PassMark
Posted by Albert Jerusalem on Saturday, October 23, 2010
Under: Technician Softwares
The software for carrying out of various tests of yours PC.
Passmark Battery Monitor
is a battery monitoring software solution. It has been designed as an easy-to-use Windows based application that allows users to monitor the performance of laptop batteries and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS).
•Graphically see the charge / discharge rate
•Diagnose problem battery cells with detailed statistics
•Compare and measure your batteries performance with expected discharge rates
•See the critical discharge point for your batteries
•Uniquely identify battery packs for tracking purposes or system inventories
•Log the performance of a battery for later reference
•See the status of each individual battery pack, when multiple batteries are in use
Batteries, given their chemical nature, are prone to wear, corrosion, leakage and outright failure due to events like short circuits and lightning strikes. Given their propensity to fail and to have decreased performance over time, it is important to be able to identify and monitor their performance. With BatteryMon, monitoring the state of your laptop battery or UPS has never been easier. BatteryMon has the following features:
•Battery charge level is graphed in real time, along with an extrapolated trend line and comparison trend line.
•A log file is maintained of the battery charge level and other statistics for later analysis.
•Configurable sample period.
•A comprehensive help file.
•Detailed system and status information about each battery installed (see below).
•An interface to BurnInTest in order to evaluate battery performance, while under load.
•Mini window mode that shows multiple batteries charging/discharging status as well as life percentage, estimated running time and more (with adjustable transparency for Windows 2000 and later).
Typical users include portable computer repair centers, system integrators, server administrators who must manage UPSes and, home users wanting to test their battery or UPS.
Compatibility
Any laptop battery or UPS that complies with the Windows, Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) specification should be able to report information to BatteryMon. Note that only Windows 98, ME, 2000 and XP support this interface. Windows95 and NT are not supported. Older PCs may also have a problem if their BIOS does not support ACPI. Some features may not be supported by some battery types, typically they will report only partial information in this case. It has been also been noted that several UPS manufacturers are not providing compliant device drivers.
Status Information
The following information is provided for each installed battery (when available, as not all batteries will support all of these features).
•Status: Indicates the current status of this particular battery. e.g., "Charging", "Discharging", "Not in use".
•Manufacturer: The name of the company that manufactures the battery pack.
•Device Name: This is usually the model number of the battery pack, as defined by the manufacturer.
•Serial number: The serial number of the device as defined by the manufacturer.
•Unique ID: An identification string, which is unique across all battery packs.
•Time remaining: A rough estimate of how much time remains before the battery is fully discharged.
•Battery Temperature: The temperature inside the battery pack.
•Date of manufacture: The date when the battery was manufactured.
•Type of use: Indicates if the batteries normal use is to provide power for normal operations or if the battery is a fail safe / backup device. (Laptop battery or UPS)
•Rechargeable: Indicates if the battery is rechargeable or not.
•Chemistry: The type of battery. Typical values are: Lead Acid, Lithium Ion, Nickel Cadmium, Nickel Metal Hydride, Nickel Zinc, Rechargeable Alkaline-Manganese.
•Design capacity: The theoretical capacity of the battery when new. Measured in milliwatts hours (mWh) for most batteries.
•Full charge capacity: The battery's current fully charged capacity. In some batteries it is possible to compare this value to the designed capacity to estimate the battery's wear.
•Alert levels: The manufacturer's suggestion of when a "Low" and "Warning" battery alert should occur.
•Bias: Some batteries reserve a small charge that is biased out of the battery's Full Charge Capacity and Current Capacity values to show "0" as the critical battery level. Critical bias is analogous to setting a fuel gauge to show "empty" when there are several liters of fuel left.
•Charge cycles: The count of the number of charge/discharge cycles the battery has experienced. This provides a means to determine the battery's wear.
•Voltage: The current battery voltage in Volts across the battery terminals.
•Charge Rate: The current rate of battery charge or discharge. For most batteries this value will be in mWh.
PassMark BurnInTest™
is a software tool that allows all the major sub-systems of a computer to be simultaneously stress tested for endurance, reliability and stability.
•Assists in PC Troubleshooting and diagnostics.
•The best value professional burn-in tool on the market!
•Avoid delivering D.O.A. (Dead on Arrival) hardware to your customers.
•Dramatically reduce your burn in times with multithreaded simultaneous testing of components.
•Build your image as a supplier of quality systems.
•Avoid costly downtime, system rebuilds and lost data.
•Test the stability of a system after configuration changes or hardware upgrades (critical for overclocking).
Anyone who has used computers for any period of time will understand the importance of having a stable system. The cost of a hardware failure can be enormous. If you are lucky your data will only become inaccessible while faulty components are replaced. If you're unlucky you can lose your files completely or have them permanently corrupted. Even if you have good backups, you can still lose days of work returning the PC to its pre-failure state. In many cases the lost data can never be replaced and businesses can be brought to their knees, with the loss of documentation, customer details and financial records.
