Frequently Asked Questions

UserDiag is a diagnostic tool for computers.
Its purpose is to perform various tests and checks to ensure the overall proper functioning of the computer, whether in terms of software or hardware.

We can compare UserDiag to a vehicle inspection. It will perform various tests and then provide a complete technical report on the machine.
This will be accompanied by suggestions for actions to take if any problems are identified.

UserDiag is not really intended to be a stress test tool for long-term stability testing.
Nor is it a tool for performing benchmarks and comparison scores for overclocking.
Its purpose is simply to say if everything is fine, or if there are things to improve.

There was no real public diagnostic tool that was simple to use.
Only stress test tools, benchmark tools, or sometimes dubious optimization tools.

Stress test or benchmark tools are excellent.
But it can be seen that they can quickly lose novice users when it comes to drawing conclusions from the displayed technical data.
This is often due to the lack of user expertise, so these tools are potentially less suitable for this audience.

I wanted to address this need so that everyone could relatively easily identify potential sources of their problems with UserDiag.

As for the name of the tool (UserDiag), a friend suggested it to me jokingly, and it stuck.
In the end, this name aptly reflects the main function of the tool, performing "diags".

UserDiag is a tool created in France on April 20, 2020.
It is developed by SkyEmie_ (me) in my personal time, alongside my job.

The evolution of the tool over time depends on my personal life.
There is no particular update schedule, but I strive to keep the project up to date to make necessary fixes or best support new generations.

The tool does not bring me any financial gain, it exists solely to help, as I enjoy helping people in my own way.

Topachat (French store for computer hardware) has been financially supporting the UserDiag tool since July 23, 2024.
That's why the mention "UserDiag supported by Topachat" appears on the site in exchange for this support.

This support helps cover costs, complementing user donations.
It also helps fund future expenses to improve the tool (SDK, additional features, potentially hardware, etc).
It is a support, it does not offer any additional functionality or rights to Topachat.

A big thank you to Topachat for this recognition and support!

UserDiag is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10, and 11 (32-bit, 64-bit, and ARM).
Linux distributions or macOS are not currently supported.

This might be good news for some people, there is no installation required!
UserDiag is a simple little tool to keep in your favorite folder, it is just a so-called "standalone" executable.

UserDiag then checks at startup if an update is available.
If there is one, it downloads the new version, updates itself, and restarts.

This prevents users from having an old version with bugs when they are fixed in a newer version.
No need to manually check if a newer version is available.

No personal information is collected without your knowledge. No serial number, IP, or MAC address is linked to the diagnostics.
All information collected during a diagnostic is subsequently displayed in the report.
Web server logs containing the IP address and user agent are kept for a maximum of 6 months (6 months maximum are allowed by the CNIL).

The application is still in development, some additional metrics are sometimes temporarily collected for debugging or testing purposes, then deleted.

The application may sometimes be flagged as malicious or unknown by some antivirus solution providers.
This is of course a false positive, the application is legitimate.

Sometimes, some antivirus programs do not like it when an unknown software requests administrator permissions, runs various tests, and then contacts a server to send the diagnostic.
But in this context, it is completely legitimate.

The application is also digitally signed with a digital certificate from GlobalSign.
This process requires complying with certain administrative and legal procedures to obtain it.

If you encounter any problems related to this, do not hesitate to contact me.
You can find the list of contact details here.
If necessary, I will contact the antivirus solution provider in question to have the false positive removed.
In the meantime, you can add the application as an exception in your antivirus.

Antivirus programs that may sometimes flag a false positive: Avast, Norton, McAfee, and some enterprise antivirus solutions.

UserDiag will work in a virtual machine or with Wine, but in a degraded mode.
Not all features are available.

Only the display and export of the configuration will be available.
The various diagnostics will not be usable, so they are disabled.

The model of the power supply, cooling, and case are unfortunately not information that can be retrieved software-wise.
You will need to provide this information manually to the person helping you, if necessary depending on the context.

A small clarification, it is possible to retrieve the model of the power supply on very high-end models that can connect via USB.
But this remains very rare, so there is little interest in implementing this feature.
The same goes for some coolers like AIOs that can connect via USB, but there is little interest in implementing this just for AIOs.

No, there is no risk, at most it will highlight an already existing problem.
By default, the tool also has an active setting that stops the tests if the temperature becomes too high, as a precaution.

You can use it without fear.

UserDiag can indeed detect instabilities or crashes if they occur during the tests.
However, it is absolutely not a tool designed to test and improve your overclock.
UserDiag is not intended to offer stress tests configurable over several hours, as the very good stress test tools you probably already know allow.

UserDiag only detects problems that it knows how to search for and detect.

For example, if you have freezes in your favorite game, but there is nothing abnormal in the report.
This may be due to the game's shader cache being built, and UserDiag cannot know this.
Another example, if you have artifacts on the screen, UserDiag will not be able to detect them either if the graphics card's performance is good.

The tool is therefore very useful for identifying most common problems.
But it will not be able to detect everything.
It will not immediately replace an expert and knowledgeable eye to identify some more specific problems, where more context is sometimes needed to understand them.

This can be normal and does not really pose a problem.
During the tests, the components are solicited.
The processor may therefore have less time to devote to the software that manages the RGB LED animations, as it is busy with the various tests, which can cause these "lags" effects of the LEDs.

