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Guy's Top 10 Free Tools

1) FreePing
2) Network Monitor
3) Xobni
4) PuTTY (UNIX)
5) IP SLA Monitor
6) BgInfo
7) Net-SNMP
8) CatTools 
9) Exchange Monitor
10) WinDiff

Windows Vista Hardware Assessment (WVHA)

Windows Vista Hardware Assessment (WVHA)

Note: WVHA has been superseded by MAPSA

Are your computers ready for Vista?  Note the plural, computers, this Windows Vista Hardware Assessment (WVHA) Wizard reaches out to all the computers on your network, and then reports back on their fitness to run Vista.  Please note that WVHA is a different, and a more comprehensive tool than the Vista Upgrade Advisor (WVUA).

Topics for the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Wizard

• Guy Test Drives the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Tool
• What you really want is: Windows Vista Premium Ready Hardware
• See the new Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator

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Guy Test Drives the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Tool

Even though I am (allegedly) a computer expert, I have rough and ready ideas about software installs.  For any software to get the Guy seal of approval, it must virtually install itself, it certainly should not require Guy to read the instructions.  I don't mind clicking on 'Next', or typing the occasional word, but anything requiring brain-ache or a degree in mind reading, fails the Guy install test.

Guy's verdict:  The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment utility, earned Guy's seal of approval - just.

Here are details of my three install experiments; I started by downloading the WVHA package from Microsoft's site, then:

Plan A: I Installed the WVHA tool on a Vista machine.  It failed, but it had a valid excuse, the firewall ports would not allow DNS or WMI requests.

Plan B (Best): I installed the same Vista Hardware Assessment tool on a Domain Controller.  This produced a marvellous Word report on all the XP machines and even analysed the hardware on machines where Vista was already installed.  However, it did not find the very Windows Server 2003 machine on which I installed the Vista Hardware Advisor.  To be fair to the wizard, when I checked the companion Excel spreadsheet, I found comprehensive data on this Windows Server 2003 machine.

Plan C: I tried again on the Vista machine, but this time I lied, and told the WVHA wizard that this machine was not a member of a domain.  The install did what I wanted, produced a report for that single machine.

Conclusion:  The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Wizard does an excellent job, even in the hands of the installer from hell.

Extra Information about the WVHA utility

The Wizard employs WMI to interrogate the operating systems.  WVHA concentrates on three areas, hardware inventory, device compatibility and readiness to run Vista.  It queries the hundreds of Win32 objects and thus uncovers all manner of information about hardware devices and software versions.  The advantage of the SQL database is that the Wizard can lookup the results against a knowledgebase.  I assumed that this is how it deduces which Vista edition to recommend for a given memory, CPU and graphics configuration.

If you have an Active Directory domain, then the Vista Hardware Assessment Wizard uses that database to locate the computers so that it can run its numerous tests.  As my Plan C showed, you can also run the Wizard on an individual machine; there is also the ability to interrogate machines in a workgroup.  An evil thought crossed my mind, I wanted to find an old machine with moody software, just to see what recommendations the Wizard would make to bring the machine to Vista readiness.

Please note that this Wizard probably won't be able to test Home Editions of XP (or Vista) because they don't have WMI installed.  Also be warned, as shown by my Plan A, you need to open up a number of TCP Ports for WMI and DNS to find computers on the network, for example, open ports, 135, 137, 138, 139 and 445.  Hmmm, may as well temporarily disable the firewall!

Guy Recommends:  The Orion Network Performance Monitor (NPM) 9.5

Orion's performance monitor is designed for detecting network outages.  This NPM will guide you through troubleshooting by indicating whether the root cause is a broken link, faulty equipment or resource overload.  Because it produces network-centric views, it is intuitive to navigate, and as result you can see easily what's working and what's not.

Perhaps Orion's best feature is the way it suggests solutions.  Moreover, if problems arise out of the blue, then you can configure Orion NPM 9.5 to notify members of your team what's changed and how to fix it.

If you are interested in testing a professional performance monitor on your network, then I recommend that you take advantage of Solarwinds' offer of a download a free trial of Orion's Network Performance Monitor.

What you really want is: Windows Vista Premium Ready Hardware

Beware, Windows Vista Capable Experience sounds impressive, but it does not mean that you will get the Aero Graphics experience.  To be sure that a computer can take advantage of the new Aero Glass effects, you need to see the word 'Premium' in the hardware assessment. 

I am sorry to labour the point, but Windows Vista Premium Ready Experience sounds the same as Windows Vista Capable Experience, yet, there is a world of difference between Capable and Premium.  The most significant difference is that 'Premium' means can support Aero Graphics, whereas 'Capable' means merely qualified to deliver Vista security.

The best feature of the Vista Hardware Assessment report is the way that it spells out precisely what you must do to bring your computers up to Vista standard, for example, change the graphics card, increase RAM or buy a bigger hard disk.  When you drill down to the detail, the report even tells you which drivers are included on the Vista DVD, and which you need to obtain from the manufacturer's site.

One pleasant surprise is that the Vista Hardware Assessment also reports on the software that is installed.  None of my machines had any incompatible software.  I felt like going out and looking for some incompatible games, just to see how the Wizard reported software that would not run on Vista.

You could argue that the Assessment Wizard is worth running just to get a detailed inventory of the hardware components and device drivers for each machine on your network.  That view may be overplaying the usefulness of this WVHA tool, but nevertheless, the sheer detail of the Wizards output means that there is some fascinating snippet for everyone.

In summary, remember that Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Wizard produces a Word report and also an Excel spreadsheet; one final point, the spreadsheet has at least 5 worksheets, therefore, check the tabs at the bottom.

Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Wizard Version 2

1. Join the Connect.Microsoft scheme, then you will get access to beta software for future produces such as Longhorn.  Registration and site navigation are a bit tricky, especially if you don't read the instructions.  However, once you are 'In', then Connect are great resource and they don't annoy you with spam.
2. Specifically lookout for the next version of Windows Vista Hardware Assessment (Version 2)

Had enough of Vista Hardware Assessment - See Guy's Vista Jokes

Windows Vista Training

Train Signal have an excellent Windows Vista Training Course.  As an MCT trainer, I am a huge advocate of Train Signal’s products.  What impresses is me is that they demonstrate everything that they teach and they stay away from traditional 'lecture-style' training.  If you are looking for a complete DETAILED coverage of Windows Vista, then I highly recommend that you give this course a try.  I have reviewed their 18 hours of videos myself, and I guarantee that you will not be disappointed!

Watch a Vista Training Video Demo.

Preparing for Windows Vista Topics:

• Overview of Windows Vista
• 12 New Features of Windows Vista
• More New Features in Vista
• Vista Upgrade Advice
• Windows Vista Hardware Assessment (WVHA)
• Vista Versions / Editions
• Vista Hardware Considerations
• How to Install Vista
• How to Install Windows Vista on Virtual PC
• Vista Screen Shots
• Vista SP2
• IE 8 Review
• Check Performance with ipMonitor
• Vista Jokes!

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