Over period computers will slow down due to several reasons. It could be a battery problem, storage issue or a malware which might hinder system performance. Therefore, it is necessary to check the overall health of your PC routinely and take action when needed. In this article, we will explain some of the in-built tools available in Windows 11 to check your PC health.
Windows 11 PC Check Tool
Microsoft offers a dedicated PC Health Check app for testing system compatibility when upgrading from Windows 10 to 11. If you are still using Windows 10, you can install the app from official Microsoft website to check if your PC will work with Windows 11.
This app does not come with Windows 11 and you need to manually install and check your PC’s health. However, you will see a warning message like below when installing indicating the app is not from Microsoft.
The best option is to ignore that PC Health Check app and use some of the default apps that come with Windows 11.
1. Check PC Health with Windows Security
Most of the PC Health Check app’s functionalities are available as part of Windows Security app in Windows 11.
- Click the search button in taskbar and type “security” in the box.
- Find Windows Security from the result and click on it to open the app.
- When you are in Windows Security app, go to “Device performance & health” section from the sidebar.
- You will see a health report showing the status of Windows Time service, Storage capacity, Battery life and Apps and software.
- The report will show green tick mark indicating good status and show a warning symbol against the section if there are problems found.
- Expand the section showing warning to get more details and take necessary action. In our example, it shows a recommendation for Windows Time service. Turning on the service will make the overall status to green.
2. Using Performance Monitor
Though “Health report” is useful to get overall status, it does not provide detailed information on system performance. Performance Monitor is the best tool to monitor real-time system usage. The tool offers system diagnostics with predefined parameters. Go to “Data Collector Sets > System > System Diagnostics”, right-click on “System Diagnostics” and select “Start” option to generate the report.
If required, you can add performance counters (parameters) and generate custom reports under “User Defined” section. The app will run for 60 seconds to generate the reports which you can see under “Reports” section. The report will show huge information and check under “Warnings” heading. It should show “No problems found on this computer” indicating the system is in good status. You can use these reports to get the health status of OS, disk, security, system services and hardware devices. The “Performance” section will show the overview of CPU, network, disk and memory statuses. If there are any problems found, go to the corresponding section to get more details to fix the issue.
Learn more about Performance Monitor and how to create custom report with data collect sets.
3. Using Resource Monitor to Check PC Health
Resource Monitor is the next tool to monitor your PC health status. Though this provides similar set of details like Performance Monitor, you need not generate any reports. This app will show the real-time usage of CPU, Network, Memory and Disk. The “Overview” tab shows the system usage of all resources with the summary along with graphs. You can navigate to individual tabs and find more details related to that section.
For example, you can go to “Memory” tab to find the current memory allocation status. If you find any process is using high memory, simply right-click on it and “End Process” to terminate it.
Based on the resource usage, you can understand which processes are using more CPU/memory and take action to release the resource. However, Resource Monitor will not show the problems in usage like Health report or Performance Monitor tools. Learn more on how to properly use Resource Monitor tool to monitor system performance.
4. Task Manager in Windows 11
Task Manager app has fresh look and features in Windows 11. For monitoring the overall health status, open the app and go to “Performance” section. Here, you can find the utilization of CPU, memory, disk, Wi-F and GPU. If you find high CPU/memory/disk usage, then go to “Processes” and “Services” section to find the item causing the issue. Similar to Resource Monitor, you can simply kill the process/service to release the resource. Again, Task Manager is to monitor the real-time system check and not for generating health reports.
Learn more on how to use Task Manager to monitor and terminate processes.
5. Event Viewer App
Event Viewer records all the events happening on your computer as a log. You can refer this log anytime later to find which app caused the issue. Open Event Viewer app and go to “Windows Logs” section. If you want to find the problems with apps, click on the “Application” section. Wait sometime to see all the recorded events are listed. Click on “Filter Current Log…” option from the last column. On the pop-up, select the logged time range and error category. You can select other parameters if required and click “OK” button.
This will show only error events if there are any.
Double click on any error event to find more details of the error. You can copy the error details along with event XML and send and analyze further on the issue.
Event Viewer is the cool app to find any system issues caused by apps during particular time.
6. Using Device Manage to Check Status
Device Manager is the tool to check if you have problem with any specific hardware. For example, none of the above tools will tell you if your keyboard is not working properly.
- Right-click on the Start menu button and select “Device Manager” option.
- When you are in Device Manager app, find and select the device that you have problem. In most cases, you will see a warning symbol on the device icon indicating there is a problem with that device.
- Double-click on it or right-click and select “Properties”.
- In the device’s properties dialog, go to “General” tab and check under “Device status” box.
- You will see “This device is working properly” when there are no problems.
If you notice a problem like “No drivers are installed for this device”, go to “Driver” tab and update the driver. It is also possible to uninstall the device from here. However, make sure to keep the backup driver and device installation files so that you can install them if needed.
FAQ on Checking PC Health in Windows 11
Here are some of the frequently asked questions that can help to use these tools effectively.
PC Health Check does not come as a separate app with Windows 11 installation. The original purpose was to check the compatibility when upgrading from Windows 10 to 11. Now, you can use Windows Security app to get similar features.
Ironically, the app is not certified by Microsoft though it is from them. So, your security settings will prevent you to install the app. You can ignore the security settings to continue the installation and use the app.
Go to Performance Monitor app and run System Diagnostics to generate reports. You can also create custom reports with user defined performance counters.
You can check real-time CPU, network, memory and disk usages in Performance Monitor, Resource Monitor or Task Manager apps in Windows 11.
Go to Device Manager and check the status in device’s properties to check if the device is working properly.
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