Overheating is a leading cause of computer problems. Use one of these temperature monitoring apps to keep your PC healthy.

Heat wreaks havoc on computers, especially laptops. Tight cases and dust build-up can lead to poor air circulation. Without circulation, the heat generated inside has nowhere to go.

Ignoring heat problems is the surest way to destroy a laptop. You thought it slowed down because it's old? That's partly true, but not the whole story.

Heat can severely impair the performance of computer components, with hard drives being the most susceptible. If your hard drive seems like it's dying, first check the internal temperature. Fortunately, checking temperatures is as easy as using one of these free heat monitor apps.

If your chief laptop temperature concern is an overheating hard drive, look no further than CrystalDiskInfo. This is a dedicated utility for managing the health of HDDs and SSDs and is so useful that we consider it a must-have diagnostic tool for Windows users.

With its clear and easy-to-use interface, you'll have no trouble navigating all the information it has for you, uncovering your laptop's hard drive temperature in a flash. And with all its advanced features, it's practical enough for power users, not just newbies.

Download: CrystalDiskInfo for Windows (Free)

Core Temp is a fast, accurate, and flexible laptop temperature monitor. However, a word of warning: the installer comes with bundleware! You can avoid it by unchecking it, but you must pay attention during installation. Otherwise, there are no ads.

Download: Core Temp for Windows (Free)

HWiNFO is a lightweight diagnostic tool for gleaming in-depth hardware information and monitoring systems in real-time. It's a lot easier to use than it sounds. Plus, it's actively updated—a new version about once every 1-2 months, which is great for cutting-edge systems.

Download: HWiNFO for Windows (Free)

HWMonitor is one of the most trusted laptop temperature monitoring apps currently available. The free version is more than enough for keeping tabs on temperature, but there is a Pro version with advanced features (e.g., graph generation) for €20.

Download: HWMonitor for Windows (Free)

If you're running Windows on a Mac, things get slightly tricky because the hardware in a Mac has a few proprietary quirks.

The good news is, there's a free app designed specifically for you, and it's called Macs Fan Control. It's easy to use and highly recommended, and allows you to monitor a wide range of hardware temperatures.

Download: Macs Fan Control for Windows (Free)

In addition to potential hardware damage, high system temperatures are problematic because they cause your laptop's fans to work overtime. A hard-working fan wears out faster, but more importantly, fast-spinning fans are loud. Much louder than you'd anticipate. It's one of the reasons we suggest investing in a proper laptop cooling mat.

Of the many ways to silence noisy laptop fans, the easiest is to use SpeedFan to control fan revolutions per minute (RPM) manually. What's nice is that SpeedFan also has features for monitoring temperature, so it's like a 2-in-1 app— just not as advanced as the others above.

Unfortunately, Speedfan hasn't received an update in many years at this point, but it's still a competent hardware monitoring tool.

Download: SpeedFan for Windows (Free)

Open Hardware Monitor is similar to HWiNFO and HWMonitor, except that it's open-source. In fact, Open Hardware Monitor was considered a dead project, as it had not received an update since 2016 (which stopped Open Hardware Monitor from working with some of the latest hardware).

However, in early 2020, Open Hardware Monitor updates began rolling out, updating the laptop temperature monitoring tool for the latest CPUs, GPUs, and other hardware.

Download: Open Hardware Monitor for Windows (Free)

NZXT CAM is a temperature and hardware monitoring tool with a slick user interface and numerous options.

You might note the name of the developer, NZXT. NZXT manufactures a range of PC hardware, and as such, NZXT CAM works very well with their hardware. For instance, you can use NZXT CAM to control case lights, fan speeds, power supply voltages, and more, where supported.

Download: NZXT CAM for Windows (Free)

Yes, MSI's popular overclocking tool, Afterburner, also doubles up as a GPU and CPU temperature monitoring tool. What sets MSI Afterburner apart is the handy temperature overlay that helps you to keep an eye on your core temps while gaming, streaming, or otherwise. Having those temperature gauges in sight means you won't accidentally overheat your hardware!

Make sure you check your CPU and other hardware temperatures when your laptop is idle (with no apps running) and under load (with performance-heavy apps running). A high idle temperature can be just as degrading as a high spike under load.

Gavin is the Junior Editor for Technology Explained, a regular contributor to the Really Useful Podcast, and a frequent product reviewer. He has a degree in Contemporary Writing pillaged from the hills of Devon, and more than a decade of professional writing experience. He enjoys copious amounts of tea, board games, and football.

Join our newsletter for tech tips, reviews, free ebooks, and exclusive deals!