WINChekIt Version 4.0 
by Terry DiResta, Alamo PC

WINChekIt Version 4.0 is a general desktop PC utility that bills itself as the all-in-one Windows Problem Solver. It is designed for Windows 95 and Windows 3.1. The system I installed it on is a Pentium 90 computer, with 16 MB of RAM, Windows 3.1, and a double speed CD-ROM Drive. I had some idea of what utilities software was for; I had purchased and used the MPC Wizard (cost $12.95) to test and tune the multimedia aspects of my PC. But other than that I was pretty green. I’m also not a techie; I use a computer at work and have a nice home system but have only been using computers for about the past 2 years. I am not employed in systems. I am largely self- taught, always anxious to learn more.

 The program comes on 4 floppy discs and installed easily. There is a booklet to walk you through the program. It is quite intuitive; just install the first disc, select file, click Run, then type A:\setup.exe (just like every other Windows program I’ve ever installed). No surprises there. It only took about 2 minutes to install the program.

 This software does alot of neat things. I was able to figure out most of what WINChekIt could do either intuitively through the windows screens or by a cursory reading of the booklet. I am not the type to sit and read the manual, I like to get on the machine and play around and figure things out that way. Like many users, I have minimum patience with reading or looking things up. With WINChekIt, you don’t need lots of reading time. The first thing I did was to collect data on my system. I did this by clicking on the Collect Now icon in the startup window. It only took a minute or two for the data on my system to be collected. Once it was finished, the main window came up which gave me all sorts of information.

An overview of my machine’s configuration was displayed on the screen, including the type of processor and its speed, the Bus, the total system memory displayed in MB, the BIOS, the storage capacity in the hard drive, the size and density of the floppy drives, the COM and LPT ports, the type of mouse and sound card, the video mode, and my CD-ROM and FAX/modem. Now, most of this I already knew. But some of the technical data I didn’t know. I am sure it is all in my manuals buried away somewhere, what I liked about this utility is that it gave me all this technical data in one place, and I was able to print out all the information. I wished I had had all this info at my fingertips when I’ve called tech support in the past only to be asked a question about my system that I didn’t know right off hand and had to look up. If you are a systems administrator, I could see that you would get lots of use out of this utility because it tells you everything you need to know about a system.

 A toolbar appears at the top of the WINChekIt screen which offered various services. Some I understood, some I didn’t. Although the little explanation bar appeared under each tool to give me some explanation of what it did. I do think you need to have some basic knowledge of system parts and some of the lingo, otherwise you will be lost or not fully appreciate what info the program is giving to you. For example, I clicked on the CD-ROM Test icon on the toolbar, and after it ran its test, I found out that I passed the MPC Level 1 and Level 2 Test, but failed the MPC Level 3 test. I had a vague idea of what this meant. In the recommendations window, under MPC 1 and 2 Test, the window said: Nothing to recommend. Your system meets all the requirements of Level 1 and 2. To find out why I failed MPC Level 3 Test, I clicked on Why and a help screen came up which explained what the difference was between MPC levels and why it was important. I also learned that MPC level 3 was announced in 1995; I purchased my system in the fall of 1994 and there was no level 3 at that time, so that explained why I failed the test! You can learn alot about your system by referring to the help. The program also came with a bonus CD- ROM containing the McGraw-Hill technical library, four books, two of which were for Win95.

 Some of the other utilities WINCHeckIt offers are modem tests (tests the modem’s configuration, speed and line connection); Clean and Zip, which manages zip files and makes room on your disk drive; Tune Up, which is a memory defragger, optimizing Windows memory to increase the largest memory block available; Setup Advisor, which makes recommendations for installing hardware upgrades (IRQ, I/O port and RAM/ROM assignments) and Uninstall utility, which locates, removes and archives unwanted applications. Performance Benchmarks rates and compares your overall system, CPU, hard drive, CD-ROM and video against other system profiles that are included with the program.

 However, there was some frustration with this program. The reports stated that I did not have a soundcard, which of course I do. I could not figure out why the soundcard was not detected during the collection data. I finally decided to call Technical support to ask this question. Free technical support is offered for the first 90 days after registering WINChekIt 4.0. I called the toll-free number (800) 531-0450. They are open 8AM to 5 PM Pacific Time. After 90 days, you have to call the long distance number provided in the guidebook: (714) 3764-2801. The tech rep suggested I do other types of collections (advanced, drop to dos, custom) but none of these did anything to detect the sound card. As a matter of fact, they made things worse, as the machine began to hang during the collection and other types of problems started happening. I got a little nervous playing around with the software at this point and it made me realize that you do have to have some knowledge of what you are doing before you start fooling around with this utility.

 WINCheckIt is priced at about $45.00. If you plan to use this utility to check many systems, possibly as part of your job as a system administrator, the price may well be worth it. If you are only using it on your own personal computer, it may be more than you care to spend. It is made by TouchStone Software Corporation of Huntington Beach, California. Phone: (714) 969-7746; FAX: (714) 969-1555.