by @Macarlo
Windows 2000 Professional Beta Tester
(Screenshots by Namo Capture)

DISCLAIMER
Warning! Don't try this test on Windows 2000 like me. Note that I' m using a special machine for tests, with HDD mirrored, my Registry is backuped by Resplendent Registrar, I have Image Disk by Fix-It 2000 and I' m using another secure uninstall applications and used NuMega SoftICE for dump analyses.

Hi All.
I just tested here Sandra99 on Windows 2000 Professional. Sandra is not the correct SiSoft tool for Windows 2000 but some users requested this test and I performed it. But immediately at the install the soft advised me that can't runs properly on Windows NT. I insisted and tested all modules and some of this modules runs fine, as CPU Benchmark (photo above) and as the Memory Information , as you can see in the photo below:

But anothers modules, as CPU & BIOS Information simply crashes the sandra.exe if you insist in start it. Sandra is an excellent system analyser for Windows 32 bits, but Windows 2000 is built on NT technology and have an entire new registry structure. The correct product for Windows 2000 is Samantha, as you can read in the developers web site:

News & Updates - 5 February 2000

" Multi-Processor Benchmarks: We are attempting to modify all the current Sandra benchmarks (where applicable) to add multi-processor support when running on Windows NT/2000. Sandra will have enough Windows NT/2000 compatiblity to allow it to run so you can benchmark your system - do note that we will not be adding full support for these operating systems!

This is the reason behind the delay of the current version. We want to make sure that it works 100% on systems such as dual-Celerons, quad-Pentium Pro and dual-Athlon systems, not just dual-Pentium II/III systems.

Full Windows 2000 Support: Sandra will not fully support the soon to be released Windows 2000. Samantha is our Windows NT/2000 product.

Full Windows Millennium Support: If the Windows 9X kernel is still used in the final version of Windows Millennium, then Sandra will fully support it. Otherwise Samantha will
support it. "

 Who/What is Sandra?

SiSoft Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software.

Sandra provides similar level of information to Norton SI, Quarterdeck WinProbe/Manifest, etc. It is a native 32-bit Win32 application. It also provides information on 16-bit Windows and DOS unlike many other system information programs...

However, if you want DOS information, then a DOS system analyser will be far better simply because it runs under DOS so it can do everything it wants unlike Windows applications, especially 32-bit ones...

Also, for 16-bit Windows sub-system information, a 16-bit information/diagnostic utility might be better, e.g. you may find SiSoft SAW quite useful as long as you have 16-bit Windows apps. Actually, Windows 95 (even 98) is mostly 16-bit (for good and bad reasons), so until you move over to NT, 16-bit things are here to stay.

Legal Stuff: Sandra is an acronym and has no connection whatsoever express or implied with anything or anyone, living or deceased in the past, present or future. Any resemblance is purely coincidental.

BTW, don't search for the name Sandra on a WWW search engine. You'll get at least half a million hits and none will reference this page. Search for SiSoft Sandra.

General Sandra Information

There are two versions of Sandra, in line with industry standards:

• Sandra Standard (free for home use only - no nag screens, time limit, etc.)
• Sandra Professional (commercial)

SiSoft Sandra Standard Information

• 49 Information, Benchmarking, Listing & Testing/Diagnostic Modules.
• Multithreaded Wizards for all tasks (e.g. Create various reports).
• Full 32-bit, all-new code. Uses all Windows 95/98 extensions.
• You still get information on the 16-bit subsystem.
• Windows 95/98 support.
• Plug-and-Play support.
• DMI/SMBIOS support.
• VESA, VBE, ACPI, APM, SMBus support.
• Supports AGP, PCI, VESA & EISA.
• WinG, DirectX (DirectDraw, Direct 3D, DSound, DMusic, DPlay, DInput), OpenGL, Glide, Redline support & information.
• Detects all new CPUs including the Intel Pentium MMX, Pentium Pro, Pentium II, Pentium III, Celeron, Xeon, Xeon III, OverDrive; Cyrix 5x86, 6x86, 6x86MX, MII, MIII, MediaGX, MediaGXm; AMD K5, K6, K6-2 (cxt), K6-III, K7; NexGen 586, 686; IDT WinChip C6, WinChip 2, WinChip 2-3D, etc.
• Detects MMX, 3DNow!, SSE (Streaming SIMD) and other CPU information like cache, speed, etc.
• Advanced settings information on modern CPUs.
• Detects Intel, AMD, SiS and VIA 486, Pentium, Pentium Pro and Pentium II chipsets.
• Network & Internet information.
• Can save, print, fax and e-mail a report.
• Can export a SMS report for a Microsoft SMS management system.
• Can export a RPT (hierarchical) report that can be imported in most programs.
• Can export a HTML or TEXT report.
• InstallShield Install/UnInstall wizard.
• Compatible with the Sage interface of the Plus! pack & Windows 98 Task Scheduler.
• Looks better in HiColour/TrueColour (16-bit+) modes.
• See Compatibility List for more information.

SiSoft Sandra Professional Information

• Same capabilities as the Standard Version, Plus:
• 68 total, i.e. 19 more modules. (these are present in the Standard version, but don't run)
• Network support (IPX/SPX, TCP/IP).
• See Compatibility List for more information

 Photo above shows Sandra99's modules opened on @Macarlo's Win 2000

List of SiSoft Sandra Modules

Here is a list of finished modules.

