Free Utility Lets You Retrieve a Little or a Lot of Inventory Information

Although periodically performing a complete inventory of computer systems is a necessary task, many times administrators just need to retrieve only specific pieces of information. To accommodate this need, Jim Turner has created the System Inventory Lite utility. Although billed as "lite," this HTML Application (HTA) doesn't skimp on functionality. It's "lite" in that you can minimize the amount of information received if desired.

System Inventory Lite provides summary information (e.g., a computer's serial number, DNS domain, IP addresses, total physical memory, disk space) by default and a whole lot more by choice. There are 17 optional categories of information from which to choose. For example, by selecting the Hotfixes, OS, and Process options in the utility's GUI, you can immediately get information about a computer's installed hotfixes (e.g., description, hotfix ID), operating system (e.g., build number, install date, free physical memory, free virtual memory), and processes (e.g., name, ID, handle count, thread count). System Inventory Lite writes the information to a Microsoft Excel worksheet for easy viewing.

You can use System Inventory Lite to obtain inventory information about the local machine or a remote computer. If needed, you can enter alternate credentials to access the remote computer. The utility works on Windows 2000 and later. It includes the new Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) properties introduced in Windows Vista; if you run it on another OS, the new properties will simply have no values under their headings. Excel is required to use this utility.

You can download System Inventory Lite by clicking the Download the Code Here link at the top of the page. The utility will be available for download indefinitely, so you can download it today, next week, next month, or even next year should you happen to misplace it.

If you'd like information about how the utility works, read Jim Turner's article "System Inventory Mini-App" at http://windowsitpro.com/article/articleid/96668/system-inventory-mini-app.html. System Inventory Lite is an adaptation of the HTA discussed in that article.