Windows 7 Taskforce

Make use of built-in temperature sensors

Submitted by Indrek on June 10, 2009 to Usability

Problem: Windows 7 supposedly has a nice sensor framework, which already works with stuff like fingerprint sensors, ambient light sensors, accelerometers etc. But how about also using it to support the temperature sensors that most modern motherboards, CPUs, GPUs and hard drives include? This way people would be able to monitor their system temperatures without having to install 3rd party utilities (like Speedfan).

Solution: Add support for built-in temperature sensors, and allow the readings to be monitored in real-time. For extra cool points, expose the data through the gadget API.

Some other ideas:
- keep logs and allow users to view past temperatures as a graph (and min/max/avg values) over a given period of time, for both AC and battery power.
-alert users of higher than normal temperatures through the Action Center or the system health report.
- if the system recovers from an unexpected shutdown, check logs for abnormally high temperatures around that time, and if found, mention it in the error message that appears.

Severity: Low

Impact: Medium

Status: Not fixed