Almost all operating systems of the Windows family, starting with obviously crude and unfinished modifications 95 and 98, simply abound with the presence of system tools, usually hidden from the eyes of an ordinary user. In a general sense, this whole set can be called Windows management tools, although a separate service responsible for its use can be found in the system. Let's try to figure out what it is, what tools are included in this set, why the user needs to use them, and how to manage the system with their help.
Windows Management Instrumentation: what is it?
To begin, briefly dwell on what this set is. First of all, you need to clearly understand that this is a set of tools, and not a separate program. The guide to Windows Management Instrumentation makes this clear. The set itself consists of many services and processes that can be used for completely different purposes, and if necessary, even eliminate problems that arise. The main tasks of all the tools include the following:
- obtaining information about the operating system, hardware and software of the computer;
- management of system configuration and other components;
- monitoring system stability and resource loads;
- checking and diagnostics of the OS and the main components of the computer;
- identification and elimination of possible malfunctions and failures.
Useful tools every user needs to know about
It goes without saying that absolutely all the tools that make up the Windows 10 management tools and versions below cannot be considered physically. Therefore, we dwell only on the most basic and precisely those that the user may need most often. Among them, the most frequently used are the following sections:
- information about the system ;
- system configuration;
- computer control .;
- monitors of action, status, performance and stability;
- checking and cleaning disks or removable media;
- memory diagnostics;
- troubleshooter.
Of course, this is not a complete list of everything that could be included in the Windows management toolkit, but this set is still enough for the average user.
Retrieving System Information
Unfortunately, few users know or seriously think about the fact that you can get almost exhaustive information about the operating system, software and hardware using the tools of the system itself, without resorting to third-party utilities. The latter, of course, are somewhat more informative, however, many of them are paid and are used mainly for overclocking equipment, which is not recommended to be done without special knowledge and skills.
Among the main tools of the Windows management toolkit, one can especially distinguish the msinfo32 and winver applets called from the Run menu. The first provides data mainly about the hardware, the second is intended to clarify the current version of the operating system.
In addition, the “Device Manager” can be called a very powerful tool, which allows you to learn almost everything about installed “hardware” and virtual hardware, manage drivers, and also eliminate many problems in its operation. For example, the special identifiers DEV and VEN can be used to search for the most suitable control software if the system cannot find and install it on its own.
Computer system controls
The computer control section is one of the most significant. It includes several main components, of which the Task Scheduler, disk management, performance, event viewing, services, and the already mentioned “Device Manager” can be highlighted.
You should immediately pay attention to the fact that any of these tools can be called separately without resorting to using the main section.
As for the tools, few ordinary users fully understand the capabilities of the same scheduler. But in it you can create automatically scheduled tasks, including even turning the computer on and off. One example is the operation of the KMSAuto Net application, with which the operating system itself or office products were activated. Naturally, the program itself creates a new task, but the re-activation period can be changed if desired.
Disk management is an indispensable tool. It appeared only in the seventh version, and with its help it became possible to split disks into partitions or perform more complex actions with them directly in a working system (previously, this required third-party utilities).
The event viewing section speaks for itself. It provides information regarding all recent actions on the computer, including error reports, which can serve as a starting point for identifying and resolving critical computer malfunctions.
The services section is used to manage all software components. In it, you can specify whether to enable or disable absolutely all software processes, including those that are running in the system in the background. For example, it is in this section that you can completely turn off system updates by deactivating several components responsible for it (if anyone does not know, disabling automatic search and installation of updates in the "Update Center" to completely deactivate the service is not enough).
The performance utility refers more to the monitoring part, but it should not be discounted.
But the system configuration (msconfig) is an absolutely indispensable tool, since it is here that you select the bootable OS at startup, if there are several of them, the start type is set, some services and startup items starting with the system are managed (in Windows 10 it is listed in the “Task Manager ") etc.
Monitoring
In terms of performance, most users usually refer to the “Task Manager”, in which you can monitor active or disabled processes and control their behavior. Yes, this is so, but the user will not get a full picture of what is happening.
To display detailed information, it is better to use the so-called resource and system stability monitors, in which you can get the most information about the operation of your own computer system and, if necessary, take measures to prevent malfunctions and malfunctions.
Component Verification and Troubleshooting
As for the verification tools, here we can single out actions with disks or removable media and testing of RAM. However, they are not suitable for testing system components. In case of critical failures, the system can be brought into working condition only by means of the command line. For example, you can check the integrity of important files that are responsible for the functioning of Windows and restore them if problems are discovered, you can use the sfc / scannow command. In general, in the command console, which ordinary users obviously do not like, you can perform actions that are not available through the graphical interface.
Finally, sometimes in case of failures, you can use an automated troubleshooting tool, which is designed to identify and fix failures yourself. Sometimes it gives a result, sometimes it doesn’t. But as the first solution when detecting errors in the system or in the operation of the equipment, it should definitely be used.
Other important components
As mentioned above, in any version of Windows, you can count and a lot of necessary tools. The most significant are registry editors, as well as tools for working with group and local policies, which, by and large, duplicate registry settings, but with a lower priority. And, if an ordinary user can make some experiments with politicians, then it is strictly forbidden to intervene in the registry without a full understanding of the actions performed, since there are no cancellation tools in the editor itself (they are provided only when changing the key values). But it is precisely with the help of the registry file into which the export was made that the operating system will not be able to work if you have the appropriate knowledge (the same applies to manually creating all kinds of backup copies and sample disks with the operating system and all its contents).
How to disable Windows management tools and is it worth it?
It remains to look at one of the most important problems. Some users often pay attention to the fact that the active process of Windows Management Instrumentation loads the processor, and try to turn it off. Here you need to understand that the load on resources at such moments is not from the main service, but from the running system or user processes.
You can deactivate the toolkit in the services section, but as already clear, disabling the Windows Management Instrumentation service is not recommended in any case, since access to many tools will be limited or blocked, and the whole system, including some programs, may be unstable .