ASTRA32Comments on: http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/ free licensed software daily Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:03:34 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: NicholasHall http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/comment-page-2/#comment-156509 NicholasHall Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:39:08 +0000 http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/#comment-156509 Looks like a good program, but I love CPU-Z. Thanks for info. Looks like a good program, but I love CPU-Z. Thanks for info.

]]> By: ukposter http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/comment-page-2/#comment-66789 ukposter Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:47:11 +0000 http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/#comment-66789 Like #36 I've had sound card problems since running ASTRA32, it's an old SB card, still works just fine though, until now! Everytime I go to play a file in Winamp I had to reset the speaker volume. I diabled then enabled my soundcard, still not working right.Uninstalled ASTRA32, still not solved. So I did a restore to the point just before installing ASTRA32, sound works as it did before. Other than that I see some +ve aspects to this program, the old password facility could be really useful, but owing to the soundcard issue I'll stick to using Belarc, Everest or Aida32. Like #36 I’ve had sound card problems since running ASTRA32, it’s an old SB card, still works just fine though, until now! Everytime I go to play a file in Winamp I had to reset the speaker volume. I diabled then enabled my soundcard, still not working right.Uninstalled ASTRA32, still not solved. So I did a restore to the point just before installing ASTRA32, sound works as it did before.
Other than that I see some +ve aspects to this program, the old password facility could be really useful, but owing to the soundcard issue I’ll stick to using Belarc, Everest or Aida32.

]]> By: Senior Citizen http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/comment-page-2/#comment-66770 Senior Citizen Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:15:46 +0000 http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/#comment-66770 Yesterday was first time I posted my thoughts here after down-loading and trying to install Astra32. Came back today to see if anyone else had similar problem as me. That's when I read #20: "This program will be of great use to a number of very lazy an equal number of very stupid computer users. Either those too lazy to use the built in hardware manager that provides all of the same syste, hardware and driver information, or those so stupid that they never even looked at the administrative software builtl right into the OS." Excuse me, poster #20. To me a "stupid" person is someone who doesn't ask questions or try to learn something new. "Unknowledgable" is what most people are, me included. Just because someone doesnt understand something, or know it's on their computer, does NOT make them lazy. I take great exception to your words. You apparently have superior computer knowledge, but to call others names because some are not as computer-savvy as you helps no one. And just because I'm 'old', as evidenced in the screen name I've taken, does NOT make me stupid. It would have been really helpful to me, and maybe others, if you had shared your apparently extensive knowledge with others. But to resort to name-calling, well, it shows me that people who think they are smart don't have common sense. Everyday should be a learning experience. I will continue to enjoy this new-found website and all the posters who write things that I can understand. And THANK YOU, giveawayoftheday. You are a bright spot in my life. Yesterday was first time I posted my thoughts here after down-loading and trying to install Astra32. Came back today to see if anyone else had similar problem as me. That’s when I read #20: “This program will be of great use to a number of very lazy an equal number of very stupid computer users. Either those too lazy to use the built in hardware manager that provides all of the same syste, hardware and driver information, or those so stupid that they never even looked at the administrative software builtl right into the OS.”

Excuse me, poster #20. To me a “stupid” person is someone who doesn’t ask questions or try to learn something new. “Unknowledgable” is what most people are, me included. Just because someone doesnt understand something, or know it’s on their computer, does NOT make them lazy. I take great exception to your words. You apparently have superior computer knowledge, but to call others names because some are not as computer-savvy as you helps no one.

And just because I’m ‘old’, as evidenced in the screen name I’ve taken, does NOT make me stupid. It would have been really helpful to me, and maybe others, if you had shared your apparently extensive knowledge with others. But to resort to name-calling, well, it shows me that people who think they are smart don’t have common sense.

Everyday should be a learning experience. I will continue to enjoy this new-found website and all the posters who write things that I can understand. And THANK YOU, giveawayoftheday. You are a bright spot in my life.