• System Summary
• CPU/BIOS Info (inc. voltage/temperature)
• Mainboard/Chipset/System Monitors Info
• APM & ACPI (Advanced Power Management) Info (Prof.Only)
• PCI & AGP bus & devices Info
• Video Information (monitor, card, video bios, caps, etc.)
• 3D Video Information (Prof.Only)
• DirectX (DirectDraw, Direct3D, DirectSound (3D), DirectMusic, DirectPlay, DirectInput) Info
• Keyboard Info
• Mouse Info
• Sound Card (wave, midi, aux, mix) Info
• MCI Devices (mpeg, avi, seq, vcr, video-disc, wave) Info
• Joystick Info
• Printers Info
• DOS Memory Info (base, HMA, UMB, XMS, EMS, DPMI, VCPI)
• Windows Memory Info
• Windows (& DOS SubSystem) Info
• Font (Raster, Vector, TrueType) Information
• Modem/ISDN TA Information (Prof.Only)
• Network Information (Prof.Only)
• WinSock (Internet) Information
• Drives Information (Removable Hard Disks, CD-ROM/DVD, RamDrives, etc.)
• Ports (Serial/Parallel) Info
• Remote Access Service Connections (Dial-Up, Internet)
• OLE objects/servers Info (Prof.Only)
• Processes (Tasks, 32 & 16-bit) & Threads Info
• Modules (DLL, DRV, 32 & 16-bit) Info (Prof.Only)
• DOS Device Drivers Info (Prof.Only)
• SCSI Information (Prof.Only)
• CPU Benchmark
• CPU Multi-Media Benchmark (MMX, 3DNow!, SSE)
• Drives (Removable, Hard Disks, Network, RamDrives) Benchmark
• CD-ROM/DVD Benchmark
• Memory Benchmark
• Network Benchmark (Prof.Only)
• CMOS Breakdown (Prof.Only)
• Hardware Interrupts Usage
• Software Interrupts Real-Mode (DOS SubSystem) Handlers
• Software Interrupts Protected-Mode (Windows) Handlers
• DMA Channel Usage (Prof.Only)
• I/O Ports Usage (Prof.Only)
• Memory Range Usage (Prof.Only)
• Plug & Play Enumerator (Prof.Only)
• Hardware registry settings
• Environment settings
• Listings of system files (.ini, .sys, .bat)
• Add new/delete module Wizard
• Create a report or script Wizard (save, print, fax or e-mail in SMS, HTML, RPT or TEXT format)
• Performance Enhancing Tips (& Wizard)
• BugX Upload Wizard (BugX version Only)
• WebUpdate Wizard for automatic version updating.
• Tip of the day
• Extensive help file documenting over 400 tips.
• Extensive on-line documentation (HTML) with huge Q & A knowledge base.
• MS-Plus! Sage / Windows 98 Task Scheduler interface

Photo above shows Sandra 99 being installed on @Macarlo's Windows 2000 Pro

Installing the Program

Please run Setup.exe and follow the instructions.

Un-Installing/De-Installing the Program

Go to Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs and choose SiSoft Sandra. Click on Add/Remove button and follow the instructions. If you did not like this release maybe you'd care to try other versions. Thanks.

The Install Disk

The installation disk should contain the following files:

If any of the above files are missing, try to download the package from another site. If some are corrupted - there must have been an error during transmission (check that you downloaded in binary mode) - repeat the operation.

All program files are compressed, so you should let the Install Wizard decompress & copy them to the hard disk. The Install program will also create a program group and add the program items. The InstallShield is the installer for Windows applications and is used by most commercial and shareware applications. It is arguably the best so you are very likely to have it already installed on your machine.

Making a 1.44MB Floppy Disk Install

While the total size of the ZIP is more than 1.44MB, the files have been designed to fit on two (or more) floppy disks. To create a 1.44MB floppy disk install do the following:

• Disk 2 - Copy file data2.cab only on this disk.
• Disk 1 - Copy all other files on this disk. They should fit

That's it! Unfortunately, you cannot make an install using smaller floppy disks. If this is a problem, contact us.

The Installed Files

After installation, this is what you should have in the Sandra's folder:

And in the Windows\System folder:

These files are used by most MFC applications written in Microsoft Visual C++ 98, i.e. most modern Windows applications, so it's likely that you have them already on your system in which case they will not be copied.

N WARNING !!! N

IT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU SAVE/CLOSE EVERYTHING YOU ARE WORKING AT (open documents, files, etc.) BEFORE RUNNING THE PROGRAM FOR THE FIRST TIME. THE PROGRAM WAS TESTED FOR INCOMPATIBILITIES BUT YOU NEVER KNOW…

If you find no problems then you can cool down. But do save regularly.

Technical Support

Free technical support is available to registered users. See points of contact.

While technical support is available to unregistered users this is provided at our discretion. This means that if there is free time at the end of the day and as long as the questions are not in the FAQ (documentation, web page, etc.) then they will be dealt with.

Updates & Fixes

Sandra is regularly updated, usually every 3-4 months. If you have problems or need new features, then make sure you check whether a new version is available..

CONTACT AUTHOR

About the Author

Just in case anyone is wondering about Adrian's (the author) qualifications, here's a very brief list:

• Software Engineer (current job title)
• Associate Member of the I.E.E. (UK)
• M.Sc. Computer Science, London CITY, 1997 (distinction)
• B.Eng. (Hons) Electrical & Electronic Engineering, London CITY, 1996 (1st class)

They're not meant to mean that the author is some kind of expert in this field, but to let you know that he's not completly out of touch.

SiSoft Software
http://www.sisoftware.demon.co.uk/index.htm
e-mail address: Adrian @ SiSoft Software

SiSoft Software
PO Box 17273
London SW5 0WB
United Kingdom

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