Geek Software of the Week: BurnInTest

So… you have just built a new, cool, powerful PC from scratch… aren’t you the baaaad geek!?! Now, how do you know the thing will keep running? For that matter, a friend brings you a system and says, “It occasionally goes down, it is driving me crazy!” How do you test it to find out what is happening? The answer? Run a “burn-in” tool! Something that will “exercise” all of the system components for you! This package isn’t totally free… but there is a 30 day free trial… and then, it is only $24.00!

PassMark’s BurnInTest Web Site

“PassMark BurnInTest is a software tool that allows all the major sub-systems of a computer to be simultaneously stress tested for endurance, reliability and stability.

• Assists in PC Troubleshooting and diagnostics.
• The best value professional burn-in tool on the market!
• Avoid delivering D.O.A. (Dead on Arrival) hardware to your customers.
• Dramatically reduce your burn in times with multithreaded simultaneous testing of components.
• Build your image as a supplier of quality systems.
• Avoid costly downtime, system rebuilds and lost data.
• Test the stability of a system after configuration changes or hardware upgrades (critical for overclocking).

Anyone who has used computers for any period of time will understand the importance of having a stable system. The cost of a hardware failure can be enormous. If you are lucky your data will only become inaccessible while faulty components are replaced. If you’re unlucky you can lose your files completely or have them permanently corrupted. Even if you have good backups, you can still lose days of work returning the PC to its pre-failure state. In many cases the lost data can never be replaced and businesses can be brought to their knees, with the loss of documentation, customer details and financial records.”