Resplendence Software has unveiled the first public beta of WhySoSlow, a smart Windows tool which analyses CPU and memory usage, power settings, devices, drivers, BIOS responsiveness and more for performance issues.

The program opens as a system monitor, displaying CPU usage, RAM load, hard page faults and other low-level indicators in real time.

An “Analyze” option runs a more detailed scan on your system, which in theory should deliver verdicts on your CPU speed/ temperature usage, memory usage, paging info, driver behaviour, latencies, BIOS, drive fragmentation and more.

Our first tests delivered mixed results here, with the scan failing once, and when it did work, leaving many report areas blank.

Fortunately WhySoSlow makes some of its raw data available in various tabs, and that may help to identify some problems.

Monitor key system stats in real time

In a click or two we were able to see which drivers had the most ISRs/ DPCs, which processes topped the hard page fault list, and which of our files were the most fragmented.

The program also includes a separate “Alarm” system, which can monitor your system and raise alerts for various conditions: CPU temperature/ usage, memory usage, kernel/ application responsiveness, page file usage, low free disk space.

Bonus features include an “AntiFreeze Emergency Task Manager”, which may help recover your system if a runaway process has reduced it to a crawl.

WhySoSlow is incomplete and has a few bugs, which is no real surprise for a beta. But it already delivers some useful low-level details on system performance, at least for users with the experience to recognise them (if you’re not sure what a DPC or hard page fault is, we’d give it a miss).

WhySoSlow is a free beta for Windows 7 and later. It’ll expire after 31st January 2016.