What BurnInTest does is thoroughly exercise the hardware in a PC in a short period of time, in the same way as normal applications use a PC over a long period of time. This takes advantage of the fact that computer hardware tends to fail either very early in its life or after many thousands of hours of use. Typically BurnInTest should be used before a PC is put into service, as the failure of a computer that isn’t being used for a critical application and doesn’t have any critical data is much less damaging, (especially if it is still under warranty).
BurnInTest will bring intermittent or hidden problems to the surface so that after a successfully run the computer can be used with a much higher level of confidence. BurnInTest can also be used by overclockers to verify system stability at high clock speeds.
BurnInTest tests the CPU via mathematical operations and SIMD calculations, hard drives, RAM, CD-ROMs, CD burners, DVDs, sound cards, 2D graphics, 3D graphic, network connection, printers, video playback. If you have specialized hardware that BurnInTest does not test, you can even write your own test and integrate it with BurnInTest. PassMark has produced plugin tests for Keyboards, Dial up Modems and FireWire ports. This can all be done simultaneously as the application is multithreaded. The Professional version also has a number of additional features such as tape drive testing, USB port testing, USB 2.0 port testing, Serial and parallel port testing with the use of loop back plugs.
Additional Features
The application includes the following additional features:
•Online help & PDF manual
•A customer style results certificate
•Support for printing results
•Logging of results to disk in user selectable levels of detail (in ASCII format & HTML formats)
•Timed test runs that will stop automatically at the expiry of the selected time or after a number of test cycles.
•The ability to save your results to disk as log file.
•'Notes' and 'Machine ID' fields for storing your own audit information along with the saved log file.
•Support for copying the results to other applications (eg. MS-Word) via a variety of image formats. (BMP, GIF, EMF)
•The ability to select the level of load placed on each component, via the setting of a duty cycle for each test.
•Counters that count the total number of operations performed.
•An easy to use point and click interface
•Can be run from a USB drive or CD (under Windows)
•Summary system information including CPU type, CPU speed & Serial number.
•Temperature monitoring interface (with additional 3rd party Intel Active Monitor, HMonitor, MotherBoardMonitor and SpeedFan software)
•Laptop battery & UPS monitoring interface (with additional BatteryMon software)
•Support for production line automation and detailed logging
•RAM testing beyond the 4GB barrier in Windows 2000, XP and Vista (up to 64GB of RAM)
•Printer testing using raw print files, or standard B&W or color testing
•MP3, Midi and Wave file playback for sound card testing
•Testing of up to 20 hard and floppy disks simultaneously
•Testing of up to 20 CD/DVD drives simultaneously
•CD / DVD testing using specialized test CD/DVDs (or use the complementary CD-Maker software). CD burner testing
•Windows shutdown and cyclic reboot testing (with complementary Rebooter software)
•Scrolling 'H's for Electromagnetic Compliance (EMC) testing to ANSI standard C63.4-1992
•Video RAM testing
•Testing the playback of Videos
•Support for SMART hard disk parameter checking
Standard or Professional Edition?
The two editions are identical except for the following additional features in the Professional Edition:
•If you have specialized hardware that BurnInTest does not test, you can even write your own test and integrate it with BurnInTest Professional. PassMark has produced plugin tests for Keyboards, Dial up Modems and FireWire ports.
•Serial port loop back testing. Testing can be performed on up to 64 serial ports at the same time. Loop back plugs are required for this test.
•Parallel port loop back testing. Loop back plugs are required for this test.
•USB port testing using the PassMark USB Loop back plug or the PassMark USB 2.0 Loop back plug. Up to 10 USB ports can be simultaneously tested.
•Tape drive testing under Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista.
•CPU affinity selection, for targeting testing to a single CPU. This can be useful in dual CPU or quad CPU systems.
•Advanced RAM testing with page locking and testing beyond the 4GB barrier in 32-bit Windows 2000, XP and Vista. (up to 64GB)
•Scrolling 'H's for Electromagnetic Compliance (EMC) testing to ANSI standard C63.4-1992
•Additional options for video card testing
•Testing on 64-bit (x64) versions of Windows using a native 64-bit version of BurnInTest Professional. The Standard Edition is 32bit only. The Pro edtion is 32bit and native 64bit.
•Running BurnInTest from a CD or USB drive.
PassMark ModemTest™
is an easy-to-use Windows based application that allows users to test their dial up modem. ModemTest performs low level testing that is independent of your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and the TCP/IP settings on the computer. It allows the modem to be tested in addition to the phone line the modem is connected to. ModemTest provides a method for system integrators and computer repair centers to test both internal and external modems. By a process of elimination home users can also use ModemTest to help isolate Internet connection problems to a faulty modem, or phone line or their ISP service. ModemTest logs any data corruption and incorporates a modem speed test which reports the initial connection speed and the actual throughput.
Two different test methods are provided. The first test method uses two telephone lines and two modems in a master / slave configuration. The master dials the phone number of the slave modem and after a successful connection, data packets are exchanged between the master and slave. The second test method requires only a single modem and no telephone line. A local loop back is done on the analog side of the modem, ModemTest then sends data packets which are echoed back by the modem. In both cases ModemTest communicates to the modem using a COM port. (In the case of Internal modems or USB modems, this is a virtual COM port and not a physical plug on the machine).
