Michael’s Update: This great free tool has been submitted more than two years ago by Jeffrey Botts. Since then quite a few new features have been added and because Spiceworks 4.6 is now out, I updated this post. The top new features follow after Jeffrey’s original comment and at the end of the article you will find some screenshots of the new version.

Submitted by Jeffrey Botts, November 2007

You want network management software that works for you, not software that makes you work. You wish you could have it… without spending a fortune. Your wish is granted.

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PC Audit is really a very simple tool. But, in some cases, this is just what you need if you want to quickly see an overview of the hardware and installed software on a PC. The tool can also display the running processes. You can save all the data to the clipboard, which allows you to paste the inventory data quickly into any application, or to a text file. I think this latter feature makes PC Audit a useful tool for the helpdesk.

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Submitted by Joe

I couldn’t live without this marvelous little tool. Take any machine in any AD domain and it will display a plethora of data about it as well as letting you control services, uninstall software, create scheduled tasks as well run standard stuff like MMC consoles, VNC etc. For such a small application it’s amazing how many features are packed into it.

From the publisher’s site:

ManagePC is an open source .NET application for PC management in Windows environments.

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Rate this tool: (3 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)

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In my last two posts, I introduced Softinventive Lab‘s Total Network Inventory (TNI), an easy-to-use inventory solution. Today, I will discuss TNI’s reporting capabilities. The reporting functionality is probably the most important part of an inventory tool. Reports are not just for printing or exporting data, they allow you get an overview of your whole infrastructure.

Note: You can win a TNI license for an unlimited number of computers. More information is at the end of the article.

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In my last post, I explained Total Network Inventory’s (TNI) scanning features. Today, I will discuss the tool’s inventory capabilities and show you how you can manage software licensing with TNI.

Note: You can win a TNI license for an unlimited number of computers. More information is at the end of the article.

User Interface

TNI’s user interface basically consists of three panes: The Network View on the left-hand side, the main windows in the middle, and the Category Selection on the right-hand side. The toolbar of the Network View allows you to sort computers and to search for computer names or IP addresses. I like that TNI also can show you which computers are currently online. The main window in the middle displays inventory data TNI has collected. You can use the Category Selection to navigate quickly to the inventory categories and properties that interest you.

Inventory Categories

There are three inventory categories: Hardware, Software, and Other Information. Each of these categories has a couple of subcategories and each subcategory is divided into properties. The properties are also structured and quite detailed. For example the “system memory” subcategory offers general information about the computer’s RAM, the paging files actually on disks, the paging files possible to store, and specific information about each memory slot. For the subcategory system memory alone, you have about 20 data fields (see screenshot).

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Softinventive Lab, the publisher of Total Network Inventory (TNI), has a generous offer for 4sysops readers. You can win an unlimited worldwide license for Total Network Inventory, worth $1,695. This means that you can take an inventory of as many machines as you wish. For a quick overview of the tool, I recommend watching this Flash demo.

Even if you already have a systems management solution with inventory capabilities, TNI could be useful because it allows you to quickly retrieve very detailed information about the computers in your network without hassle. I tested TNI and liked the tool immediately because of its straightforward user interface. As you have noticed, I am testing many Windows administration tools, and TNI certainly belongs in the click-as-you-go category.

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In my last post, I explained how ClearApps Network Inventory Advisor 3.5 performs scans. Today, I will show you what you can do with the scan results.

I already mentioned in my first article that Network Inventory Advisor has two tabs, the Inventory and the Reporting tab. The Inventory tab has four sub tabs: Summary, Software, Hardware, and Alerts. The contents of these sub tabs depend on the selected objects in the assets tree on the left hand side.

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ClearApps Network Inventory Advisor is an inventory tool for Windows and Max OS X. If you take part in this contest, you will have the chance to win a license for 100 computers, worth $289. In this post, I will discuss the concept behind Network Inventory Advisor and in my next article, I will talk about its features.

The system requirements of this inventory tool are fairly low. It even runs on Windows 95. Of course, it is recommended that you install it on a more modern Windows version. You can’t install Network Inventory Advisor 3.5 on a Mac, but it is possible to include Macs in your inventory.

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Submitted by David Homer

XIA Configuration provides a centralised management system for the inventory and technical documentation of your network infrastructure.

The Configuration Client can be deployed as a Windows Service which can then use several methods to detect and document Windows Servers, Windows Workstations, DNS Services, SQL Instances etc.

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Rate this tool: (10 votes, average: 4.10 out of 5)

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Submitted by David

Desktop management/inventory tool with web interface.

From the publisher:

Lansweeper solves these network inventory problems with a simple line in the logon script of each user. The first time somebody logs on at a new computer the computer is automatically scanned and all hardware and software inventory is done.

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Rate this tool: (9 votes, average: 4.11 out of 5)

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Some days ago, I blogged about the free tool AvancedRemoteInfo. LanHelper from Hainsoft is a similar tool, but it is not free. However, US$ 69.95 is not much considering that it is much more powerful than ARI.

The focus of LanHelper, however, is not on gathering information about computers, but on basic remote management tasks such as Wake-On-LAN, Remote Shutdown, user and user group management, remote execution, shares and open files management, services control, and user notifications.

LanHelper supports several ways to find computers. You can scan the LAN, scan IP ranges, and scan in domains and workgroups. The tool only finds computers that are currently online. But you can save the list of found computers. It would be nice if LanHelper were able to access Active Directory to gather the computer list.

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AdvancedRemoteInfo (ARI) lets you access all kinds of information remotely from a Windows machine. You can do similar things with Windows’ Computer Management tool, but ARI represents everything in a clearly arranged table which allows you to get an overview of a Windows machine quickly. Furthermore, ARI has some additional features like the batch mode or the remote screenshot feature.

ARI has eight panes: Overview, Process, Services, Drivers, Software, Shares, User and Groups. The Overview displays information such as the DNS name, MAC-Address, UP-time, registered owner, logon server, logged on user, and many more. You can also send messages to the user who is logged on. Please check out the screenshot for more.

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Rate this tool: (4 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)

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Submitted by David Pope

The Belarc Advisor builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, missing Microsoft hotfixes, anti-virus status, CIS (Center for Internet Security) benchmarks, and displays the results in your Web browser. All of your PC profile information is kept private no your PC and is not sent to any web server.

• Operating Systems: Runs on Windows Vista, 2003, XP, 2000, NT 4, Me, 98, and 95.
• Browsers: Requires IE 3 or Netscape 3, and higher versions. Also runs on Opera, Mozilla, and Firefox.
• File size: 1642 KB.
• License: The license associated with this product allows for free personal use only. Use on multiple PCs in a corporate, educational, military or government installation is prohibited. See the license agreement for details.

Belarc Advisor

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Submitted by Miha Pecnik

ManagePC is an application for PC management in Windows environments.
It lets you inventory all aspects of PCs on your domain including: Hardware, Services, Software, Hot-Fixes, Processes, Local Users and Groups.

It also lets you take control of PCs through RDP, VNC, you can reboot, start/stop services, uninstall software,…

I use it quite frequently and while it is a bit unstable it gets the job done.

ManagePC

Rate this tool: (4 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5)

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