How to List Your Laptop’s Hardware in the Device Manager

Device Manager is a window that lists all the devices in your laptop, which is very useful for troubleshooting. In fact, all it takes is a quick look at the Device Manager window to determine if any device is behaving badly inside the computer.

To view Device Manager in Windows Vista, open the Device Manager icon in Control Panel. A user account control warning may appear; Click the Continue button. The Device Manager window then appears.

In Windows XP, bring up the Device Manager window by first opening the System Properties dialog. Right-click on the My Computer icon and choose Properties from the context menu to display the System Properties dialog. Then click on the Hardware tab and click on the Device Manager button.