Before sending any data ModemTest first checks the settings on the serial port and then on the modem itself. Any data received is verified to be sure that it is complete and without errors. A log of the activity is kept in the right hand section of the window. Different types of activity is highlighted in different colors. Any errors are displayed in red. This log can be saved to disk if required.
Using the file transfer options, ModemTest also assists in modem compliance testing against the International Telecommincations Union ITU v.56 ter standard. (c.f. Test procedure for evaluation of 2-wire 4-kHz voiceband duplex modems, ITU-T v.56 ter, version 08/96, sections 6.1 and 6.2).
PassMark MonitorTest™
is a tool that allows users to investigate the quality and performance of their computer monitor or LCD flat panel screens. With more people spending more time in front of computer monitors it is important to purchase a quality monitor that will provide crisp, bright images, while reducing the strain on your eyes. MonitorTest displays a series of specially designed images on the screen at a variety of different resolutions and color depths to test for optimum visual performance. Each of 25 different test screens have been created to test a particular aspect of the monitors performance.
As a monitor is often the most expensive part of a computer system, this type of testing is essential for the adjustment & selection of a quality monitor. Users would include computer repair centers, system integrators, quality assurance personnel, graphic designers and anyone that cares about the quality of their monitor. MonitorTest runs in Windows and will work at any resolution, aspect ratio and color depth supported by your monitor and graphics card.
•Comprehensive help file.
•25 different test patterns including:
oMaster screen
oConvergence
oContrast
oColor scales
oFonts
oPrinter color calibration
oPersistence
oGamma measurement
oZooming to verify power supply stability
oSolid colors to test for missing or always on pixels
•Display of monitor and video adapter system information
•Support for all available resolutions and color depths
•Support for all display types (CRT, LCD, Plasma, etc.)
•Supports video cards with up to 300 different video modes.
•Looped testing to continually test your monitor
•Scripted testing to use different test patterns with different resolutions, color depth and test length
•Tiny download and small enough to fit on a floppy disk
PassMark Performance Test
Fast, easy to use, PC speed testing and benchmarking. PassMark PerformanceTest ™ allows you to objectively benchmark a PC using a variety of different speed tests and compare the results to other computers.
•Find out if your PC is performing at its best.
•Compare the performance of your machine to similar machines.
•Measure the effect of configuration changes and upgrades.
•Avoid paying big bucks for poor performance.
•Make objective independent measurements on which to base your
purchasing decision.
•Use the advanced tests to create you own benchmark scenarios
Twenty five standard benchmark tests are available in six test suites plus there are five advanced testing windows for custom benchmarking.
Standard test suites
•CPU tests Mathematical operations, compression, encryption, SSE, 3DNow! instructions and more
•2D graphics tests Drawing lines, bitmaps, fonts, text, and GUI elements
•3D graphics tests Simple to complex DirectX 3D graphics and animations
•Disk tests Reading, writing and seeking within disk files
•Memory tests Allocating and accessing memory speed and efficiency
•CD / DVD test Test the speed of your CD or DVD drive
Advanced configurable tests
•Advanced Disk
•Advanced CD / DVD
•Advanced 3D graphics
•Advanced Networking** (for Ethernet, Internet and Wireless)
•Advanced Memory**
•Advanced Multi-tasking**
PassMark Rating and comparable baselines
In addition to the standard tests, there are 7 summary results plus the overall "PassMark Rating" result. The benchmark results are presented as easy to read bar charts so that you don't need to spend hours studying the number to know the result. Timing for the tests is done using high resolution timers, which are accurate to approximately 1 millionth of a second on most PC's.
A major advantage is the support for built-in baseline results which allows you to compare computer systems (a baseline is a standard set of results from another computer). These baseline results can be used to determine how fast your computer is in comparison with other computer systems.
The evaluation version of PerformanceTest contains the baseline results from seven different computer systems. After the software is purchased the user can access PassMark's database of baseline results where many other benchmark results can be downloaded.
Additional Features
The application includes the following additional features:
•Comprehensive online help
•Supports hyper-threading, and multiple CPUs testing
•Detailed disk speed graphs
•Supports printing results
•The ability to save your benchmark results to disk as a new baseline
•A customizable "Notes" field for storing your own information along with the saved Benchmark result.
•Support for copying the results to other applications (eg. MS-Word)
•Export results to HTML, text, GIF, and BMP formats
•Single test execution, execution of a test suite or execution of all tests with a single mouse click.
•A summary 'Mark' figure for each test suite plus the calculation of the PassMark Rating figure.
•An easy to use point and click interface
•A summary system information screen including CPU type, CPU speed, Total RAM, Video Hardware, Cluster size, etc..
•The ability to compare the performance of your computer to multiple 'Baseline' computers at the one time.
Advanced Testing
The five advanced testing windows allow experienced users to create their own test scenarios and conduct an in-depth analysis of their hardware's behavior. Each advanced testing window allows the user to select from a number of parameters and when appropriate graph the results, export the results and measure the CPU load. By adjusting the input parameters is it possible to measure the optional performance under a variety of different scenarios.
Advanced disk testing
Test the speed of your disk using different file sizes, block sizes and caching options.
