As the name implies it, Speedfan is a program used to control the speed of  some or even all of your computer's fans. Because I run the program on a laptop, there is only one fan in it! What fans are actually controlled depends on the hardware's capabilities. Moving on, Speedfan is more useful for monitoring system temperature and the hard disks' health.

Why is this important? Manufacturers try to save money by minimizing the system's physical size, cramming as much as possible inside lowering airflow.  Of course, you have control over airflow if you custom-built a desktop PC, but for laptops and store bought computers like Dell and HP, the user has no direct say in the arrangement of the PC components.  Over time, dust can build up and heat issues will begin to appear. There is a direct correlation between over heating the system and premature system failure! The cooler the system runs, the higher chance for long-term use. In my perspective, anything above 50C is uncomfortably hot while working on my laptop.

The blue bars at the bottom are an averaged out indicator of the currently selected hard disk from the drop down menu. Determining when a hard drive is near failure is difficult, but from experience, if the fitness drops three or more bars, the chances are high.  System failure is inevitable, but we can definitely avoid being caught by surprise! Comments and questions are always welcomed!