Specheck PC — User Guide

Specheck PC records what is inside a computer, so an asset register can be built without anyone retyping specifications into a spreadsheet. One file is run on the machine, it reads the hardware, and — only if the person agrees — it uploads the result to a web list.

How it works

There is nothing to install. The file is a single Windows batch file, about 53 KB, and it needs no administrator rights. It only reads information about the machine and, if you say yes, makes one secure upload. Answering N ends the program without sending anything anywhere. The only thing it can set up on the PC is the optional automatic weekly scan, and only when you say yes to it.

Part 1 — Scanning a PC

1. Get the file onto the PC

   Two ways, whichever is easier:

   • From the website. Open the Specheck PC site and click ↓ Download Specheck PC under the sign-in box. No account needed.
   • From a USB drive or network folder, if that machine cannot reach the website.

   Chrome and Edge warn when downloading a .bat file. Choose Keep. This is a normal warning for any script file, not a sign that something is wrong.

2. Run it

   Double-click Specheck PC.bat. A black console window opens and takes a few seconds to read the hardware.

   If Windows shows a blue “Windows protected your PC” box, click More info, then Run anyway. That appears because the file came from the internet, and it goes away if the file is copied by USB instead.

   Want the most complete report? Right-click the file and choose Run as administrator. Without it everything still works, but Secure Boot, TPM and battery health show as N/A, because Windows only reveals those to an administrator.

3. Read the report

   The screen shows the full specification, grouped into sections:

   [ SYSTEM ]            PC name, manufacturer, model, serial number
   [ OPERATING SYSTEM ]  Windows edition, build, install date, uptime, license
   [ PROCESSOR (CPU) ]   model, cores, threads, base speed, cache
   [ MEMORY (RAM) ]      total, slots used, and every stick individually
   [ GRAPHICS (GPU) ]    every graphics chip, VRAM, driver, resolution
   [ STORAGE ]           physical disks and every drive letter with free space
   [ MOTHERBOARD ]       manufacturer, model, serial number
   [ BIOS / FIRMWARE ]   version, date, UEFI or Legacy, Secure Boot, TPM
   [ NETWORK ]           each adapter with MAC, IP, gateway, DNS
   [ MONITORS ]          every monitor: model, serial number, size, year, connection
   [ KEYBOARD & MOUSE ]  every keyboard and mouse: name, maker, USB or Bluetooth, serial
   [ BATTERY ]           laptops only: charge and health

   Scroll up if the window is small. Nothing has been sent anywhere at this point.

4. Answer the question

   Do you want to save this PC specification? (Y/N):

   N closes the program and nothing leaves the machine. Anyone can run the tool purely to look at their own specs.

   Y continues to the next step.

5. Select the location

   Select Location:
       [ 1] Lab 1
       [ 2] Office
     Enter location number (1-2):

   Type the number of the room or site where this PC sits. The list is managed by the admin on the Manage Locations page of the website (button at the top of the list), so a new room only has to be added there once and every copy of Specheck PC picks it up. If the list is empty, the tool stops and asks you to contact the admin, because every record must have a location.

6. Type the asset name

   Enter PC Name / Asset Name (example: TA-PC-001):

   This is the name that will appear in the web list, so use the naming pattern your team agreed on — see Naming your assets. It cannot be empty. Letters are saved in capitals automatically, so ta-pc-001 becomes TA-PC-001.

7. Done

   A green box confirms the upload and gives you a Record ID such as SPC-2026-0004. A copy of the report is also saved on the Desktop as a .txt file, so you have something to hand even without the website.

   If the upload fails (no internet, blocked firewall), the tool retries three times and then saves the data to the Desktop as a .json file. Nothing is lost — pass that file to the admin, who can still load it later.