Advanced CD / DVD testing
Test the speed of your CD or DVD drive using different test durations, block sizes and caching options.
Advanced 3D testing
Test the speed of your 3D video card by selecting from options such as fogging, lighting, alpha blending, wire frame, texturing, resolution, color depth, object rotation and object displacement.
Advanced networking test**
Measure the network speed between any two computers using TCP/IP. The network speed test can be conducted across a company LAN or across the Internet to determine the point to point throughput. Adjust parameters such as the host name, IP address, port number and block size. Works with dialup modems, ADSL, cable and LANs.
Advanced memory test**
Measure the read and write speed of your RAM. Parameters include data size (8 bits to 32 bits) and a selection of two test modes. Linear sequential access across various block sizes or non sequential access with a varying step size. This allows both the effect of RAM caching and the optimizations in the memory controller to be investigated.
Advanced multitasking test**
Run a series of standard benchmark tests in parallel to examine the performance under these conditions. Multiple processor machines should excel under this kind of environment, as the load is split between the various CPUs.
* The Adobe PDF viewer is required to view these files.
** Tests available in registered version only
Passmark Test Log
Take control of your product testing. With TestLog™, you can create and manage your entire test plan, from test cases to progress reports, and more.
One of the most important elements in today's product development life cycle is a well organized test phase. Anyone who has used computers for any length of time can testify to the amount of poorly tested software generally available today. Anyone who has worked in the software industry, particularly in Quality Assurance, verification or testing, knows only too well the pitfalls that accompany a poorly managed test phase.
TestLog™ offers an integrated management environment in which you will create and manage, not just your test cases, but your entire test plan. It offers a structured approach to the testing process, yet remains versatile enough to fit into any existing methodology (including UML). TestLog uses a lightweight XML database, which makes installation and configuration a matter of a few clicks.
TestLog's inline reports quickly generate statistics, which show the progress of your project and estimate if the project is still keeping to the schedule. Test case requirements management is often an enormous headache in a test environment. All too often a key employee, or a necessary piece of equipment isn't available. TestLog provides features which allow your various test requirements to be assigned to individual test cases, so you know exactly who and what are needed when.
Click here to find out more »
Free download and three month trial
Download TestLog for a free extended evaluation period of 90 days, including free email support. This is the full version of TestLog without any features disabled, or restrictions. See our download page for further details.
Competitive pricing
US$99 once off fee for a single user. Free upgrades for 12 months after date of purchase. See our sales page for further details.
Version 3 New Major Features
•Web access module - allows access to a TestLog database over a web server
•Customisable templates - change the appearance and display order of information
•HTML style editing - formatting options such as tables, lists and font changes
•Customisable status values - add more test case status choices
Wireless Mon
is a software tool that allows users to monitor the status of wireless WiFi adapter(s) and gather information about nearby wireless access points and hot spots in real time. WirelessMon can log the information it collects into a file, while also providing comprehensive graphing of signal level and real time IP and 802.11 WiFi statistics.
•Verify 802.11 network configuration is correct.
•Test WiFi hardware and device drivers are functioning correctly.
•Check signal levels from your local WiFi network and nearby networks.
•Help locate sources of interference to your network.
•Scan for hot spots in your local area (wardriving)
•Create signal strength maps of an area
•GPS support for logging and mapping signal strength
•Correctly locate your wireless antenna (especially important for directional antennas).
•Verify the security settings for local access points.
•Measure network speed & throughput and view available data rates.
•Help check Wifi network coverage and range
Compatibility
Any wireless adapter complies with the NDIS_802.11 should be able to report information to WirelessMon. Note that only Windows 2000 (Service pack 4 and above), XP and 2003 support this software. Windows 95, 98 and NT are not supported. All the various IEEE 802.11 standards are supported, including 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g. Some features may not be supported by some wireless adapters, typically they will report only partial information in this case. It has been also been noted that several wireless adapter manufacturers are not providing device drivers that are fully Windows compliant.
Wireless LAN information
The following wireless LAN information is displayed by WirelessMon (when available, as not all wireless adapters will support all of these features).
•Current connection information: SSID; Connected access point MAC address; Signal strength; Tx Power; Authentication type; RTS Threshold; Fragmentation Threshold; Channel in use; Frequency being used; Number of Antennas; Beacon Period; ATIM Window; Dwell Time; Hop Pattern; Hop Set.
•Statistics information: More than 30 parameters are reported. Including a detailed break down of frames sent and received, error counts, transmission retry counters and related low level data.
•IP information: Information about the current TCP/IP connection is reported. Including the adapter MAC address; Adapter device driver name; the IP Address; Subnet Mask; if DHCP is enabled; the Gateway Address and the DHCP server IP address.
•IP counter information: Network throughput is monitored and displayed. This includes the maximum bandwidth available from the network adapter hardware, the current send and receive data rates in bytes per second and packets per second, plus error counters.
Standard and Professional Version Differences
There are two registered version available, standard and professional. The professional version has all of WirelessMon's features enabled while the standard version has the following restrictions;
•No GPS: GPS coordinates are not supported and cannot be used for logging or creating a signal strength map
•No signal strength map: The map tab and options are disabled so a signal strength map can not be created, saved or printed.
