 
Windows PC Benchmarker		Copyright (C) Moose O'Malley, 
----------------------		September 2007.

   +===========================================================+
   |          T A B L E   O F   C O N T E N T S                |
   +===========================================================+
   | * Introduction
   | * Why I wrote this program ?
   | * About the Benchmark Tests
   | * Hints and Tips for better PC Performance
   | * Installing and Using this Program
   | * Uninstalling this Program
   | * The Future
   | * Freeware Information
   | * Warranty
   | * Amendment History
   | * Contacting the Program's Author
   +===========================================================+

Introduction :
--------------

Windows PC Benchmarker is for Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 
2000, XP, etc.

This program is free software.  Anyone - any person, any company, 
or any business - can use this program for free.  No fees or 
payment is required.  See "Freeware Information" below.

Windows PC Benchmarker enables you to :

1.  Benchmark and evaluate the performance of various 
    selected aspects of your computer.

2.  View the results of this benchmarking in a graph.

3.  Save the results and compare them against other selected 
    benchmark results.

This program should be useful to anyone who wants to 
evaluate or test the performance of their computer or 
tune up or fine tune the various aspects of their PC.

This program benchmarks the operation of various components 
in your PC and then displays the results in a special 
logarithmic graph, so that the various values can be shown 
all on one graph.

This means that significant differences in values may only 
appear as slight differences in bar lengths on the graph.

To see the values for each test, you need to check the "Show 
Values" checkbox (in the top right hand corner of the graph).

You can save, load, and compare the results against other 
saved results.

You can also copy the Benchmark Results graph and the raw 
benchmark results data (in TAB separated format) to Windows
Clipboard, so you can use this within your own documents
or spreadsheets or web pages.  (This should be very useful 
for PC magazines reviewing a bunch of PCs, or PC manufacturers 
or overclockers wanting to extol the virtues of their PC, etc).

See "About the Benchmark Tests" below for details of each 
test, and what the tests mean.

Included with this program are the benchmark results 
for 4 of my PCs :
- Pentium 4, 1.8 GHz, Windows XP Pro, 512 MB, 40 HG, 
  Intel 82845G On-Boad Graphics
- Pentium III 700 MHz, Windows XP, 256 MB, TNT2 M64, 
  60 GB 7200 Segate Baracuda IV HDD
- Celeron 900 PC, 128 MB, SIS On-Board Video
- Pentium II 300 Mhz, 64 MM, Winfast Video, 3 GB HDD
- and various other PCs,

against which you can compare your PC, and add your 
own results to this list.

(At the moment, I own more than 10 PCs - ranging from 
the first IBM XTs and an old Apple 2 - yes, my whole 
life is computers ... ;)

Developed using 32-bit Delphi.

This program will **NOT** run under Windows 3.x  
(even with Win32 installed).


Why I wrote this program ?
--------------------------------------------

I wrote this program because I have always wanted a 
no hassle / no fuss benchmarking program.

Most (if not all) benchmarking programs out there are 
complex to use (or they are at least more complex to 
use than they need to be), and/or they are expensive to buy, 
and/or many are unsatisfactory in various ways.

In comparison, this program is very easy to use,
is very inexpensive to buy, and it hopefully provides
tests that will satisfy your requirements.

This  is a program I have wanted to develop for ages.


About the Benchmark Tests :
----------------------------

Each benchmark test is designed to take between 3 and 
6 seconds on my Pentium III 700 MHz PC (so that is around
35 seconds for all 7 tests).   At the time of writing,
this PC is over 3 years old and is infinitely far from 
the latest leading edge PCs.

However, if you are running this on an old Pentium 100
(i.e. a PC that was built in early-mid 1996), then 
things will be a lot slower than even this.

But, if you are running this program on the latest 
and most powerful PC then the benchmark tests will 
complete much more quickly - and you may find that 
all tests finish in a few seconds (or less !).

N.B.  To get the best results, you should close
      down all other programs while executing 
      the benchmark tests.

      See "Hints and Tips for better PC Performance" 
      below for further details.

