quick-checks

A modern, dark-themed PowerShell diagnostic tool for Windows laptops. One script, zero dependencies — it shows live battery status with a smoothly animated battery graphic, plus a graphical keyboard tester that runs on its own thread so it never blocks the main window.

Main window — screenshot placeholder

Keyboard tester — screenshot placeholder

Features

• Live battery display — a battery icon drawn entirely with System.Drawing (no images):
  • Fill level tracks the real charge, with a smooth fill animation
  • Continuous red → yellow → green colour gradient based on charge level
  • Animated lightning bolt + moving shine effect while on AC power (~30 FPS)
  • Slow pulse when the battery is at 0–20%, subtle green glow at 81–100%
  • "Fully Charged" indicator at 100%
• Full system info at a glance — model, manufacturer, serial number, computer name, CPU (name, cores/threads, clock), RAM capacity and speed, every GPU, and screen resolution(s)
• Battery health — FullChargeCapacity / DesignedCapacity × 100, read from WMI (root\wmi) with an automatic powercfg /batteryreport fallback for machines whose drivers don't expose the WMI battery classes; shows Health: Unknown only when neither source reports capacity data
• Keyboard tester — a full visual QWERTY layout (function keys, number row, modifiers, arrows, navigation cluster). Keys light up while held and turn green once tested. Runs in a separate STA PowerShell runspace, so it stays responsive while the battery display updates
• System tray support — minimising sends the app to the tray; the tray menu offers Open / Open Keyboard Tester / Refresh / Exit, and double-click restores the window
• Robust — no crashes on desktops, machines without batteries, missing WMI classes, or limited permissions; friendly status messages instead of raw errors
• Lightweight — event-driven timers only run while something is actually animating; idle CPU usage is well under 1%

Requirements

• Windows 10 or Windows 11
• Windows PowerShell 5.1 (built in) or PowerShell 7+
• No third-party modules — only built-in .NET (WinForms, System.Drawing) and WMI/CIM

Run it

From PowerShell

git clone https://github.com/skermiebrotech/quick-checks.git
cd quick-checks
powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Sta -File .\QuickChecks.ps1

From Win+R (no download needed)

Press Win+R, paste, and hit Enter:

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Sta -Command "irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/skermiebrotech/quick-checks/main/QuickChecks.ps1 | iex"

If you fork this repository, replace skermiebrotech with your own GitHub username.

Build a standalone EXE (optional)

Using the community ps2exe tool (only needed for building — the app itself has no module dependencies):

Install-Module ps2exe -Scope CurrentUser
Invoke-ps2exe .\QuickChecks.ps1 .\QuickChecks.exe -noConsole -STA -title 'quick-checks' -product 'quick-checks'

Launch during Windows OOBE (refurb/repair techs)

payloads/oobe-launch.txt is a DuckyScript payload for a USB Rubber Ducky / Flipper Zero. When run at the Windows 10/11 out-of-box-experience setup screens, it opens the hidden command prompt with Shift+F10 and streams quick-checks from GitHub — handy for testing a machine's battery and keyboard before finishing setup.

Encode it with the Hak5 Duck Encoder (or drop it on a Flipper Zero as BadUSB). It assumes a US keyboard layout and a working internet connection, and is meant for hardware you own or are authorised to service.

Privacy

The keyboard tester does not log, save, or transmit keystrokes. It uses ordinary WinForms KeyDown/KeyUp events (no global keyboard hook), only reacts while its own window has focus, and only changes the colour of on-screen keys. Nothing you type is stored anywhere, and key state is discarded the moment the tester window closes.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.