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.

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