Automatic weekly scan

After a successful save, Specheck PC offers to keep an eye on the machine by itself:

Turn on automatic weekly scan for this PC? (Y/N):

Answering Y copies Specheck PC to C:\ProgramData\Specheck and adds a Windows scheduled task called Specheck PC Weekly Scan. Every Monday at 10:00 AM — or as soon as the PC is next switched on, if it was off — it scans the machine in the background with no window and no questions, using the location and asset name you just entered. It only uploads a new record when the hardware, a monitor or the Windows edition has changed, or once every 30 days, so the list does not fill up with identical scans. A changed PC is then highlighted in red in the web list with the ⚠ Specification changed alert. Only an internet connection is needed; the PC does not have to be on the office network.

To turn it off, run Specheck PC again, save, and answer N when asked whether to keep the weekly scan. The task and the C:\ProgramData\Specheck folder are removed. Each run is written to C:\ProgramData\Specheck\log.txt (SAVED, SKIPPED or FAILED with the reason), which is the first place to look if a PC stops reporting.

For IT: scanning many PCs at once. The same file runs silently from the command line, for example as a Group Policy startup script:

"Specheck PC.bat" /silent "TA LAPTOP" "TA-PC-001"

The location must match a name on the Manage Locations page. The asset name is optional; without it the Windows computer name is used. The same upload-only-on-change rule applies.

Part 2 — Using the web list

1. Sign in

   Open the Specheck PC site and sign in with the admin e-mail and password. The list is behind a sign-in because the records contain hardware serial numbers, MAC addresses and internal IP addresses.

   The buttons at the top right are Sign Out, Guide (this page), Manage Locations and ↓ Download Specheck PC, which downloads the batch file so you can scan whichever machine you are sitting at without carrying a USB drive.

2. Location cards

   The top of the page has one card per location, showing how many PCs are there and when the last scan was. Click a card to list its PCs underneath; click it again or press Close to hide them. Export CSV in that panel downloads only that location.

   Cards count machines, not scans: a PC scanned three times is counted once, at the location of its newest scan. PCs saved before locations existed, or whose location was deleted, appear under a grey No Location card.

3. Read the Saved PC List

   Below the cards is every record, newest first. The columns are:

   Column	What it means
   PC Name	The asset name typed by whoever ran the scan, always in capitals. Click it to open the full details.
   Location	Where the PC is. A dash means it has no location yet.
   Record ID	Automatic number such as SPC-2026-0004, generated by the database so two records can never get the same one.
   Serial Number	The machine's serial from its BIOS. A dash means the BIOS reported nothing useful — some cheap boards return placeholder text like "Default string", and those are filtered out rather than shown as if real.
   Hostname	The real Windows computer name, which is often different from the asset name.
   CPU / RAM	Quick summary so you can compare machines without opening each one.
   Date / Time	When the record reached the server, shown in your local time. Server time is used, not the PC's clock, because lab PC clocks are often wrong.

   Small tags next to the PC name explain repeat scans:

   Tag	What it means
   Rescanned ×N	This PC (same serial number) has been scanned N times, and this row is the newest scan — the current record.
   Older scan	A newer scan of the same PC exists. The row is faded and left out of the location card counts.
   ⚠ Specification changed	The hardware or Windows edition is different from the previous scan of this PC. The whole row turns red, and under the PC name each change is listed with its value before and after, for example RAM: 8 GB → 16 GB. The old value is struck through and the new one is in red.

4. Search, filter and sort

   The search box matches PC name, location, serial number, hostname, CPU, operating system, record ID, and the names and serial numbers of monitors, keyboards and mice at once, so a serial read off a monitor's sticker finds the PC it is attached to. Under it are four filters:

   • Location — one location, or No Location.
   • OS — for example only Windows 10 Pro machines.
   • RAM — installed size. Windows reports slightly less than is fitted (15.7 GB for 16 GB), so sizes are rounded up to the real stick size.
   • Scans — all scans, the latest scan per PC only (one row per machine), or only PCs that changed since the previous scan.

   Click any column heading to sort by it; click again to reverse (▲ / ▼). Empty values always go to the bottom. Clear filters resets the search and all filters.

5. Export to Excel

   Export CSV downloads exactly the rows you can see, in the order shown, so filter and sort first. The file opens directly in Excel. Besides the list columns it includes the operating system, whether each row is the only, latest or an older scan, and what changed since the previous scan, with the value before and after (for example RAM: 8 GB → 16 GB).