]]> By: Fubar http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/comment-page-2/#comment-66751 Fubar Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:49:25 +0000 http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/#comment-66751 One of the GOTD moderators refuses to post my comments, so I may be wasting my time posting this. The comments today have been unnecessarily extreme. First, utilities such as this use a combination of system-reported descriptions, and the utility's database. There is always the possibility of some inaccurate information, which is why it is useful to use several utilities of this type. The product's webpage specifically states that it doesn't support overclocked systems. For many devices, there are multiple descriptions and strings, and various ways of interpreting and reporting the information gathered, all of which may be technically correct. For almost all devices, there are multiple driver files. After initial installation, Astra32 hung on first use. After reboot, it worked, and fairly quickly on my system. This is a common problem; many installations aren't complete until after reboot, but the installers don't report that you need to reboot. I didn't encounter the problems mentioned; while there was too much information for me to conveniently verify, I didn't notice any serious problems. I think that some people are quick to judge without looking at all of the information reported and without comparing it to other tools. For example, Astra32 reported three different version numbers for my BIOS--and they're all correct; there are three different version numbers. Reported bus and processor speeds, etc., matched what AMD CPUInfo reported. Motherboard IDs were correct. It seemed to have a small amount of difficulty reading my second DRAM info, but it was largely correct. As for driver versions, Astra32 does report the standard Windows drivers, which is why XP users will see 2001 dates. However, if you look through all of the reports, you'll generally see the most recently installed driver dates for particular devices. Although a few devices were listed as unknown, their detailed information clearly identified them from their reported strings. When the program is closed, it asks you to send reports to the developer to help with program accuracy. As I've posted on BladedThoth's forum, I don't think most people are inherently stupid, but I do believe many fail to use their brains. People ask question here that they could much more quickly and easily have answered simply by typing the same question into Google. Claiming that you're a novice, that you don't know anything about computers, that you're too old, etc.--those are all just excuses. Nobody knows anything about anything until they learn it. Computer software is generally very poorly designed, so it's a lot harder to use than it should be, but you can still learn to use it. In XP, go to Start, Help and Support. You can select main categories, tools, perform searches, etc. Google is your friend. Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools is useful. The Windows key + the Break key brings up System Properties, where there is a lot of useful imformation and settings. The Hardware tab has a button to bring up the Device Manager. Double-clicking a device conveniently brings up its Properties. Most devices have a Driver tab. There, the Driver Details... button will bring up the full list of drivers for that device, which can be quite long. Selecting particular driver files will display information about them. For very detailed information about particular devices, you generally need to use the device manufacturers' driver UI utilities or property sheets (when supported by other utilities). One of the GOTD moderators refuses to post my comments, so I may be wasting my time posting this. The comments today have been unnecessarily extreme. First, utilities such as this use a combination of system-reported descriptions, and the utility’s database. There is always the possibility of some inaccurate information, which is why it is useful to use several utilities of this type. The product’s webpage specifically states that it doesn’t support overclocked systems. For many devices, there are multiple descriptions and strings, and various ways of interpreting and reporting the information gathered, all of which may be technically correct. For almost all devices, there are multiple driver files. After initial installation, Astra32 hung on first use. After reboot, it worked, and fairly quickly on my system. This is a common problem; many installations aren’t complete until after reboot, but the installers don’t report that you need to reboot. I didn’t encounter the problems mentioned; while there was too much information for me to conveniently verify, I didn’t notice any serious problems. I think that some people are quick to judge without looking at all of the information reported and without comparing it to other tools. For example, Astra32 reported three different version numbers for my BIOS–and they’re all correct; there are three different version numbers. Reported bus and processor speeds, etc., matched what AMD CPUInfo reported. Motherboard IDs were correct. It seemed to have a small amount of difficulty reading my second DRAM info, but it was largely correct. As for driver versions, Astra32 does report the standard Windows drivers, which is why XP users will see 2001 dates. However, if you look through all of the reports, you’ll generally see the most recently installed driver dates for particular devices. Although a few devices were listed as unknown, their detailed information clearly identified them from their reported strings. When the program is closed, it asks you to send reports to the developer to help with program accuracy.

As I’ve posted on BladedThoth’s forum, I don’t think most people are inherently stupid, but I do believe many fail to use their brains. People ask question here that they could much more quickly and easily have answered simply by typing the same question into Google.

Claiming that you’re a novice, that you don’t know anything about computers, that you’re too old, etc.–those are all just excuses. Nobody knows anything about anything until they learn it. Computer software is generally very poorly designed, so it’s a lot harder to use than it should be, but you can still learn to use it. In XP, go to Start, Help and Support. You can select main categories, tools, perform searches, etc. Google is your friend. Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools is useful. The Windows key + the Break key brings up System Properties, where there is a lot of useful imformation and settings. The Hardware tab has a button to bring up the Device Manager. Double-clicking a device conveniently brings up its Properties. Most devices have a Driver tab. There, the Driver Details… button will bring up the full list of drivers for that device, which can be quite long. Selecting particular driver files will display information about them. For very detailed information about particular devices, you generally need to use the device manufacturers’ driver UI utilities or property sheets (when supported by other utilities).

