SpeedFan

Pros

• Shows the health of all your hardware pieces in a comprehensive menu
• Allows you to control the fan speed and run some simulations
• Has tutorials to help you learn the program

Cons

• The interface is difficult at first, but you can learn how to use it with the tutorials
• Asks for administrative rights every time you turn it on

Speedfan is a program that monitors your computer's fan along with the health of your hardware. The program might appear difficult at first, but it's quite easy to use and it gives you a significant amount of information. This can be used to see if there are any problems with hardware pieces and to see if the fan is working properly.

Main Features

Speedfan has several different features that can help you maintain your computer and keep it going at peak performance. The main thing it does is monitor the hardware's health. This is primarily through checking the temperature, but it also shows other factors such as whether the hardware is functioning properly and if any errors are coming up. Not only can you see how well your fan is running, but you can also adjust the fan's speed to either conserve energy or reduce the temperature.

This software is consistently updated so that it can check the health of modern hardware. While it can give basic information on any piece of hardware, you'll get more detailed information about modern hardware whenever the program is updated. This ensures accurate readings and gives you more control of your computer.

While this program is constantly monitoring your computer, it requires very little resources and shouldn't slow you down at all. That's because it's only reading the hardware in the background. You must open the program to get more information on the hardware and to change the fan speed. This program can help extend your computer's lifespan if used properly.

Interface

Speedfan isn't the most complex program, but it will require some time to learn and understand. You can change the readings, run some basic simulations, change the fan speed, look at individual hardware pieces and more. There are also numerous menus to go through and each one has a large amount of information sort through. Those with extensive computer knowledge will find this interface fairly straightforward, but average or newer users might be a little scared at first.

While it will take time to learn this program, there are many tutorials that you can take advantage of. The Speedfan tutorials will tell you how to navigate through the interface while also showing you how to use all the tools. This program becomes much easier once you understand the basics.

Troubleshooting Help

Many professional and experienced users can use this program for troubleshooting help. Programs like this allow you to dive deeper into the computer and easily read information on the hardware pieces. This can show you if a certain piece is overheating or not functioning properly. While this may not be able to discover the problem, this can help you check all the hardware pieces to see if there is an obvious flaw with temperature or functionality.

Administrators Only

This program requires administrative permission and it will ask for it whenever you open the program. If you're not the administrator, then this program won't open for you. Even if you are the administrator, then you must confirm it before the program fully opens and displays all the information.

This can get annoying, but it's understandable why it happens. This type of information can be dangerous if a hacker can see it. They can change the fan speed and even turn it off to overheat your computer. This layer of protection keeps your computer safe.

Stress Test

This program can be used in conjunction with other programs to run a stress test on your computer. A stress test sees how much power can be used before the components start to falter. This is good if you want to overclock your computer for more processing power or if you're just curious.

You'll use this program to monitor the hardware and to adjust the fan to see how it functions even when the fan is at full power.

Pros

• Shows the health of all your hardware pieces in a comprehensive menu
• Allows you to control the fan speed and run some simulations
• Has tutorials to help you learn the program

Cons

• The interface is difficult at first, but you can learn how to use it with the tutorials
• Asks for administrative rights every time you turn it on