Yes, absolutely, this is even the way the tool was designed!
Basically, only the names of your components and their associated metrics are displayed.
These are information that you can freely share if you want to get help from others.

Diagnostics are kept indefinitely.
You can therefore keep them to consult later or share them with others.

However, this is not set in stone and may change in the future depending on server load and available financial resources.

The application and website are available in:
- French
- English

Both will use the operating system's default language.
If your language is not supported, they will use English by default.
You can change the language at any time in the application's settings, or at the top right of the website.

In the immediate future, no. But clearly, I would love to.

There are several reasons for this:
- The application would need to be completely rewritten, as it is currently written in a language that is not compatible with Linux.
- Alternatives to some third-party tools used would also need to be found and implemented, as not all of them exist on Linux.
- Some metrics are not available on Linux, and conversely, some are specific to Linux.
- Some "Windows" problems are not present on Linux, and vice versa.
- Another major difficulty is that it is difficult to support a large number of Linux distributions, test them before each update, and maintain UserDiag accordingly.
- My free time is limited, so I have to make choices.

For these reasons, I prefer to focus on the Windows version for now, which is already a lot of work.
But knowing myself, it will happen one day!

Currently, the tool is not.
I would like to share the source code, but it limits some future possibilities, such as potentially creating a paid version for businesses.

Today this is not possible. The tool requires an internet connection to function.

The tool was designed to be used remotely by people who are not necessarily comfortable with computers.
But it is a feature that will be added in the future, to be able to use it without internet access.

This feature will be appreciated for performing diagnostics on a device without internet connection, or for people who do not want to send their diagnostics even if there is no personal information.

Like any software, it is possible to fail to start UserDiag.

If you get the following error messages:
- "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file..."
- "This app can't run on your PC"
- "Operation could not be completed because the file contains a virus or potentially unwanted software"

First, check that your antivirus is not blocking the application.
Relatively less recommended antiviruses like Norton, Avast, or McAfee may block the application.
If this is the case, honestly, uninstall these antiviruses and keep Windows Defender active.

Enterprise-targeted antiviruses, which may be more restrictive, can also block the application.
If this is the case, contact your IT department or add the application as an exception.
If you want more information on this subject, you can check contact details here.

You can contact me by email, via Twitter or Discord.
You can find the list of contact details here.

In case of a bug, you can also attach the UserDiag log file available here: "%tmp%\UDIAG_DEBUG.log".

The active processor test is based on the open-source Prime95 engine.
For each diagnostic, different parameters are used to vary the type and intensity of the load (to be listed here soon).
Coming soon...

The active graphics card test is performed by Furmark.
Different settings are passed to Furmark (to be listed here soon).
Coming soon...

The active storage test is performed by diskspd.
This allows obtaining maximum speeds.
Different settings are passed to diskspd (to be listed here soon).

Storage health metrics are performed using SMART metrics.
SMART is provided by the storage.

After performing a diagnostic, the report opens. You can observe 3 sections:

- At the top, you will find a summary of the problems identified by UserDiag, as well as suggestions for actions to take.

- Below, you will find different "bricks" for elements of your configuration (processor, graphics card, Windows, etc.).
Each brick contains information (names, etc.) as well as the main metrics of the element in question (temperatures, frequencies, etc.).

- Finally, at the bottom of the report, you will find different graphs.
These graphs represent the metrics collected during the various active tests.
They can be useful for providing more context or even identifying a problem not detected by UserDiag.

This happens if the date and time on your computer are incorrect.
Cloudflare, the service that protects the site, uses the date and time on your computer to verify that you are not a bot.

You can correct the date and time on your computer, then reload the page.

You can send me a screenshot, as well as the UserDiag log file available here: "%tmp%\UDIAG_DEBUG.log"
This log file contains all the application's activity, as well as all the recorded data (temperatures, etc.) during the various tests.

You can contact me by email, via Twitter or Discord.
You can find the list of contact details here.

If this happens:
- Check that you are connected to the internet.
- Check that you don't have an active proxy or VPN.
- Check that you don't have a third-party antivirus (with network protection) blocking the export.

If it still doesn't work, you can send me the UserDiag log file available here: "%tmp%\UDIAG_DEBUG.log"
This log file contains all the application's activity, as well as all the recorded data (temperatures, etc.) during the various tests.

You can contact me by email, via Twitter or Discord.
You can find the list of contact details here.

This happens due to a conflict with another "monitoring" software.
Motherboard software, RGB control software, or other monitoring software running at the same time as UserDiag can cause this problem.

If this happens:
- Close all such software.
- Restart the computer (without restarting these software).
- Restart UserDiag.

Normally, this should work.

Sometimes, some information cannot be retrieved, or only partially.

In the case of storage, this usually happens:
- For laptops with storage soldered to the motherboard.
- For eMMC memory.
- If there is a RAID configured.
- If AMD StoreMi is installed on the system.
- If the storage is not compatible with SMART metrics retrieval.

Sometimes, some information cannot be retrieved, or only partially.

In the case of RAM, this usually happens:
- For laptops with RAM soldered to the motherboard.
- If the RAM sticks did not return the information quickly enough.
- If there is a layer of virtualization.