Though I’m a Linux bigot, I work generally on a Windows laptop. Below is a list of my favorite free toys/tools that I use regularly. I’ve had good luck with all of them:
- Unlocker Assistant – for unlocking pesky locked Windows files or drives.
- I8kFanGUI – for controlling your laptop fans
- TrueCrypt – for creating a mountable encrypted drive from a file or external media
- CCleaner – cleans up your registry and other crap.
- Cygwin – Unix emulation with complete Unix command set and environment for Windows
- Malwarebytes – finds malware that most major AVs don’t.
- TweakUI – free Microsoft tool (“PowerToy”) to tweak your system
- Process Explorer – free system monitoring tool
- Putty/WinSCP – great SSH tools (does telnet and FTP too)<
- RealVNC – VNC remote desktop sessions
- SolarWinds TFTP – standalone TFTP server useful for upgrading the IOS on a Cisco router
- TeraTerm Pro – a much better replacement for serial Hyperterm (see UTF-8 version here for one with Windows installer). NOTE: The latest Putty now supports serial, so for basic uses that may be all you need.
- WindDirStat – find where all your disk space is going.
- Wireshark/WinPcap – for snooping networks
- MBSA – Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer to find your big security holes
- Windows Installer CleanUp Utility – Microsoft tool to remove unremovable/uninstallable program entries
- PowerBooster 2k – Hitachi laptop disk performance tool
- Google Earth – just a cool way to look at the world
- MediaMonkey – one of the best MP3 player/burner/managers I’ve seen.
- Fat32Format – format FAT32 drives of any size
- HDD Health – monitor SMART drive output (may also want to see SpeedFan).
- UltraISO – great for unpacking/manipulating CD ISO images
- FastStone Image Viewer – very quick JPEG/GIF/TIFF/RAW viewer and editor (good for single images).
- Picasa – Very nice and fast image organizer and editor (good for directories of images)
- SyncToy – Microsoft disk-to-disk, directory-to-directory synchronizer (faster than backups). Personally I actually use the for-pay ViceVersa PRO but…
Enjoy!
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