Why is my home PC on????
March 7, 2005 9:38 AM Subscribe
How can I know when an XP pro system has been switched on (as in: at what time did it start up *today*)?
Best answer: If you have an always-on network card, you can go to start, then right click on network places, select "properties", that will bring up an explorer-like window with all of your network connections. Right click on the one you're connected with and select "status". It will tell you how long you've been connected to the network.
That's the easiest way to get the uptime in windows, and if you're online for more then 49 days, it won't loop back to zero as you would if you used a GetTickCount() method. But it assumes that the network has been connected since the computer was booted. This technique works on all versions of windows since 95.
hmm... Windows XP also has a 'systeminfo' command that tells you the uptime, amoung other things. Go to start, click “run” type “cmd” and then, in the (probably) black window that pops up type “systeminfo” without quotation marks. You might get a lot of text, so scroll back up to the top of the page and look through the results
posted by delmoi at 9:46 AM on March 7, 2005
That's the easiest way to get the uptime in windows, and if you're online for more then 49 days, it won't loop back to zero as you would if you used a GetTickCount() method. But it assumes that the network has been connected since the computer was booted. This technique works on all versions of windows since 95.
hmm... Windows XP also has a 'systeminfo' command that tells you the uptime, amoung other things. Go to start, click “run” type “cmd” and then, in the (probably) black window that pops up type “systeminfo” without quotation marks. You might get a lot of text, so scroll back up to the top of the page and look through the results
posted by delmoi at 9:46 AM on March 7, 2005
Click Start
Click "Run..."
In the "Open" field, type "cmd" and hit OK
At the prompt type "systeminfo" and hit return.
After you get a bunch of output, scroll back up to near the top, you'll see a line that says something like: "System Up Time: 2 Days, 3 Hours, 51 Minutes, 55 Seconds"
(Thank you Google)
posted by Plutor at 10:05 AM on March 7, 2005
Click "Run..."
In the "Open" field, type "cmd" and hit OK
At the prompt type "systeminfo" and hit return.
After you get a bunch of output, scroll back up to near the top, you'll see a line that says something like: "System Up Time: 2 Days, 3 Hours, 51 Minutes, 55 Seconds"
(Thank you Google)
posted by Plutor at 10:05 AM on March 7, 2005
Response by poster: Thanks, Delmoi and all. That was very useful (not to mention the speed).
I also found out that windows thinks it's running on a 2 proc. machine. Hmm ... that might explain the enormous startup lag (blank window for several minutes right before the "loading your settings" screen).
posted by magullo at 10:07 AM on March 7, 2005
I also found out that windows thinks it's running on a 2 proc. machine. Hmm ... that might explain the enormous startup lag (blank window for several minutes right before the "loading your settings" screen).
posted by magullo at 10:07 AM on March 7, 2005
The Event Viewer will tell you. Open up the System Event Log and look for an entry of type Informational with source eventlog and Event ID 6009. This is the first log entry an XP computer makes upon booting, and it means that the logging service has started.
Similarly, the last entry it makes upon shutting down has the same characteristics as above, but the Event ID is 6006 (logging service shutting down). Naturally, a 6006 event will always precede a 6009 event (if logging is functioning properly).
Keep in mind that the 6009 event can only be logged once Windows has mostly loaded, so if you're looking for the exact time the computer powered on, you'll have to try something else.
posted by pmbuko at 10:07 AM on March 7, 2005
Similarly, the last entry it makes upon shutting down has the same characteristics as above, but the Event ID is 6006 (logging service shutting down). Naturally, a 6006 event will always precede a 6009 event (if logging is functioning properly).
Keep in mind that the 6009 event can only be logged once Windows has mostly loaded, so if you're looking for the exact time the computer powered on, you'll have to try something else.
posted by pmbuko at 10:07 AM on March 7, 2005
magullo,
XP recognizes P4 chips with "HT Technology" ( = hyperthreading) as dual processors.
posted by pmbuko at 10:10 AM on March 7, 2005
XP recognizes P4 chips with "HT Technology" ( = hyperthreading) as dual processors.
posted by pmbuko at 10:10 AM on March 7, 2005
A slight refinement to the earlier post: If you type in
systeminfo | find "Up Time"
you won't have to scroll through all the poo.
You can put this command string into a batch file (uptime.cmd ?), and then everything's a little bit easier.
posted by curtm at 10:24 AM on March 7, 2005
systeminfo | find "Up Time"
you won't have to scroll through all the poo.
You can put this command string into a batch file (uptime.cmd ?), and then everything's a little bit easier.
posted by curtm at 10:24 AM on March 7, 2005
Here is an uptime command-line tool from Microsoft. It says it's for NT Server and Windows 2000, but it works on XP also. If you just run it from the command line, it just gives you the uptime. If you do "uptime /a", it tells you a bunch of other stuff like number of bluescreens, % uptime, mean time between reboots, etc.
posted by mcguirk at 3:25 PM on March 7, 2005
posted by mcguirk at 3:25 PM on March 7, 2005
My first post! Too bad the question has already been answered. I did learn something though :-)
The answer given by delmoi only works on WinXP pro.
This one is verified on Pro and Home;
start - run - msinfo32 - network - adapter - last reset
posted by Sonic_Molson at 5:00 PM on March 7, 2005
The answer given by delmoi only works on WinXP pro.
This one is verified on Pro and Home;
start - run - msinfo32 - network - adapter - last reset
posted by Sonic_Molson at 5:00 PM on March 7, 2005
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by AllesKlar at 9:45 AM on March 7, 2005