PC Performance Monitor

Monitor your PC's performance today, for FREE!

Monitor system, process and network performance with PC Advisor, on your desktop or online

PC Performance Monitor is a joint project with the exo.performance.network, founded by InfoWorld Contributing Editor Randall C Kennedy, that enables PC Advisor readers to monitor system, process, and network performance while contributing to a global repository of information that will yield an unprecedented, real-time image of Windows-based system performance and behaviour.

See also: How to assess your system with PC Performance Monitor

See also: How to - is your PC ready for Windows 7?

Get PC Performance Monitor:

To get PC Performance Monitor simply register with PCAdvisor.co.uk, or update your profile if you are already a member. Then hit the Monitor My PC tab and download and install PC Performance Monitor. Once installed it will take AT LEAST ONE HOUR for your system to send sufficient information to start showing up on PC Performance Monitor.

You will be able to monitor the performance of up to three Windows desktop or server systems (including Vista systems) and set alerts for when your thresholds are exceeded. You can then see information about your PC from wherever you can access PCAdvisor.co.uk.

PC Performance Monitor

Once downloaded, the PC Performance Monitor agent samples performance data once per minute, enabling you to identify such bottlenecks as low memory or an underpowered CPU.

Performance data is uploaded to the exo.performance.network, where your most recent one week of data is stored for viewing and analysis.

Performance data will be shared in aggregate only and never identified as linked to your individual account. Neither PC Advisor nor Devil Mountain Software can access or identify your personal data.

While PC Performance Monitor is not intended to compete with professional monitoring tools, it provides a free, lightweight solution for end-users who wish to determine whether a hardware upgrade is indicated, for example, or for IT professionals to analyse the effects of new applications, hardware configurations, or Windows version upgrades.

Over time, as this uploaded information is pooled and analysed, we expect to provide new levels of insight about Windows performance.

The results of that analysis will be shared through PC Advisor's News and Blogs, with feedback encouraged via the PC Advisor Windows Vista forum and PCA polls.

Welcome to your personal PC Performance Monitor page. The five monitors on this page enable you to check the system, process, and network performance of up to three Windows desktop or server systems, as well as set alerts for when your thresholds are exceeded.

New users please note: no performance data will appear until AT LEAST ONE HOUR after the PC Performance Monitor software has been installed. To get PC Performance Monitor simply register with PCAdvisor.co.uk, or update your profile if you are already a member. Then download and install PC Performance Monitor from the link below. Once installed it will take AT LEAST ONE HOUR for your system to send sufficient information to start showing up on PC Performance Monitor.

Click here to learn more about how to assess your system with PC Performance Monitor

Neither PC Advisor, nor Devil Mountain Software, can access your personal data or identify your individual PC via PC Performance Monitor.

To display performance data, click the results button on any performance monitor.

Click here to download and install PC Performance Monitor

You are not logged in. Please do so to enable monitoring of your PC(s) if you are a registered member of PC Advisor and have enabled this in your site profile.

To find out everything you need to know about PC Advisor PC Performance Monitor, click one of the headers below:

  • How does the PC Advisor PC Performance Monitor work?
    Participating persons, business entities or organisations contribute to the repository by downloading and deploying the DMS Clarity Tracker Agent across up to three representative Windows-based systems (desktop, laptop or server).

    The agent then collects anonymous system and process metrics data and uploads it to your individual PC Performance Monitor page, where you can view it whenever you have an internet connection and are logged in to your free PC Advisor user account.

    Note: This a free service made available by the staff and engineers of Devil Mountain Software, Inc. All of the tools and research deliverables offered through this site are available for non-commercial use at no cost to the end-user.

    This research process is entirely user-driven. Through regular polls and surveys DMS provides contributors with direct input into topic selection and focus areas.

    DMS then delivers their findings via regular blogs on the PC Advisor website, with targeted coverage for hot button topics. Some examples of the types of data this program hopes to deliver:
    * Analysing the runtime behaviour of common Windows applications and services
    * Assessing the impact of migration between Windows OS and application versions
    * Comparing the efficiency of competing platforms for executing real-world workloads
    * Gauging the effect of new hardware technologies on Windows application behaviour
    * Calculating life cycle projections for various hardware/software/workload combinations





    MORE FAQs BELOW:
  • What is the Tracker Agent?
    The DMS Clarity Tracker Agent is the small software application that allows PC Performance Monitor to work. It's a real-time metrics tracking agent for Windows-based desktop and server environments. You can download it below, or from the Monitor My PC tab.

    The DMS Clarity Tracker Agent must be installed on your system in order to retrieve system reporting data via the PC Advisor PC Performance Monitor program. Featuring a robust, high-resolution architecture, the Clarity Tracker Agent provides detailed reporting on system, process and network performance.

    Key features include:
    One-Minute Install: It literally takes just a minute to install and configure the DMS Clarity Tracker Agent. Simply download the ~600KB Microsoft Installer (MSI) package from the 'Monitor My PC' tab, execute it and enter your Customer ID. No reboot is required.

    High-Availability Design: The DMS Clarity Tracker Agent installs as a Windows Service and uses the Performance Data Helper (PDH) libraries to query critical performance counters. The agent process consumes less than 1 percent of the available CPU cycles and runs entirely in User Mode (no kernel drivers or back-door process hooks), making it ideal for sensitive computing environments where down time is not an option.

    Precision Sampling: Metrics counters are sampled once very second and then aggregated to disk based on a configurable storage interval (typically 60 seconds). A unique "clock free" sampling method ensures accurate results that are immune to variations in system time stamps and related timer anomalies (i.e. Virtual Machine RTC clock skew).

    Web-Based Communications: Running in tandem with the DMS Clarity Tracker Agent, the Tracker Upload service spools collected data to the DMS Clarity Analysis Portal for later review. The service uses an SSL-secure web connection that is compatible with most enterprise firewalls and proxy server implementations.

    Integration with Clarity Studio: The Tracker Agent integrates seamlessly with the DMS Clarity Studio Workload Simulation Framework, allowing for the creation of dynamic, multi-process workload simulations for stress-testing system and network infrastructure components.
  • Who is Devil Mountain Software?
    Devil Mountain Software, is an independent software development company based in Florida, US. Our primary focus is on the financial services sector where we maintain several large installations of our commercial DMS Clarity Suite performance analysis solution. The exo.performance.network is the pet project of our engineering team and a way to give something back to the larger IT community.

To get PC Performance Monitor simply register with PCAdvisor.co.uk, or update your profile if you are already a member. Then click here to download and install PC Performance Monitor, or grab it from the Monitor My PC tab.

Once installed it will take AT LEAST ONE HOUR for your system to send sufficient information to start showing up on PC Performance Monitor.