Analyzing drive health with SpeedFan
Analyzing drive health with SpeedFan is a guest post by Rarst who is running his own tech blog Rarst.net, a blog about software and IT-related web resources. Definitely worth adding to a RSS News Feed reader.
SpeedFan is well known program in the category of system monitoring. It is a very good tool for controlling CPU and case fans (kinda obvious from its name) and was mentioned here on ghacks numerous times. However it has an interesting secondary function of analyzing hard drive health by reading and processing SMART data.
SMART (short for Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) is set of values that roughly expresses the amount of working time, load and errors hard drives have experienced since leaving the factory. Unfortunately for humans SMART is bunch of hexadecimal numbers that are hard to read and even harder to understand. In addition drive manufacturers are using different attributes and values that are not helping either.
Without leaving interface SpeedFan can show (on SMART tab) the values themselves and is trying to mark meaningful ones and calculate two indexes - performance and fitness:
- failing performance index means drive no longer performs its best;
- failing fitness index means drive is preparing to die with all your data.
Since one of the attributes is drive temperature SpeeFan can tie (as it can other temperatures) it to case fans speed and control airflow depending on its value.
Deeper and better analysis is hidden behind the "Perform an in-depth online analysis of this hard disk" button. It unchains you from local interface and submits data of your drive to hddstatus online service. In seconds your browser is forwarded to an automated report on your drive.
Why the need for an online service at all? Big advantage is that the online tool has access to SMART data of all hard drives of all models ever submitted to it. Instead of vaguely guessing it compares your drive with numerous similar drives and gives evaluation that fits exactly the hard drive model.
The report itself is formatted using understandable words like "good" and "not good" plus nice graphical bars showing how far your drive's values are from optimal ones. Interesting extra is the number of drives of that model tested and min/max/average temperatures for them. Sample report.
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Does it come back after every “moment” update?
Yeah right.. Like this is going to stop defender from running =) This is comedy gold right here.
no ‘about the author’ paragraph?
For permanent disable defender is if removed complete from system no just change permission folder.
Just this is joke.
simpler, load Autoruns (SysInternals)
– filter “Defender”
– untag all entries
– reboot
nothing has changed since my 1st modification years ago
I wouldn’t disable Defender imho, it has too many hidden roots inside Windows itself. One time I tried to uninstall it using brute force scripts and then the Onedrive feature stopped working definitely. A reinstallation was needed and since those times I prefer to maintain Defender untouched. It’s a better method to install another antivirus and it will disable Defender in a safer and easier mode (e.g., Avast is the best in this way, and also Panda Cloud Free is good too).
You can not stop defender from running in background or remove it without some penalty. All you can do is to limit telemetry.
@borts,
It’s probably Smartscreen which is preventing WD from being disabled. Get rid of that and the problem should be solved: https://thegeekpage.com/disable-windows-defender-smartscreen/#How_to_disable_the_Windows_Defender_SmartScreen_via_Local_Group_Policy_Editor
Remove Windows and go for Linux.
Linux sucks dude. Besides it’s not comparable to Windows, these OSes are in different classes entirely.
I use Linux as my daily driver. It’s far more stable than Windows. When’s the last time you used Linux, 2010?
@basingstoke
You’re right, dude. Bro, linux is just a bunch of code that starts before the OS, dude. Brobrodude, that shit ain’t even got emojis, dudebrodudeman! Dudebro, it’s no way near as cool as Windows with its hardcoded abilities to make money off the user, bro. Yo brodude man, you’re the coolest dude ever man, bro. Dude.
Lol what? Windows 7 doesn’t come with any Emojis
Download Autoruns and remove the checkmark from Windows Defender. It doesn’t remove it, but it will never run. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns
Just use “Defender Control”:
https://www.sordum.org/9480/defender-control-v2-1/comment-page-1/#comments
Per this video,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLIjr7FyxZ8
it also works on Windows 11 too…
Win Defender, is completly the most succesful free-built in antivirus of Microsoft. Really nice product. Saved my ass a lot of times. Has updated malware database, completly strong defence
from whatever smart screen disables. Or if you want better and more upgrated (paid) program,
you can go further. But defender is always on your side.
Why would one disable Windows (or Microsoft) Defender in the first place?. I consider this to be playing with fire big time. Everybody knows that if one is using another A-V, Defender will be disabled on its own and won’t be in one’s way.
Why would I want to disable Windows Defender in the first place? It’s a great anti virus in my opinion. Been using it since Windows 8 and and never had a problem or a virus. Why mess with a good thing, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
How a ridiculous article!
I am thoroughly stunned.
Why Should You Disable First-Party Windows Defender?
I can only think that it is “malice or perversely intention (want you to buy a third-party AV where you can expect a back margin)” to guide invalidation without showing the premise.
No sane company will use third-party closed source programs (such as AV).
As I thought, “Ghacks Technology News” seems to be coming to downfall.