When you need to audit a PC—check what’s installed, what data it holds, what security holes it has—you normally face an awkward choice. If it’s a Windows machine you reach for one set of tools; if it’s Linux you reach for another. If the machine is locked, encrypted, or you can’t install anything on it, you’re stuck.
PC Audit, sold by CritchCorp Computers Ltd through their online shop, solves all of those problems with a single piece of hardware: a USB stick.
What is PC Audit?
PC Audit is a compact audit toolkit that boots from a USB drive and scans a computer without installing anything on it. Plug the stick into any PC, boot from it, and it runs a full audit of the machine—what operating system it’s running, what software is installed, what user accounts exist, what files and data are present, and what security settings are in place.
The key distinction is that PC Audit is software, not a hardware scanning tool. It doesn’t probe the physical components of a machine the way a dedicated hardware diagnostic tool would. Instead, it interrogates the operating system and the software environment—the things that actually matter when you’re auditing a computer for security, compliance, or troubleshooting.
Dual use: one licence, two operating systems
The defining feature of PC Audit is its dual-use licence. A single licence covers both Windows and Linux machines. Most audit and diagnostic tools are written for one platform or the other, forcing IT teams and security professionals to maintain two separate toolkits, two separate licence budgets, and two separate workflows. PC Audit eliminates that split.
That means the same USB stick works across a mixed environment. A company with Windows laptops and Linux servers, a sysadmin managing a fleet of diverse machines, a security professional auditing a client’s infrastructure that spans both platforms—all of them use the same tool, the same interface, and the same licence.
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No installation required
PC Audit runs entirely from the USB stick. There is nothing to install on the target machine, which matters in several situations:
- Locked or restricted machines: If you can’t install software on a machine—because it’s a client’s device, a locked-down corporate workstation, or a machine you don’t have admin rights on—PC Audit still works. It doesn’t need to install anything.
- Encrypted drives and security tools: A machine protected by disk encryption, a BIOS password, or a firmware password won’t stop PC Audit from running. It operates at the level of the boot process, before those protections come into play.
- Forensic and investigative work: When you’re auditing a machine as part of an investigation—whether corporate, legal, or security-related—you don’t want to leave forensic traces by installing software. A USB-based tool that runs without installation leaves a cleaner footprint.
Who uses PC Audit?
PC Audit is aimed at a specific set of professional users:
- IT professionals managing fleets of computers who need a quick, consistent audit tool across different machine types.
- Security professionals conducting vulnerability assessments, penetration tests, or security audits on client systems.
- Penetration testers who need to examine a target machine’s software environment as part of a broader assessment.
- Forensic investigators who need to extract information from a machine without altering it.
- Systems administrators doing routine inventory, compliance checks, or troubleshooting across a mixed Windows/Linux environment.
Why the dual-use angle matters
The practical impact of the dual-use licence goes beyond convenience. In a typical organisation, the Windows and Linux machines are managed by different teams, with different tool budgets and different procurement processes. A tool that works on both platforms collapses that friction.
For a small or medium business, it means one tool instead of two—and one line item in the budget instead of two. For a security consultant, it means carrying one USB stick into an engagement rather than maintaining separate Windows and Linux audit kits. For an IT department, it means a single workflow for auditing every machine on the network, regardless of what’s installed on it.
The dual-use approach also reflects a broader shift in the industry. As organisations increasingly run mixed environments—Windows workstations, Linux servers, containerised infrastructure, cloud instances—the tools that span those environments become more valuable than the tools that are locked to one platform.
Availability
PC Audit is available now from CritchCorp Computers Ltd’s online shop. It is sold as a USB stick with the software pre-loaded, ready to boot and run on any compatible machine. The product sits alongside other security and diagnostic tools in CritchCorp’s software catalogue.
For IT professionals, security consultants, and anyone who needs to audit computers across a mixed Windows and Linux environment, PC Audit offers a simple proposition: one USB stick, one licence, and a tool that works on both platforms without installing anything.
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