Useful tools and utilities for general MS desktop/server work

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Mattmannz

471 posts

Ultimate Geek

#140681 17-Feb-2014 14:16

I have recently moved from network/infrastructure work across to small server and PC work.

I have found a bunch of tools and utilities that have come in handy so far but wondering if others have any good recommendations for freeware tools etc that they could make.

Mainly I have been using tools from Nursoft for doing password and serial number recovery off running and dead machines. Also have a few boot disks with file/disk/virus tools on them.

Cheers
Matt

raytaylor

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#991450 20-Feb-2014 22:19

I use mailpassview from nirsoft
snadboy's revelation for showing passwords behind stars in general

NK2 editor from nirsoft

www.ninite.com

sysinternals process explorer

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Mattmannz

471 posts

Ultimate Geek

#991555 21-Feb-2014 08:41

Thanks for the reply Ray - those Nirsoft utils are very handy.

Thanks for the other suggestions.

Cheers
Matt.

nzkc

1557 posts

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#991611 21-Feb-2014 09:08

+1 for the sysinternals tools.

I would suggest learning some PowerShell.

jaymz

1133 posts

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#991624 21-Feb-2014 09:19

I carry around a wallet of several USB drives, some with virus removal tools (manually locked to read only) and other tools.

Here is a dump of some of my most used tools:

Treesize Free (used to find large folders/files)
http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/

Firefox Portable (for use when you quickly need to test internet access)
http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

NAS Performance Tester (Great for testing NAS network performance, or any other file share performance)
http://www.808.dk/?code-csharp-nas-performance

WinMTR (Great tool for running a constant ping that shows each "Hop")
http://winmtr.net/

HP Printer Doctor (Useful to track down issues with HP Printers)
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&docname=c03275041

I have all the software from Nirsoft.net, brilliant tools all over. you can download each section in one zip file which makes life easier.

I also have a bunch of CD's that i use also.

lummie

27 posts

Geek

#995343 27-Feb-2014 10:44

I use WSUS Offline a fair bit, can be handy

http://www.wsusoffline.net/docs/

BTR

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#995395 27-Feb-2014 11:41

I hammer, very efficient when the darn thing won't do what you want it to and you have the threaten it.

gehenna

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#995400 27-Feb-2014 11:45

Sysinternals for sure. Also you can usually install the actual MS administration tools locally on your machine - things like Hyper V Manager, VMM Manager, Failover Clustering Manager, etc and so on. Just google whatever remote service you want to administer and see if there is a Windows 7 MSI that can be installed to let you do it remotely.

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qyiet

454 posts

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#995499 27-Feb-2014 14:06

jaymz:
Treesize Free (used to find large folders/files)
http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/

I user scanner to do this.. it creates a cascading pie graph which I find much easier to quickly trace the biggest problem on a drive than a tree list.

http://www.steffengerlach.de/freeware/

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gjm

808 posts

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#995543 27-Feb-2014 14:50

RoyalTS is what I use to manage multiple remote desktop sessions as well as a few putty ones. Really good and free for 10 or less connections.

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#995544 27-Feb-2014 14:53

A lot of stuff on http://www.nirsoft.net/

ObidiahSlope

260 posts

Ultimate Geek

#995547 27-Feb-2014 15:00

Rescuecd on a USB stick for when the operating system or hard drive are completely borked

www.sysrescuecd.org

Also memtest for testing memory.

www.memtest.org

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