Registered PC Pitstop users have a unique and powerful option of sending their results to others in the form of a special link to the PC Pitstop site. A typical link might look like this:
This lets others see technical details about your system so that they can help you fix whatever ails it. Visitors and regulars on our PC Pitstop Forums use this feature frequently.
- How do I share my results with others?
- How can shared results be used to solve problems?
- Are there privacy issues in sharing results?
- Why did my results link stop working?
- Why do the results from a link sometimes change?
- How do I stop people from seeing my results?
How do I share my results with others?
There are just a few simple steps to the process:
- Create an account on the PC Pitstop site if you don’t have one already. Anonymous users cannot share their results.
- Run the Full Tests or load some previous test results. When you get to the Summary page showing your results, click on the link that says “TechExpress: Share or email test results.”
- Copy the link at the top of that page and email or post it wherever you would like. You can also use the Email a Friend link on that page if you prefer.
If you’re not sure where to look for these links, we’ve put together a visual guide to show you what to do. Dialup users: These screen shots are large and will take some time to load.
How can shared results be used to solve problems?
Your PC Pitstop results contain a lot of detailed information that most computer-savvy people will want to know when trying to solve a problem. By providing a link to your results along with your question, you can save the time it takes to dig out the information that someone might need before they could solve your problem, such as: “What version of Windows are you running? Which version of Internet Explorer? Do you have an antivirus program?”
One of the best places to share your results is on our own PC Pitstop Forums. Our online community can help you solve virtually any PC problem quickly and at no cost. It’s a fun place to hang out too; you might even make some new friends!
Maybe you’re considered the PC guru among your family or friends. If so, shared results will definitely make it easier to help them with computer problems. Just have them register on our site, test their system, and send you the link.
Are there privacy issues in sharing results?
To protect your identity, we do not display your IP address when someone else loads your results through a shared results link.
In most cases, the data collected by PC Pitstop is simply technical information about your computer; it does not contain any personally identifiable data. You may, however, have named your computer after yourself, or given your disk drives labels that were the same names as your children. We recommend that you review your test results before sharing them to see if there is any information that you would feel uncomfortable showing to others.
Why did my results link stop working?
The most common reason a link stops working is because it has expired. Results links are only valid for one month from the time they are issued. This provides you with better control over who sees your results. (You don’t need to retest to get a new link, just load the old results.) Another possibility is that the results have been deleted, either through the “View previous test results” page or as a result of the user removing their PC Pitstop account.
Why do the results from a link sometimes change?
A results link always shows the latest results for a particular configuration of a computer. If you test your computer under two different video resolutions or change the amount of memory installed, you will have two or more configurations reflecting those different setups. You can see all the configurations for a computer you have tested on the View previous test results page.
How do I stop people from seeing my results?
If you give out a results link and later decide that you don’t want people to see your results, go to the View previous test results page and delete the configuration for the results that you shared. DO NOT delete all configurations at once using the red X next to the computer name, doing it that way will still allow others to see your results. (When all configurations are deleted for a computer, the results are only marked to be deleted and actually deleted later, so you don’t have to wait.)