn't fix anything. That report would only be used to diagnose and calculate the time required to fix. Is that it?

[Trajet]

That's exactly the sort of thing I was thinking of. We find that 90% of jobs are either malware or HDD issues. We diagnose the issues and offer a repair.
I know UVK does not have a S.M.A.R.T function, but even a link to an existing program that could be included in the report would be good.

[Fred]

UVK does have a S.MA.R.T. testing feature. In the System info section, the Status info reports the hard drive failure prediction, when available.

From MSDN:

Status
Data type: string
Access type: Read-only
Qualifiers: MaxLen (10)
Current status of the object. Various operational and nonoperational statuses can be defined. Operational statuses include: "OK", "Degraded", and "Pred Fail" (an element, such as a SMART-enabled hard disk drive, may be functioning properly but predicting a failure in the near future). Nonoperational statuses include: "Error", "Starting", "Stopping", and "Service". The latter, "Service", could apply during mirror-resilvering of a disk, reload of a user permissions list, or other administrative work. Not all such work is online, yet the managed element is neither "OK" nor in one of the other states. This property is inherited from CIM_ManagedSystemElement.
Values are:
"OK"
"Error"
"Degraded"
"Unknown"
"Pred Fail"
"Starting"
"Stopping"
"Service"
"Stressed"
"NonRecover"
"No Contact"
"Lost Comm"

You just have to watch for "Degraded", and "Pred Fail".

As for the diagnostics section, It seems like alot of work. I will have to use all the code from the UAK and system booster scans and copy it to a new function, as the code is not prepared for this situation. I'm not saying I'm not gonna do it, just that currently I don't have the time. I've got already a ton of work to do this month on UVK, and I'd also like to work on Tech tool store a bit, which is what I'm doing now.

[Trajet]

Thanks Fred, although I have looked at system info on numerous occasions, I have never twigged the S.M.A.R.T info that is there.

I appreciate your time in considering my ideas.

[Charger440]

Fred

I like this idea as well and it seems almost perfect for that tool we talked about. Maybe kill two birds with one stone here???

Jim

[Trajet]

I have been having a play, ahem, I mean researching the features that I could use towards my aim and came out with this using the top apps and fixes to make a quick diagnostics / cleanup procedure that goes some way towards a quick chargeable service.

UKV Quick Diagnostics.JPG (121.3 KiB) Viewed 4466 times

I would still need to use the System Info for HDD condition and my customers are getting a clean and brush up of their PC in the process but I think if (for example) their PC had malware and crap then this would a least put the PC into a better state than it was when it arrived.

As always, suggestions are very welcome if I have missed the bleedin' obvious.

[Brink]

The main thing that I use Crystal Disk Info for is see the number of hours on this Hard disk. (power on hours count) I usually recommend replacing a drive that has hours greater than 15k or hours with a funky number that couldn't possibly be true like 4 millon. I make the recommendation even if S.M.A.R.T. show no errors. Drive manufacturers say that drives will last for about 20k hour. But I've replaced many bad disks with less. My 2 cents.

[Charger440]

If the power on hours is in smart (Probably is) maybe Fred could add that at some point to the HD section?

[Xander]

Might also be nice to have the SMART result ("OK", etc) and the total hours show up on the Watermark.

[Charger440]

Xander that certainly wouldn't be a bad idea for an option, I like it..

[Xander]

Ideally, I'd like to see the Watermark for a lot more info at a glance and maybe colour-code things that are out of the ordinary (e.g. non-default DNS servers) but I've learned to not ask for too much at once here.

[Charger440]

Naw Xander, You just have to be prepared for opinions that may differ from yours. I think the color coding could be a good idea. Just remember though that if you are gonna request it, I think Fred wants requests as official requests though

[Xander]

Baby steps

[wmmiller]

LOL Xander.

I think it’s slow but steady how the turtle won the race.

[Charger440]

Looks like Bill requested it for you