The following benchmark tests are available :

** Integer Arithmetic : MIops
This test is designed to check how quickly a computer
can perform integer calculations, by executing 900 
million integer calculations and timing how long 
they take to execute.  The results are given in :
- MIops : Millions of Integer Operations per Second

** Floating Point Arithmetic : MFops
This test is designed to check how quickly a computer
can perform floating point calculations, by executing 
more than 125 million floating point calculations and 
timing how long they take to execute.  The results 
are given in :
- MFops : Millions of Floating Point Operations per Second

** Disk Speed (Small Files) : KB/Sec
This test is designed to check how quickly a computer
can read and write small files, by creating and 
writing 500 small (4 KB) files (containing special 
data) on the selected disk or harddrive and then 
reading these files back in again while timing how 
long this process takes.  The results are given in :
- KB/Sec : Kilo-Bytes per Second (1 KB = 1,024 bytes)

** Disk Speed (Large Files) : KB/Sec
This test is designed to check how quickly a computer
can read and write large files, by creating and 
writing 10 large (10 MB) files (containing special 
data) on the selected disk or harddrive and then 
reading these files back in again while timing how 
long this process takes.  The results are given in :
- KB/Sec : Kilo-Bytes per Second (1 KB = 1,024 bytes)

** Memory Speed : MB/Sec
This test is designed to check the speed of your 
PCs memory (RAM) by creating large dynamic arrays 
in your PC's memory and then filling these with 
data and copying data between them, while timing 
how long this process takes.  The results are 
given in :
- MB/Sec : Mega-Bytes per Second 
(1 MB = 1,024 KB, and 1 KB = 1,024 bytes)

** Graphics: Standard Windows Forms / Controls
This test is designed to check the speed of your 
PCs Windows Graphics processing by creating a Windows 
Form and populating it with a bunch of standard 
Windows Controls (such as editboxes, listboxes, 
radio buttons, etc) and then changing the values 
or attributes of these many 1000's of times, 
while timing how long this process takes.  
The results are given in :
- Controls/Sec

** Graphics: 2D Bitmaps and Drawings
This test is designed to check the speed of your 
PCs 2D Graphics processing by creating a Windows 
Form and populating it with a bunch of simple 
drawing shapes, and then moving these around 
and changing their colours and attributes many 
1000's of times, while timing how long this 
process takes.  The results are given in :
- KPix/Sec : 1000's of Pixels per Second

When these tests have been run, it is possible to 
compare how your PC performs against other PCs,
or fine tune your PC so that it performs better.


Hints and Tips for better PC Performance :
------------------------------------------

Here are some simple hints and tips to improving 
the performance of your PC (and improving its
benchmark results) :

1. Make sure your PC has enough memory (RAM).
   e.g. if you are running Windows XP, then your 
   PC should have at least 128 MB of RAM, and 
   preferably 256 MB or more RAM.

2. Defregment your registry and system files
   every time you boot your PC.  (This requires
   some special software, such as Page Defrag
   by Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com).

3. Defragment your harddrive once per month.

4. Scan Disk your harddrive at least once per 
   month.

5. Uninstall no longer needed software,
   especially if that software has a tendency 
   to run every time Windows starts up.
   Tweak XP and various other programs can 
   help with this.

6. Only run the programs you need.
   For example, if you are running Word, Excel, 
   Powerpoint, Internet Explorer, Eudora, and a 
   bunch of other programs, and system resources 
   are becoming scarce or your PC is starting to 
   slow down, then close the programs you no longer 
   need open - you can always re-open them later.

7. Use Moose's Software - it is useful, inexpensive,
   regularly updated, and very well supported ! ;)
      http://move.to/moose


Installing and Using this Program :
-----------------------------------

To use this program, unzip the contents of the ZIP file to a 
directory - such as c:\Program Files\ - and run the executable 
file : Benchmarker.EXE.

You can also drag and drop shortcuts to this program
onto your Desktop or Start Menu using Windows Explorer.

If you want the program to run automatically when Windows
starts up, then select this option under the "File" menu
in the program.

I hope you find the program easy to use and useful.


Uninstalling this Program :
---------------------------

At the  present time, there is No Uninstall function.

If you ever want to delete Windows PC Benchmarker  
from your computer, then :

 1. Exit the program, and delete it from wherever 
    you installed it on your harddrive.

Simple as that !


The Future :
------------

In the future, many improvements could be made to this program,
such as :

- More benchmark tests.  e.g. 3D graphics, CPU <-> L2 cache 
  speed, etc.

- More graph options.  e.g. the ability to compare the 
  benchmark results of 3 or more PCs at once.

- Add in benchmark results for the earliest computers :
  The ENIAC (1946), the Manchester Mark 1, EDSAC, and others,
  so you can see how many 1,000's of times faster your lovely 
  PC is in comparison to these early pioneering machines.