]]> By: Hempman http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/comment-page-2/#comment-66740 Hempman Thu, 27 Sep 2007 07:29:43 +0000 http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/#comment-66740 I tried Everest and SIW (both links provided above). Both provided arange of information similar to Astra32. Unlike Astra, however, the information provided was actually accurate. Unlike Astra, Everest knew the exact board and revision level, including properly listing all the drivers for the motherboard and CPU's (including threading and multicore reports). Everest picked up the shadow rom for the BIOS, as well as all the advanced features, including those I choose to disable. Everest properly reported the overclocking on the CPU's (very interesting to watch the dynamic overclocking raise the CPU speed to compensate for load, then lower again when the load dropped to allow more efficient cooling). Same for the Crossfire linked GPU's. Listed teh CPU ID's correctly, including the revision level. Everest even told me how many transistors, properly listed the thermal diodes as well as other CPU features Astra did not know about, including the instruction sets the CPU's contain. Unlike Astra, Everest properly listed the bus type and properly listed the speed at 800 MHz (not the 66 MHz listed by Astra). Physical memory is presented dynamically. Cool to watch it go up and down as various tasks used RAM. Everest even provided BIOS chip update info. Not only listed the mulitple monitor setup correctly, including that one card is an extended desktop stretching across two monitors, and the actual pixel position of the start and end of each screen. Open GL support was properly listed, as well as DirectX. All driver info provided was correct. ASPI and SMART drive info was correctly listed. Everest even sees the Automatic Acoustic Management (that is, when a HDD is in use, the movement of the disk and heads creates harmonic vibrations. A decent HDD will, under command of AAM, vary speed of disk rotation and head movement to dampen those vibrations, thus reducing drive crash potential). Network Adapter was correctly listed, including the last update of my DHCP licence, how long it is valid, and a dynamic listing of I/O speeds. Not quite as much information as Astra tries to lay claim to, but unlike Astra, Everest was correct on every count. Everest even included links to driver AND hardware update information where it was available. The benchmark was right on. All that, and Everest speed blew Astra out of the water. SIW was even better. Not only was all the information correct, it gave such esoteric information as whether the OS was properly activated, driver dependencies, program uninstall paths, detailed registry info for installed programs, product licences for all the major installed software, etc., etc. Far more loaded than Astra. SIW was very fast on initial load. There is no need to go get coffee while it scans the entire system. When you choose an item, and a scan is needed, only that scan is performed. SIW listed every audio and video codec in system correctly. System slots, what is in them, drivers they use. SIW saw my high speed modem/router, the computers and printers and other networked devices, the address of every device, including the router internet address, vulnerability level, open ports (dynamic! cool watching Outlook open the email ports, download email and close th ports again). The programmers and publishers could learn alot by examining how even freeware like Everest and SIW is so far superior to thier kludgeware. I do not usually care for these system info type programs. I like that I know how to interrogate the system myself to get the info. Since SIW and Everest will both run from my USB stick, these are now in my troubleshooting toolbox. For those who believe in Astra voodoo software, try these two and see how real software is supposed to look. I tried Everest and SIW (both links provided above).

Both provided arange of information similar to Astra32. Unlike Astra, however, the information provided was actually accurate. Unlike Astra, Everest knew the exact board and revision level, including properly listing all the drivers for the motherboard and CPU’s (including threading and multicore reports).

Everest picked up the shadow rom for the BIOS, as well as all the advanced features, including those I choose to disable.

Everest properly reported the overclocking on the CPU’s (very interesting to watch the dynamic overclocking raise the CPU speed to compensate for load, then lower again when the load dropped to allow more efficient cooling). Same for the Crossfire linked GPU’s.

Listed teh CPU ID’s correctly, including the revision level. Everest even told me how many transistors, properly listed the thermal diodes as well as other CPU features Astra did not know about, including the instruction sets the CPU’s contain.

Unlike Astra, Everest properly listed the bus type and properly listed the speed at 800 MHz (not the 66 MHz listed by Astra).

Physical memory is presented dynamically. Cool to watch it go up and down as various tasks used RAM.

Everest even provided BIOS chip update info.

Not only listed the mulitple monitor setup correctly, including that one card is an extended desktop stretching across two monitors, and the actual pixel position of the start and end of each screen. Open GL support was properly listed, as well as DirectX.

All driver info provided was correct. ASPI and SMART drive info was correctly listed. Everest even sees the Automatic Acoustic Management (that is, when a HDD is in use, the movement of the disk and heads creates harmonic vibrations. A decent HDD will, under command of AAM, vary speed of disk rotation and head movement to dampen those vibrations, thus reducing drive crash potential).

Network Adapter was correctly listed, including the last update of my DHCP licence, how long it is valid, and a dynamic listing of I/O speeds.

Not quite as much information as Astra tries to lay claim to, but unlike Astra, Everest was correct on every count.

Everest even included links to driver AND hardware update information where it was available.

