ASTRA32 - Advanced System Information ToolComments on:

By: Bululu

Bululu — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:21:31 +0000

Smoother wrote,

downloaded and activated fine on my XP SP2 2.8ghz system, let the program scan, got a false reading with my memory type, I have 2 DDR sticks, this program states i have 2 SDRAM sticks, thats the only problem I see at the moment.

Now I am getting confused, because I always knew and believed SDRAM is more of an implemementation rather than a memory module type. So if the program reports DDR SDRAM it should mean a Double Data Rate stick with the Synchronous Dynamic RAM feature, meaning it’s speed is synchronised with the computer’s system bus.

I think SDRAM can be SDR SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, DDR2 SDRAM. The syncronous feature is just an implementaion in RAM types. I may be wrong though.

About the program it’s just among the best hardware tools for IT professionals and PC Power users as it may be overwhelming for the average PC user. I personally give it a 5 star.

By: paul

paul — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:10:57 +0000

Seems a fine program to me, although not without errors in the details about the PC it runs on. Example of an error is an USB memory stick in a USB port being listed as an ASPI Storage Device. ASPI is normally associated with SCSI devices.
Some minor translation errors exist in the English text or phrases.
Overall it runs well enough on various machines here (Celeron 466, P4 2.4G, Athlon XP Thoroughbred; Windows 2000 and XP).
For all these type of programs I keep in mind that all the details they report, there may be flaws in them. Not any pair of programs like these report the same details. So I use a couple of them, cumulatively providing me with the details of the PC I use them on.

By: dan

dan — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:34:58 +0000

Installed fine on XP sp3 32bit. Plugged 2 usb flash drives in 1G and 2G but detected it both as 2G. Thats the only downside of it as far as I can recall. Overall a very great SW.

By: kdb

kdb — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:12:54 +0000

Free Alternatives

WinAudit

Fresh Diagnose

Belarc

SIW

HWInfo

SiSoftware Sandra Lite

PC Wizard
Final Verdict
For what it does, Astra32 is one of the best. I give it a thumbs up and recommend it to anyone that needs it. However, if it was not free on GOTD I would never pay for Astra32 because there are tons of free software that do the same thing. If I had to pick my favorite out of all the ones I listed under “Free Alternatives” it would have to be Fresh Diagnose. The only problem with Fresh Diagnose is it does not have a portable version; if you are looking for a free portable diagnostic tool, WinAudit is for you.

By: Flatop

Flatop — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:43:31 +0000

I have collected approximately 10 different “system information” utilities. Almost all of them run from a boot CD (or live CD) and so are not running in a Windows environment. Because of this, they often either miss-identify or fail to correctly detect Window’s applications and Windows specific hardware devices. Network information is an example of one of the areas where these DOS based applications fail to work correctly. Sound cards are also frequently misidentified by these programs -especially the Windows specific functions that have no counterpart in the DOS environment.

Today’s offering, Astra 32, runs from in a Windows environment and does a better job in identifying those areas mentioned above. Many of the DOS based system identification programs I have list between 10 and 25 pages of information. However, this is not very helpful when much of the information reported is incorrect. I see a synergistic effect running a Windows based program such as Astra 32, along side of one of the better DOS system information programs.

By: Herb

Herb — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:32:39 +0000

Installed just fine, but first run hung on IDE7 examination…..not just that app….everything, mouse & all. I had to power-off/on and bring it up again. Tried it then (clean system after reboot), but same thing, only it was on IDE5. I pulled out a USB stick was all, so it doesn’t seem to handle my IDE drives.

I’m running Vista Home Premium on a Dell Inspiron 531S, 3G memory with WD50 500Gig HD, a WD 500Gig external USB HD, and a LaCie 8G USB stick. I had a second stick in on the first try, but pulled it before the second.

Thumbs down!
I see no reason to hang that way, so I immediately uninstalled it.

By: timnmonroe

timnmonroe — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:15:29 +0000

Installed on xp sp3 fine, but…
Ran, program froze. Opened task man, showed unresponsive, ended task.
Forced my system to shut down. Restarted to system recover from critical error.
Looked for their log file, not there.
Tried running again.
Same result.
Scanned system, everything running fine.
tried again, same result.
Guess it doesn’t like my system.

By: dave

dave — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:47:49 +0000

Windows Vista-64 Intel Toshiba laptop. On install hangs on “IDE-8″. Left for 1 hour, no disk activity. Keyboard frozen, requires hard power down. No ctrl-alt-del. No uninstall (doesn’t show in uninstall software). I see others have the same experience.

By: CAnn

CAnn — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:05:33 +0000

Just thinking of trying this out. I have windows vista 64 and am thinking about upgrading to windows 7 (in a week or ao). If I do upgrade, will I lose this GAOTD and all others that I have installed on my computer?

By: chuck

chuck — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:45:22 +0000

Wow, the details this software give is rather staggering. Ran great and seemingly reported everything correctly on all my Vista 64 machines! What is even more staggering is that #22 is still using Win-98. I dont even remember what Win98 looks like. Just to think, I got ride of Win-XP because it seems really out of date to me, and am now looking forward to Windows 7. This must be really good software for it to still work on the antiquated Win98! I used to use Belarc Advsier, but this shows way more info!! Well worth the $40. This is tremendous that today ti is free!!