- Detailed progress indicators during the benchmarking process.

- The ability to abort the benchmarking process.

- Anything else ?

If you would like any of these improvements, or would like to
suggest more, please email me and let me know.

How much more work I do on this program depends entirely on
what support I get, how many people use the program, etc.


Freeware Information :
-----------------------

This is free software.  

Anyone - any person, any company, or any business - can 
use this program for free.  No fees or payment is required.

However, if you find the program useful, then please 
consider making a PayPal donation to support my efforts.
(To make a donation, please run the program and select 
the "About" option under the Help menu, and then click 
the PayPal link on the "About" screen).


Warranty :
----------

This software and the accompanying files are provided "as is" and
without warranties as to performance or merchantability or any
other warranties whether expressed or implied.

The user assumes the entire risk of using this software.

If you do find any faults with this program, email me and let 
me know.


Amendment History :
-------------------

Vers    Date        Description

1.0  29-Oct-2002    First Public Release.
                    (35,092 lines of code / comments.)

1.1   5-Nov-2002    Calculate and store all results as Extended Length 
                    Real Numbers to handle massive numbers up to 10^4932.
                    i.e. This program will be able to benchmark just about 
                    any imaginable future computer - even those trillions of 
                    trillions of trillions of trillions of times faster than 
                    the fastest computers currently on the planet - without 
                    numeric overflow, truncation or wrapping errors.
                    Fix a bug in the Integer Operations Per Second value.
                    When results are saved or replaced, update the name on 
                    the graph if appropriate.
                    Registered users can change the number of repetitions of the 
                    benchmark tests or the drive being tested.
                    Allow Registered Users to change and set their own benchmark 
                    options for each test.  For example, the number of files to 
                    create, the size of files to create, the number of integer 
                    operations to time, etc, etc.  No other benchmarking program 
                    I know of provides this level of control or flexibility or 
                    customisability to the user.
                    Automatically save any un-saved data when exiting the program - 
                    under the name 'Auto-Save'.
                    (35,420 lines of code / comments.)

1.2  20-Nov-2002    Add in a "Copy Graph to Windows Clipboard" option under 
                    the "Edit" menu.
                    Add in a "Copy Results Data to Windows Clipboard" option 
                    under the "Edit" menu.
                    Fix units of graph for disk speed rates : they are KB/Sec 
                    not MB/Sec.
                    (40,969 lines of code / comments.)

1.3  11-Dec-2002    Add File Menu options to enable the user to create or delete
                    shortcuts to this program on the Desktop, StartMenu, etc -
                    you can do this *ANY* time - not just when the program is
                    being installed.  (All Windows programs should provide this
                    functionality).
                    Sadly, not everyone uses a full stop as the decimal point.
                    For example, some countries allow you to use a comma as both the
                    decimal point and the thousands separator.
                    In these cases, would this number "123,456,789" be 123,456.789 
                    or 123,456,789 or something else ?   God help us !!!  ;-/
                    So, if you have a "." as the Decimal Separator, and save some 
                    benchmark results and then change your Windows Regional Settings 
                    so that comma is the Decimal Separator, and try and load the 
                    benchmark results then the you will get "invalid number" errors.
                    To avoid these errors, I now force all data to be loaded and 
                    saved with a particular format with "." as the decimal point, 
                    and "," as the thousand's separator.
                    By doing this, benchmark results saved on one computer can be 
                    used on any other computer - regardless of its regional settings.
                    (Thanks for reporting this problem Solutor - Greetings to you 
                    in Hungary ! :)
                    Add Solutor's PC into the benchmark results database (distributed 
                    with this program) : AMD Athlon XP 1800+, 256MB 266MHz DDR RAM, 
                    Maxtor 60GB 7200 HDD, Inno3D GF4 Ti 4200 128MB, Windows 2000 Pro,
                    and Overclocked from 1533 to 1673MHz.
                    (53,683 lines of code / comments.)

1.3f  3-Sep-2007    This program is now FREEWARE - see "Freeware Information"
                    above.


If this program was not downloaded from my Home Page, then
it is possibly an old version.  The latest version of this 
program is available from my WEB page - see below.

 Mike "Moose" O'Malley
____________________________________________________
 Moose's Software Valley - Established July, 1996.
 WEB:  http://move.to/moose
____________________________________________________
 