MELANCHOLY404 TECHNOLOGY

Knowing whether your PC can actually run a game before going out and buying said game (or getting it from an online store, like Origin) is absolutely essential. I mean, you wouldn’t want to spend money on something you can’t use, would you?

Well, there is a solution that can assure this won’t happen.

Of course, you can always use something like Speccy to look at your system information in full detail, then search online for the game’s minimum system requirements. After that, you can compare the two, but this all takes time and it’s not the most pleasant thing to do.

What if there were a way for you to just pick a game from a list, scan your computer specs automatically and get the answer, all in very little time? That sounds more like it, doesn’t it?

Well, know that such a method actually exists; it’s called Can You Run It. Let’s see how it works.

Can You Run It is the easiest way to see whether a game will run on your PC and what’s even better is that its database is constantly updated with the newest titles the industry releases. That way, you can always know if that new game in the FIFA series will run on your PC before splashing money on it.

Start by going to the Can You Run It website. Not a lot is necessary for you to be able to use it; it only takes a browser – Internet Explorer, Chrome or Firefox, the permission to install an Active X/Java browser component (but it can do without that, too, or uninstall it after the analysis). The service won’t collect any identifiable information about you from your computer.

Now, search for the game you want or pick it from the list (that will take you a while, since the list is quite extensive).

Then, click the Can You Run It button.

You will be presented with a list of options. The first and easiest one is to run the automatic detection using Java. Since Java isn’t the safest thing around (we’ve even suggested removing Java altogether), the second option, which involves installing a little desktop app, is the one I would use.

The third option is to take a look at the system requirements, so you can compare them with what your computer has inside it. But that pretty much defeats the purpose of the whole thing…

So install the Desktop app. It’s very small and takes seconds to install. It is also completely safe – I’ve scanned it with VirusTotal, just to make sure.

Once the installation is done, let the software run the detection process.

Your browser will show a success message when the process is done (it takes seconds). Click Continue to find out the complete story.

You’ll get a simple analysis, telling you if you can run the game or not. As you can see, I can’t run FIFA 15.

You also won’t be left in the dark as to the reasons why you can or can’t run a specific game. Just scroll down and you’ll get all the details, as well as upgrade suggestions. These come both for the recommended and minimum specifications of the game.

After you’ve run the analysis, you can click around the site and see which games you can run and which you can’t. You don’t need to run it multiple times for different games.

Can You Run It is a very simple way of avoiding disappointment after buying a game that won’t run on your PC.