6. Open one PC

   Click the PC name. The detail page shows every field that was collected, grouped the same way as the console report, plus the original text report at the bottom exactly as the technician saw it. Under Collection Info, Scan type says whether the scan was run by a person (Manual) or by the weekly scan (Automatic).

   At the top of the page:

   • Latest scan / Older scan with links to the other scans of the same PC.
   • Move to location + Move PC — moves the PC to another location without scanning it again, for example after it is carried to another room. Only the location changes; the scanned specification can never be edited.
   • Print Label — see Asset labels.
   • Download .txt (readable report, good for a ticket) and Download .json (full structured data, for another system).

   If the PC was scanned before, a red Specification Changed Since Previous Scan card (or a plain note when nothing changed) compares this scan with the one before it: processor, total RAM, RAM sticks, graphics, every disk, motherboard, BIOS version, Windows edition and version, hostname, and monitors (model and serial number). Each changed item is shown with its Before value struck through and its After value in red. Drivers, uptime, free disk space and monthly Windows updates are not compared, because they change on every scan. Keyboards and mice are recorded but not compared, because they are unplugged and swapped too often; a missing keyboard would raise a false alarm. Monitors are only compared between two scans made with agent v1.4.0 or later, because older scans did not record the monitor serial number.

   The Monitors card lists each monitor with its serial number, size, year of manufacture and connection (HDMI, DisplayPort, built-in and so on). The Keyboard & Mouse card lists each input device. Most keyboards and mice have no serial number that Windows can read — the one on the sticker underneath is not stored in the device — so their serial usually shows N/A. A Bluetooth device shows its Bluetooth address instead, because that is unique to each unit. A laptop screen usually has no serial either; external monitors normally do.

Asset labels (QR)

On a PC's detail page, Print Label opens a 70 × 35 mm label with a QR code, the PC name, record ID, location and serial number. Press Print Label on that page; only the label is printed, on a white background, at its real size. Stick it on the casing.

Scanning the QR code with any phone camera opens that PC's record. If the phone is not signed in, it goes to the sign-in page first and then straight back to the PC — the label never shows anything to someone without the admin login.

Managing locations

Manage Locations (top right of the list) is where the list of rooms and sites is kept. Every copy of Specheck PC downloads this list each time it runs, so a new location only has to be added once.

• Add Location — type the name and press the button.
• Edit — renames it. Every PC at that location shows the new name straight away.
• Delete — removes it from the list shown by Specheck PC.bat. PCs already saved there keep the old name as text and appear under No Location on the cards; use Move PC to give them a new location.

What is collected — and what is not

This matters because the tool runs on other people's machines, and anyone asked to run it deserves a straight answer about what it reads.

Troubleshooting

Naming your assets

The asset name is typed by hand, so nothing stops two people from using different styles. Agree on one pattern before handing the tool out, otherwise the list becomes hard to read within a month. A pattern that works well:

TA-PC-001      site or department - device type - running number
TA-LAP-014
TA-LAB2-007

Keep it short, use the same separator every time, and pad the number so sorting stays correct (007, not 7).

Maintenance admin only

After changing the agent

The distributed file is generated from a template, so it is built in two steps — and the second step is easy to forget:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "bat\build.ps1"
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "bat\upload-agent.ps1"

Without the second command, the website keeps handing out the previous version.

If the file leaks outside the organisation

Rotate the submit token in the Supabase SQL editor, then rebuild and re-upload:

update specheck_config
   set value = '<new token>', updated_at = now()
 where key = 'submit_token';

Every existing copy stops working immediately and tells its user the file is out of date.

Deleting a record

Records cannot be edited or deleted from the website by design, so the list stays an honest history of what each machine reported. The only change allowed is moving a PC to another location. Remove a record through the Supabase SQL editor when you really need to.

Keeping this guide current

This guide is updated together with every change to Specheck PC, and the version and date at the bottom show which release it describes.

Quick reference