Passmark Battery Monitor
is a battery monitoring software solution. It has been designed as an easy-to-use Windows based application that allows users to monitor the performance of laptop batteries and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS).
•Graphically see the charge / discharge rate
•Diagnose problem battery cells with detailed statistics
•Compare and measure your batteries performance with expected discharge rates
•See the critical discharge point for your batteries
•Uniquely identify battery packs for tracking purposes or system inventories
•Log the performance of a battery for later reference
•See the status of each individual battery pack, when multiple batteries are in use
Batteries, given their chemical nature, are prone to wear, corrosion, leakage and outright failure due to events like short circuits and lightning strikes. Given their propensity to fail and to have decreased performance over time, it is important to be able to identify and monitor their performance. With BatteryMon, monitoring the state of your laptop battery or UPS has never been easier. BatteryMon has the following features:
•Battery charge level is graphed in real time, along with an extrapolated trend line and comparison trend line.
•A log file is maintained of the battery charge level and other statistics for later analysis.
•Configurable sample period.
•A comprehensive help file.
•Detailed system and status information about each battery installed (see below).
•An interface to BurnInTest in order to evaluate battery performance, while under load.
•Mini window mode that shows multiple batteries charging/discharging status as well as life percentage, estimated running time and more (with adjustable transparency for Windows 2000 and later).
Typical users include portable computer repair centers, system integrators, server administrators who must manage UPSes and, home users wanting to test their battery or UPS.
Compatibility
Any laptop battery or UPS that complies with the Windows, Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) specification should be able to report information to BatteryMon. Note that only Windows 98, ME, 2000 and XP support this interface. Windows95 and NT are not supported. Older PCs may also have a problem if their BIOS does not support ACPI. Some features may not be supported by some battery types, typically they will report only partial information in this case. It has been also been noted that several UPS manufacturers are not providing compliant device drivers.
Status Information
The following information is provided for each installed battery (when available, as not all batteries will support all of these features).
•Status: Indicates the current status of this particular battery. e.g., "Charging", "Discharging", "Not in use".
•Manufacturer: The name of the company that manufactures the battery pack.
•Device Name: This is usually the model number of the battery pack, as defined by the manufacturer.
•Serial number: The serial number of the device as defined by the manufacturer.
•Unique ID: An identification string, which is unique across all battery packs.
•Time remaining: A rough estimate of how much time remains before the battery is fully discharged.
•Battery Temperature: The temperature inside the battery pack.
•Date of manufacture: The date when the battery was manufactured.
•Type of use: Indicates if the batteries normal use is to provide power for normal operations or if the battery is a fail safe / backup device. (Laptop battery or UPS)
•Rechargeable: Indicates if the battery is rechargeable or not.
•Chemistry: The type of battery. Typical values are: Lead Acid, Lithium Ion, Nickel Cadmium, Nickel Metal Hydride, Nickel Zinc, Rechargeable Alkaline-Manganese.
•Design capacity: The theoretical capacity of the battery when new. Measured in milliwatts hours (mWh) for most batteries.
•Full charge capacity: The battery's current fully charged capacity. In some batteries it is possible to compare this value to the designed capacity to estimate the battery's wear.
•Alert levels: The manufacturer's suggestion of when a "Low" and "Warning" battery alert should occur.
•Bias: Some batteries reserve a small charge that is biased out of the battery's Full Charge Capacity and Current Capacity values to show "0" as the critical battery level. Critical bias is analogous to setting a fuel gauge to show "empty" when there are several liters of fuel left.
•Charge cycles: The count of the number of charge/discharge cycles the battery has experienced. This provides a means to determine the battery's wear.
•Voltage: The current battery voltage in Volts across the battery terminals.
•Charge Rate: The current rate of battery charge or discharge. For most batteries this value will be in mWh.
PassMark BurnInTest™
is a software tool that allows all the major sub-systems of a computer to be simultaneously stress tested for endurance, reliability and stability.
•Assists in PC Troubleshooting and diagnostics.
•The best value professional burn-in tool on the market!
•Avoid delivering D.O.A. (Dead on Arrival) hardware to your customers.
•Dramatically reduce your burn in times with multithreaded simultaneous testing of components.
•Build your image as a supplier of quality systems.
•Avoid costly downtime, system rebuilds and lost data.
•Test the stability of a system after configuration changes or hardware upgrades (critical for overclocking).
Anyone who has used computers for any period of time will understand the importance of having a stable system. The cost of a hardware failure can be enormous. If you are lucky your data will only become inaccessible while faulty components are replaced. If you're unlucky you can lose your files completely or have them permanently corrupted. Even if you have good backups, you can still lose days of work returning the PC to its pre-failure state. In many cases the lost data can never be replaced and businesses can be brought to their knees, with the loss of documentation, customer details and financial records.
What BurnInTest does is thoroughly exercise the hardware in a PC in a short period of time, in the same way as normal applications use a PC over a long period of time. This takes advantage of the fact that computer hardware tends to fail either very early in its life or after many thousands of hours of use. Typically BurnInTest should be used before a PC is put into service, as the failure of a computer that isn’t being used for a critical application and doesn’t have any critical data is much less damaging, (especially if it is still under warranty).