The benchmark was right on. All that, and Everest speed blew Astra out of the water.

SIW was even better. Not only was all the information correct, it gave such esoteric information as whether the OS was properly activated, driver dependencies, program uninstall paths, detailed registry info for installed programs, product licences for all the major installed software, etc., etc. Far more loaded than Astra.

SIW was very fast on initial load. There is no need to go get coffee while it scans the entire system. When you choose an item, and a scan is needed, only that scan is performed.

SIW listed every audio and video codec in system correctly. System slots, what is in them, drivers they use.

SIW saw my high speed modem/router, the computers and printers and other networked devices, the address of every device, including the router internet address, vulnerability level, open ports (dynamic! cool watching Outlook open the email ports, download email and close th ports again).

The programmers and publishers could learn alot by examining how even freeware like Everest and SIW is so far superior to thier kludgeware.

I do not usually care for these system info type programs. I like that I know how to interrogate the system myself to get the info. Since SIW and Everest will both run from my USB stick, these are now in my troubleshooting toolbox.

For those who believe in Astra voodoo software, try these two and see how real software is supposed to look.

]]> By: NY-comments http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/comment-page-2/#comment-66733 NY-comments Thu, 27 Sep 2007 06:21:23 +0000 http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/#comment-66733 thanks hempmann n0 20 for your detailed report, Ithink anybody disqualifying you with a minus as a comment is disqualifying himself for having no clue, so keep giving as these useful information!!! to gaotd: could not connect to the activation server for hours not still yet, only about 40 minutes left, but I don't need this XXXware anyway with all these flaws! thanks hempmann n0 20 for your detailed report, Ithink anybody disqualifying you with a minus as a comment is disqualifying himself for having no clue, so keep giving as these useful information!!!
to gaotd: could not connect to the activation server for hours not still yet, only about 40 minutes left, but I don’t need this XXXware anyway with all these flaws!

]]> By: james http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/comment-page-2/#comment-66731 james Thu, 27 Sep 2007 05:49:41 +0000 http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/#comment-66731 This is a very good application. It gives you more information than you know what to do with. Extremely comprehensive. Double thumbs up. This is a very good application. It gives you more information than you know what to do with. Extremely comprehensive. Double thumbs up.

]]> By: KDF http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/comment-page-2/#comment-66729 KDF Thu, 27 Sep 2007 03:50:03 +0000 http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/#comment-66729 I missed yesterday's giveaway because of the terrible rains we faced here in kolkata,india as my internet connection was down. Anyways, today's giveaway ASTRA32 is quite good. Despite having SIW and EVEREST (which are both freeware), ASTRA32 would still be a keeper for me. As for the price, in my opinion a system info utility like this should not be worth 29 bucks. Its too steep. Maybe 15 would be more equitable, especialy when there are free alternatives out there doing almost the same job. I missed yesterday’s giveaway because of the terrible rains we faced here in kolkata,india as my internet connection was down. Anyways, today’s giveaway ASTRA32 is quite good. Despite having SIW and EVEREST (which are both freeware), ASTRA32 would still be a keeper for me.

As for the price, in my opinion a system info utility like this should not be worth 29 bucks. Its too steep. Maybe 15 would be more equitable, especialy when there are free alternatives out there doing almost the same job.

]]> By: copyfixer http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/comment-page-2/#comment-66728 copyfixer Thu, 27 Sep 2007 03:41:03 +0000 http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/#comment-66728 As for #20....... You are knowledgeable in computers. I know this software is not free for professionals. So I am not using it in a "professional" basis. When working with total strangers computers, I will often request they download Belarc or some other freeware to give me a little heads-up when I integrate computer periferals to their crappy little computers which they have no idea of what lies inside. Most of the time the info is reasonably accurate. Most people do not have the greatest or most exotic hardware/software in their boxes. As for #20……. You are knowledgeable in computers. I know this software is not free for professionals. So I am not using it in a “professional” basis. When working with total strangers computers, I will often request they download Belarc or some other freeware to give me a little heads-up when I integrate computer periferals to their crappy little computers which they have no idea of what lies inside. Most of the time the info is reasonably accurate. Most people do not have the greatest or most exotic hardware/software in their boxes.

]]> By: Mike http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/comment-page-2/#comment-66727 Mike Thu, 27 Sep 2007 03:19:33 +0000 http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/astra32/#comment-66727 Installed okay, but the first time I tried it, the program went to the memory error screen and rebooted, the second time it just stopped working. There was no third time as I uninstalled it. I am running Vista 32 if that is any help. Installed okay, but the first time I tried it, the program went to the memory error screen and rebooted, the second time it just stopped working. There was no third time as I uninstalled it. I am running Vista 32 if that is any help.

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