SIW, a competitor to Belarc Advisor (and Everest) ...

Thanks Christer, on first blush looks like a combo of Belarc and Everest, and I like software that doesn't require installation.

Regards - Charles

 

I'm impressed! and hardly scartched the surface.

Not only combines the info from Belarc/free Everest, but also some from Sysinternals ProcessExplorer and TCPView (connections/port info).

Great find.

Regards - Charles

 

I tried to check it out but couldn't get it to download. It would freeze at 99.7%. I had downloaded WMI first so that it would work with Win98SE as suggested. I disabled heuristic scanning within Panda to see if that was the problem and there was no difference. Spyware Blaster wasn't blocking Eureka! so I don't think that was an issue. After this failure I would find that my PC was continually locking up. Whenever I tried to delete the subfolders content in Temporary Internet Files the PC would lock. I booted into safe mode and opened the subfolders where I located siw.exe and deleted it. Booting back into Windows still resulted in lockups. I have ran Registry Cleaner, scanreg /fix/restore and scandisk /autofix with little luck.

I now believe the problem is with WMI. When MS says you cannot remove it after downloading and executing I believe them. It is interspersed throughout the registry. If anyone attempts this install on a non Win2K/XP PC beware of the possible problems.


Edit

It wasn't the WMI download causing the lockups. Even though the SIW download froze at 99.7% it still installed in the Temporary Internet Files subfolder (why?) and my download folder. After finding and deleting in safe mode both siw.exe files, (PC locked up trying to delete in normal mode) my PC now responds correctly. I don't know why this occurred. The site states it will work with Win98SE.

 

Hi Christer,

Yes, do remember the thread.

No problem with the S.M.A.R.T temps on my system - shows both Celsius and Fahrenheit and consistent with what Everest reports and consistent with another real time temperature app I have called HDDThermometer.

Regards - Charles

 

I sent an email after seeing your reply. It would be nice to check SIW out. I still have Everest 1.51 and have used Belarc in the past. I have a suspicion that installing WMI first or one of my anti-malware programs may have caused the problem but will wait for a reply from the author.

Edit

I received a short reply stating it worked fine for him on Win98SE with WMI installed. That's it. I tried it again and it froze. I still found siw.exe in a Temporary Internet Files subfolder though that could only be accessed through Safe mode.

Edit

The author just emailed again and is going to send it to me as an attachment.

 

The author sent the program as a .zip file. I tried to open it and it froze my PC again. I tried Save As, it froze. I scanned it with Panda which found nothing. I uninstalled IESPYAD and still no go. I checked Spyware Blaster and found the restricted sites disabled which I do not recall doing. I also found a strange entry in my firewall set for outbound traffic. Check to see if any of your security settings have been altered in any of your programs.

 

Hi Whiskeyman,

Ok, thanks for the heads up.

I have checked my security settings - no change as far as I can tell, but will be on the lookout.

From my understanding of your posts, you have yet to actually execute the program, is that right?

It does want Net access if the Open Ports option used, and should trigger the FW's asking for permission.

Regards - Charles

 

I have not been able to execute the program. It automatically freezes my PC when attempting to do so. I understand SIW checks if the local machine is running an SMTP server and the firewall may trigger a false alarm.
SIW checks if the local machine is running any of following servers: pcAnywhere, VNC, RDP, SQL Server, Oracle, HTTP, Telnet, SSH, FTP, SMTP, POP3, IMAP4, LDAP, XDMCP from the FAQ.

This has me puzzled and the author hasn't a clue. I get no warnings because the computer just locks up and I have to boot into Safe mode to remove the program file before the PC will operate in mormal mode. I don't know how or why Spyware Blaster's settings were changed or a program located in my Temp folder was allowed outbound permissions after trying this install. I empty my Temp and Temporary Internet Files folders before downloading a new program (except for neccessary Panda files). I also check my other anti-malware program's settings to see if alterations are made after.

 

Hi Whiskeyman,

Have you any other straight execute on your system? Have you tried that?

Regards - Charles

 

I just reinstalled Everest 1.51 without any problems. I had uninstalled it to make sure there was no conflict with SIW. I even reinstalled IESPYAD with no problems. Yesterday I downloaded Knoppix 4.02 without a hitch. It is strictly a problem with SIW. I have tried to download and install SIW with IE6 (fully updated) and Opera 8.5. I even downloaded the updated Flash 8 yesterday without problems.

I wonder if my host file or filter.ini could be blocking SIW. If this is the case then I don't need it because I consider what is in those blocking files to be malware.

 

SIW version update: to 1.56

http://www3.sympatico.ca/gtopala/siw_download.html

Regards - Charles

 

Interesting Observation from SIW.
I Installed SIW and noted this strange report for my Motherboard. It claims I have only 3 PCI Slots, and I have 5PCI Slots.....really I do

Any Ideas???
Here's a screen shot of SIW.

 

Hi irdreed,

Just tried it - reports all 5 of mine.

Double checked with Everest, ditto. Do have you have Everest?

You can contact the developer - I'm curious what the problem is.

Regards - Charles

 

YIPES Everest shows the same thing......I never noticed that before.

I MUST be getting old

 

TonyT has posted a link to another diagnostic program like Everest and SIW
http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=51303

charlesvar--

I doubt that is the case with free Everest anymore. Lavalys no longer offer the free version. (Though you can still download it from MajorGeeks.)