BurnInTest will bring intermittent or hidden problems to the surface so that after a successfully run the computer can be used with a much higher level of confidence. BurnInTest can also be used by overclockers to verify system stability at high clock speeds.
BurnInTest tests the CPU via mathematical operations and SIMD calculations, hard drives, RAM, CD-ROMs, CD burners, DVDs, sound cards, 2D graphics, 3D graphic, network connection, printers, video playback. If you have specialized hardware that BurnInTest does not test, you can even write your own test and integrate it with BurnInTest. PassMark has produced plugin tests for Keyboards, Dial up Modems and FireWire ports. This can all be done simultaneously as the application is multithreaded. The Professional version also has a number of additional features such as tape drive testing, USB port testing, USB 2.0 port testing, Serial and parallel port testing with the use of loop back plugs.
Additional Features
The application includes the following additional features:
•Online help & PDF manual
•A customer style results certificate
•Support for printing results
•Logging of results to disk in user selectable levels of detail (in ASCII format & HTML formats)
•Timed test runs that will stop automatically at the expiry of the selected time or after a number of test cycles.
•The ability to save your results to disk as log file.
•'Notes' and 'Machine ID' fields for storing your own audit information along with the saved log file.
•Support for copying the results to other applications (eg. MS-Word) via a variety of image formats. (BMP, GIF, EMF)
•The ability to select the level of load placed on each component, via the setting of a duty cycle for each test.
•Counters that count the total number of operations performed.
•An easy to use point and click interface
•Can be run from a USB drive or CD (under Windows)
•Summary system information including CPU type, CPU speed & Serial number.
•Temperature monitoring interface (with additional 3rd party Intel Active Monitor, HMonitor, MotherBoardMonitor and SpeedFan software)
•Laptop battery & UPS monitoring interface (with additional BatteryMon software)
•Support for production line automation and detailed logging
•RAM testing beyond the 4GB barrier in Windows 2000, XP and Vista (up to 64GB of RAM)
•Printer testing using raw print files, or standard B&W or color testing
•MP3, Midi and Wave file playback for sound card testing
•Testing of up to 20 hard and floppy disks simultaneously
•Testing of up to 20 CD/DVD drives simultaneously
•CD / DVD testing using specialized test CD/DVDs (or use the complementary CD-Maker software). CD burner testing
•Windows shutdown and cyclic reboot testing (with complementary Rebooter software)
•Scrolling 'H's for Electromagnetic Compliance (EMC) testing to ANSI standard C63.4-1992
•Video RAM testing
•Testing the playback of Videos
•Support for SMART hard disk parameter checking
Standard or Professional Edition?
The two editions are identical except for the following additional features in the Professional Edition:
•If you have specialized hardware that BurnInTest does not test, you can even write your own test and integrate it with BurnInTest Professional. PassMark has produced plugin tests for Keyboards, Dial up Modems and FireWire ports.
•Serial port loop back testing. Testing can be performed on up to 64 serial ports at the same time. Loop back plugs are required for this test.
•Parallel port loop back testing. Loop back plugs are required for this test.
•USB port testing using the PassMark USB Loop back plug or the PassMark USB 2.0 Loop back plug. Up to 10 USB ports can be simultaneously tested.
•Tape drive testing under Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista.
•CPU affinity selection, for targeting testing to a single CPU. This can be useful in dual CPU or quad CPU systems.
•Advanced RAM testing with page locking and testing beyond the 4GB barrier in 32-bit Windows 2000, XP and Vista. (up to 64GB)
•Scrolling 'H's for Electromagnetic Compliance (EMC) testing to ANSI standard C63.4-1992
•Additional options for video card testing
•Testing on 64-bit (x64) versions of Windows using a native 64-bit version of BurnInTest Professional. The Standard Edition is 32bit only. The Pro edtion is 32bit and native 64bit.
•Running BurnInTest from a CD or USB drive.
PassMark ModemTest™
is an easy-to-use Windows based application that allows users to test their dial up modem. ModemTest performs low level testing that is independent of your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and the TCP/IP settings on the computer. It allows the modem to be tested in addition to the phone line the modem is connected to. ModemTest provides a method for system integrators and computer repair centers to test both internal and external modems. By a process of elimination home users can also use ModemTest to help isolate Internet connection problems to a faulty modem, or phone line or their ISP service. ModemTest logs any data corruption and incorporates a modem speed test which reports the initial connection speed and the actual throughput.
Two different test methods are provided. The first test method uses two telephone lines and two modems in a master / slave configuration. The master dials the phone number of the slave modem and after a successful connection, data packets are exchanged between the master and slave. The second test method requires only a single modem and no telephone line. A local loop back is done on the analog side of the modem, ModemTest then sends data packets which are echoed back by the modem. In both cases ModemTest communicates to the modem using a COM port. (In the case of Internal modems or USB modems, this is a virtual COM port and not a physical plug on the machine).
