Cumulative Timer?

Musical · Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 157

Hey all,
Just wondering if anyone knows of a way (if its at all possible) I can dig into the system to find out how much total time my computer has run for. Its 2 years old. Just curious to know.

Thanks, Musical.

oftentired · Joined: Jan 01, 2003 Posts: 1137

No such critter that I have ever heard tale of.

Silencer · Joined: Jul 03, 2003 Posts: 1271

Musical · Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 157

Mmmm, oh well, thanks anyway for your responses.

Cheers, Musical.

Claymore · Joined: Mar 09, 2005 Posts: 2034

The only "timer" I know of is the one in the Registry that indicates (to the second) when your operating system was installed.

Musical · Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 157

Claymore, funny you should mention that, as the other day I came across a tip where you could go to Command prompt and type in something like systeminfo (cant remember if that was exactly it) and that showed you to the very second your OS was installed, plus a who;le lot of other info.

Oh well I thought I might be pushing my luck on this one, but it was worth a try. Maybe there might be a utility that can show you various stats of your puter. Have to look into that option.

Cheers, Musical.

usasma · Joined: May 06, 2003 Posts: 5007

Are you thinking of "msinfo32" ? That'll give you heaps of info on your system.

Musical · Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 157

usasma, I just tried punching in what you said and I got this...."msinfo32 is not recognized as an internal or external command." :hmm: any idea why that is? Just in case it makes any difference Im on XP Pro.

I typed in "systeminfo" and that gave me the time the OS was installed etc. as I described previously.

Have a good un'
Cheers, Musical.

usasma · Joined: May 06, 2003 Posts: 5007

Sorry, I missed the "command prompt" part of your post.

MSInfo32.exe is a Windows program that's very similar to the results of "systeminfo", but in a Windows GUI. It's a convenient tool for troubleshooting some problems (MS used it frequently when working with me on a few problems) because you can save it to a text file and email it. It's located (in my XPPro) at: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo

Musical · Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 157

Quote
Sorry, I missed the "command prompt" part of your post

No worries Smile

I followed your directions and DClked on MSInfo32.exe, it brought up the home page of Help and Support, which when you dig into it you can find things like DrWatson etc. is this what you meant? Wouldnt it be quicker to just click on Start > Help and support, or am I missing something. :hmm:

Thanks, Musical. Smile

FormalDaHyde · Joined: Jan 02, 2005 Posts: 1511

I think the proper terminology in geek-parlance is 'uptime' or 'time totalizer'!
The information in the quotes (below) were extracted from the Lavalys Everest Ultimate Version 2.00 report.
If my recent post for the FREEware version (V2.0) does not provide this information, you can download the 30-day SHAREware version of the Everest Ultimate Edition for a peek.

Musical · Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 157

FormalDaHyde, thankyou for this info, Im most certainly going now to check it out.

Cheers Musical.

Musical · Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 157

FormalDaHyde, just been to check it out, and right at the bottom of the feature comparison list, the "Uptime and Downtime stats" feature isnt supported in the Free Version. This looks like a nice really utility though. Im gonna google some search phrases and see what I come up with in the Freebie range. Im always reticent about installing trialware as they can end up pestering you and leaving dregs behind, and you often dont know until youve installed it. Also Im not sure if this proggie can "turn back the time" so to speak, to find all those stats on my puter, when it wasnt even installed.

Cheers, Musical.

usasma · Joined: May 06, 2003 Posts: 5007

Musical · Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 157

usasma,
Thanks for your help. OK, Ive checked task manager and theres no helpsvc.exe, or helpctr.exe. then, ...

I went into "sevices" and checked out the setting I had on "help and support", this was on auto so I put it on manual, (and applied the setting) then checked the TaskM again and I didnt see the helpsvc and helpctr exe's.

Did a windoze search (checking hidden folders too) on "Microsoft System Information" which turned up nothing.

Quote
"have you removed some of your Windows components ".... No. (As far as I know)

"or slipstreamed a disk with a program like nLite?".... Definitely no to this.

Actually, some good while ago, (well over a year,) when I started using things like SpybotSearch & D I noticed there was something that came up about a missing helpfile, which I have never tried to correct because Id heard somewhere that sometimes there was a legitimit reason for this, though I cant think what, but I never worried about it. Ive just gone into CCleaner to scan under the "issues" tab and checking Helpfiles box...it says theres and issue with this help file..... C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\1033\vbaod10.chm ......... would this have anything to do with it?

Thanks, Musical.

goretsky · Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 12:10 am Post subject:

Hello,

On my computer running Microsoft Windows XP Professional, the System Information program is located at "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo\msinfo32.exe" on the system. Perhaps it is in a different location on your computer?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

Musical · Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 157

goretsky, Hi,

Yes thats where mine is too, only as I said earlier, when I DClick on the file it brings up the Help and Support Center. As usasma stated......

quote
Yes, that's what I meant - but on my system it brings up the Microsoft System Information applet (version 7.0) rather than Help and Support. Checking Task Manager, I've got both helpsvc.exe and helpctr.exe running. When I close the System Information window, the helpctr.exe process closes also.

I'd be interested to see what your file brings up?

Musical.

goretsky · Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 2:46 am Post subject:

Hello,

I clicked on Start -> Run from the Taskbar and pasted the path specification into the field as the name of the application to run and press Enter. The System Information program started as normal.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

Musical · Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 157

goretsky, OK, I just tried your method of using the paste into start> run, and as I wouldve suspected, no go, still the same, I get the Help and Support page coming up. Any more ideas would be welcome as obviously somethings screwy somewhere on my system.

Just a thought, could I locate them in my OS install disk (still in its original shrink wrap) and try to locate the files and re-install them. If this is an option, I'd need a bit of help as Im not sure how I would exactly do this.

Thanks, Musical.

usasma · Joined: May 06, 2003 Posts: 5007

Sounds to me like something has deleted/disabled that stuff from your system. Do you have the original Microsoft install disk, or is it a disk from the computer manufacturer?

But, since there are many other free tools out there that will do this - do you really need to fix it? I've done many, many repair installs, and all but 1 or 2 have worked out fine. But those 1 or 2 really put my shorts in a bunch!