As you take care of yourself, Windows 10 and Windows 11 computers should be taken care of. You can determine the health of your computer by running various reports such as those generated by Windows Security or Performance Monitor.
Here are some ways to run a complete PC Health Check. Then, use these reports for a detailed understanding of how your hardware is performing.
How to use the PC Health Check App
Microsoft launched a PC Health Check app with Windows 11. This app will likely be automatically installed by Windows Update. You can get it from Microsoft.
The PC Health Check app’s primary purpose is to check if your Windows 10 system can be upgraded to Windows 11. You can use the app on either Windows 10 or Windows 11 to get a quick overview of your device’s current status.
Once the app is installed, you can launch it by using a system search for Computer Health Check. It encourages you to backup your data to OneDrive and shows you how much storage you have left. The app also offers tips and tricks on battery life, startup time, and other useful information.
You can find general advice at the bottom of this app by clicking Tips for PC health. These tips may not be applicable to your particular system but they are worth knowing.
Windows Security: How to check your PC’s health
Windows Security provides a quick and easy overview of your system’s health. Start the program by searching for Windows Security in your system.
After opening, click Device performance and health. The Health Report section can be divided into several areas. Each area flags any issues and explains the solution.
Windows Security scans are performed in the background. This is shown by the Last scanner date.
The report includes:
- Storage capacity If you have enough disk space on your computer to perform tasks such as Windows updates.
- Battery Life: Anything that reduces your battery life, such as your brightness settings.
- Software and apps: If anything is not working or needs to be updated.
- Windows Time Service: A broken or disabled clock can cause problems with internet connections and other issues.
These will be marked with a green tick if they are in good condition. An amber check indicates that you can click to identify the problem and fix it. In some cases, the option to run an automated troubleshooter is available.
How to check your PC’s health with the Performance Monitor
Windows 10/11 comes with the Performance Monitor utility. It is an advanced tool that tracks elements such as disk, memory, and network usage. It can be launched by performing a system search for a performance monitor.
Performance Monitor can create two reports: System Diagnostics, and Performance.
These are how you can create them:
- Expand Data Collector sets > System from the left-hand pane
- Right-click System Diagnostics, Performance, and then click Start.
- Each report takes around one minute to complete. You can access the Reports > once they are ready. Report names include the date that they were created.
You can find more information about how to read these reports, as well as advanced tips and tricks on how to use this utility in our article How to Use a Performance Monitor Like a Power User.
How to check battery health with a sleep study
You can run a report to check your battery’s health, and see how it is being used. This report can be used to find apps and devices that use excessive power, or perhaps are unnecessary.
It can be run on a computer desktop to test your computer’s power cycle. However, it is better suited for laptop users. The report can be used to show how many cycles your computer’s battery has passed. This indicates how many times it has gone from empty to full.
You will need to open an elevated Command Prompt in order to begin. Click Windows key +X, and then click Command prompt (Admin).
We can generate an HTML file from the Sleep Study command, but it is not available as an accessible utility on your machine. This command can be used to generate an HTML file of the Sleep Study.
The Sleep Study will automatically cover the last three days. For a number greater than 28, you can input the following command: switching DAYS
Navigate to your Desktop, and then open the file to access your Sleep Report from your web browser.
This report includes information about your computer and battery, as well as a battery drain chart and details about each standby session. It shows how long each session lasted and how much energy was consumed.
This report lists the top five battery drainers, but it is important to interpret these carefully. It is possible to use high amounts of battery, but it does not always mean that you are having a problem. This depends on what you were doing during the session. You may need to have enough battery if you are downloading Windows updates, playing music, or connecting Bluetooth devices.
A Network Report can help you check the health of your wireless network.
To view the wireless connection history of your system over the past three days, you can create a Wireless Network Report for Windows 10 or Windows 11. This report can be used to determine how your connection is being used, and what may be causing problems.
Enter the following information into the Command Prompt
The top chart gives an overview of all the connections available in the report. To jump to a specific section, you can hover over a letter . Red indicates an error.