Before sending any data ModemTest first checks the settings on the serial port and then on the modem itself. Any data received is verified to be sure that it is complete and without errors. A log of the activity is kept in the right hand section of the window. Different types of activity is highlighted in different colors. Any errors are displayed in red. This log can be saved to disk if required.
Using the file transfer options, ModemTest also assists in modem compliance testing against the International Telecommincations Union ITU v.56 ter standard. (c.f. Test procedure for evaluation of 2-wire 4-kHz voiceband duplex modems, ITU-T v.56 ter, version 08/96, sections 6.1 and 6.2).
PassMark MonitorTest™
is a tool that allows users to investigate the quality and performance of their computer monitor or LCD flat panel screens. With more people spending more time in front of computer monitors it is important to purchase a quality monitor that will provide crisp, bright images, while reducing the strain on your eyes. MonitorTest displays a series of specially designed images on the screen at a variety of different resolutions and color depths to test for optimum visual performance. Each of 25 different test screens have been created to test a particular aspect of the monitors performance.
As a monitor is often the most expensive part of a computer system, this type of testing is essential for the adjustment & selection of a quality monitor. Users would include computer repair centers, system integrators, quality assurance personnel, graphic designers and anyone that cares about the quality of their monitor. MonitorTest runs in Windows and will work at any resolution, aspect ratio and color depth supported by your monitor and graphics card.
•Comprehensive help file.
•25 different test patterns including:
oMaster screen
oConvergence
oContrast
oColor scales
oFonts
oPrinter color calibration
oPersistence
oGamma measurement
oZooming to verify power supply stability
oSolid colors to test for missing or always on pixels
•Display of monitor and video adapter system information
•Support for all available resolutions and color depths
•Support for all display types (CRT, LCD, Plasma, etc.)
•Supports video cards with up to 300 different video modes.
•Looped testing to continually test your monitor
•Scripted testing to use different test patterns with different resolutions, color depth and test length
•Tiny download and small enough to fit on a floppy disk
PassMark Performance Test
Fast, easy to use, PC speed testing and benchmarking. PassMark PerformanceTest ™ allows you to objectively benchmark a PC using a variety of different speed tests and compare the results to other computers.
•Find out if your PC is performing at its best.
•Compare the performance of your machine to similar machines.
•Measure the effect of configuration changes and upgrades.
•Avoid paying big bucks for poor performance.
•Make objective independent measurements on which to base your
purchasing decision.
•Use the advanced tests to create you own benchmark scenarios
Twenty five standard benchmark tests are available in six test suites plus there are five advanced testing windows for custom benchmarking.
Standard test suites
•CPU tests Mathematical operations, compression, encryption, SSE, 3DNow! instructions and more
•2D graphics tests Drawing lines, bitmaps, fonts, text, and GUI elements
•3D graphics tests Simple to complex DirectX 3D graphics and animations
•Disk tests Reading, writing and seeking within disk files
•Memory tests Allocating and accessing memory speed and efficiency
•CD / DVD test Test the speed of your CD or DVD drive
Advanced configurable tests
•Advanced Disk
•Advanced CD / DVD
•Advanced 3D graphics
•Advanced Networking** (for Ethernet, Internet and Wireless)
•Advanced Memory**
•Advanced Multi-tasking**
PassMark Rating and comparable baselines
In addition to the standard tests, there are 7 summary results plus the overall "PassMark Rating" result. The benchmark results are presented as easy to read bar charts so that you don't need to spend hours studying the number to know the result. Timing for the tests is done using high resolution timers, which are accurate to approximately 1 millionth of a second on most PC's.
A major advantage is the support for built-in baseline results which allows you to compare computer systems (a baseline is a standard set of results from another computer). These baseline results can be used to determine how fast your computer is in comparison with other computer systems.
The evaluation version of PerformanceTest contains the baseline results from seven different computer systems. After the software is purchased the user can access PassMark's database of baseline results where many other benchmark results can be downloaded.
Additional Features
The application includes the following additional features:
•Comprehensive online help
•Supports hyper-threading, and multiple CPUs testing
•Detailed disk speed graphs
•Supports printing results
•The ability to save your benchmark results to disk as a new baseline
•A customizable "Notes" field for storing your own information along with the saved Benchmark result.
•Support for copying the results to other applications (eg. MS-Word)
•Export results to HTML, text, GIF, and BMP formats
•Single test execution, execution of a test suite or execution of all tests with a single mouse click.
•A summary 'Mark' figure for each test suite plus the calculation of the PassMark Rating figure.
•An easy to use point and click interface
•A summary system information screen including CPU type, CPU speed, Total RAM, Video Hardware, Cluster size, etc..
•The ability to compare the performance of your computer to multiple 'Baseline' computers at the one time.
Advanced Testing
The five advanced testing windows allow experienced users to create their own test scenarios and conduct an in-depth analysis of their hardware's behavior. Each advanced testing window allows the user to select from a number of parameters and when appropriate graph the results, export the results and measure the CPU load. By adjusting the input parameters is it possible to measure the optional performance under a variety of different scenarios.
Advanced disk testing
Test the speed of your disk using different file sizes, block sizes and caching options.
Advanced CD / DVD testing
Test the speed of your CD or DVD drive using different test durations, block sizes and caching options.
Advanced 3D testing
Test the speed of your 3D video card by selecting from options such as fogging, lighting, alpha blending, wire frame, texturing, resolution, color depth, object rotation and object displacement.
Advanced networking test**
Measure the network speed between any two computers using TCP/IP. The network speed test can be conducted across a company LAN or across the Internet to determine the point to point throughput. Adjust parameters such as the host name, IP address, port number and block size. Works with dialup modems, ADSL, cable and LANs.
Advanced memory test**
Measure the read and write speed of your RAM. Parameters include data size (8 bits to 32 bits) and a selection of two test modes. Linear sequential access across various block sizes or non sequential access with a varying step size. This allows both the effect of RAM caching and the optimizations in the memory controller to be investigated.
Advanced multitasking test**
Run a series of standard benchmark tests in parallel to examine the performance under these conditions. Multiple processor machines should excel under this kind of environment, as the load is split between the various CPUs.
* The Adobe PDF viewer is required to view these files.
** Tests available in registered version only
Passmark Test Log
Take control of your product testing. With TestLog™, you can create and manage your entire test plan, from test cases to progress reports, and more.
One of the most important elements in today's product development life cycle is a well organized test phase. Anyone who has used computers for any length of time can testify to the amount of poorly tested software generally available today. Anyone who has worked in the software industry, particularly in Quality Assurance, verification or testing, knows only too well the pitfalls that accompany a poorly managed test phase.
TestLog™ offers an integrated management environment in which you will create and manage, not just your test cases, but your entire test plan. It offers a structured approach to the testing process, yet remains versatile enough to fit into any existing methodology (including UML). TestLog uses a lightweight XML database, which makes installation and configuration a matter of a few clicks.
TestLog's inline reports quickly generate statistics, which show the progress of your project and estimate if the project is still keeping to the schedule. Test case requirements management is often an enormous headache in a test environment. All too often a key employee, or a necessary piece of equipment isn't available. TestLog provides features which allow your various test requirements to be assigned to individual test cases, so you know exactly who and what are needed when.
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Free download and three month trial
Download TestLog for a free extended evaluation period of 90 days, including free email support. This is the full version of TestLog without any features disabled, or restrictions. See our download page for further details.
Competitive pricing
US$99 once off fee for a single user. Free upgrades for 12 months after date of purchase. See our sales page for further details.
Version 3 New Major Features
•Web access module - allows access to a TestLog database over a web server
•Customisable templates - change the appearance and display order of information
•HTML style editing - formatting options such as tables, lists and font changes
•Customisable status values - add more test case status choices
Wireless Mon
is a software tool that allows users to monitor the status of wireless WiFi adapter(s) and gather information about nearby wireless access points and hot spots in real time. WirelessMon can log the information it collects into a file, while also providing comprehensive graphing of signal level and real time IP and 802.11 WiFi statistics.
•Verify 802.11 network configuration is correct.
•Test WiFi hardware and device drivers are functioning correctly.
•Check signal levels from your local WiFi network and nearby networks.
•Help locate sources of interference to your network.
•Scan for hot spots in your local area (wardriving)
•Create signal strength maps of an area
•GPS support for logging and mapping signal strength
•Correctly locate your wireless antenna (especially important for directional antennas).
•Verify the security settings for local access points.
•Measure network speed & throughput and view available data rates.
•Help check Wifi network coverage and range
Compatibility
Any wireless adapter complies with the NDIS_802.11 should be able to report information to WirelessMon. Note that only Windows 2000 (Service pack 4 and above), XP and 2003 support this software. Windows 95, 98 and NT are not supported. All the various IEEE 802.11 standards are supported, including 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g. Some features may not be supported by some wireless adapters, typically they will report only partial information in this case. It has been also been noted that several wireless adapter manufacturers are not providing device drivers that are fully Windows compliant.
Wireless LAN information
The following wireless LAN information is displayed by WirelessMon (when available, as not all wireless adapters will support all of these features).
•Current connection information: SSID; Connected access point MAC address; Signal strength; Tx Power; Authentication type; RTS Threshold; Fragmentation Threshold; Channel in use; Frequency being used; Number of Antennas; Beacon Period; ATIM Window; Dwell Time; Hop Pattern; Hop Set.
•Statistics information: More than 30 parameters are reported. Including a detailed break down of frames sent and received, error counts, transmission retry counters and related low level data.
•IP information: Information about the current TCP/IP connection is reported. Including the adapter MAC address; Adapter device driver name; the IP Address; Subnet Mask; if DHCP is enabled; the Gateway Address and the DHCP server IP address.
•IP counter information: Network throughput is monitored and displayed. This includes the maximum bandwidth available from the network adapter hardware, the current send and receive data rates in bytes per second and packets per second, plus error counters.
Standard and Professional Version Differences
There are two registered version available, standard and professional. The professional version has all of WirelessMon's features enabled while the standard version has the following restrictions;
•No GPS: GPS coordinates are not supported and cannot be used for logging or creating a signal strength map
•No signal strength map: The map tab and options are disabled so a signal strength map can not be created, saved or printed.
In : Technician Softwares