| Essentials | AntiMalware | Clean/Shred |
| Network tools | Security tools | Sysinternals |
| Info tools | Wifi tools | Firefox Add-Ons |
| Open Source | Disk tools | Boot tools |
| Miscellaneous | Linux Distros |
- Mozilla Firefox – The Best web browser (don’t forget the addons)
- Ccleaner – Best temp file cleaner available, frequently updated
- SmartDefrag – Full featured and very effective free defrag
- 7zip – Free zip utility, fast and superior compression (replaces Winzip)
- Foxit PDF Reader – Faster, smaller PDF Reader without the bloat (replaces Adobe Reader)
- InfraRecorder – Excellent burning software, supports ISO image burning, good interface, small footprint
- Irfanview – Fast, compact image file editor. Try it… you’ll love it
- VLC Media Player – A great Media Player that plays all types of video/audio including DVD’s for free
- Revo Uninstaller – The best app uninstaller on the planet. 5 star recommendation
- doPDF – PDF converter/virtual printer, quick and easy
- Launchy – An excellent keystroke app launcher to replace icons and menu trees
- SysInternals – Autoruns, Process Explorer, & BGInfo
- JKDefrag – The older version of JKDefrag, installer w/ Shortcuts
- Network Tools – Bundle includes AngryIP, SoftPerfectScan, SuperScanner, TFTPD, Teraterm, & PuTTY
- ComboFix – If you have an infected PC start with ComboFix.
- Super Antispyware – Very nice spyware cleaner.
- MalwareBytes AntiMalware – one of the best antispyware cleaners available
- Advanced Spware Removal – Lots of good tools, fast scans, and good detections
- Spybot Search & Destroy – Powerful scumware cleaner that includes immunization, startup registry editor, & IE lockdown
- Hijack This – Advanced cleaner, use with caution
- LSPfix – Repairs damaged Winsock providers, use with caution
- WinSockFix XP 1.2 – Repairs damaged Winsock stacks
- Sysinternals Rootkit Revealer – Advanced rootkit revealer by Sysinternals that identifies discrepancies that may indicate a rookit infection
- SmitFraudFix – Desktop/Homepage Hijacker Removal tool. Great tool
- GMER Rootkit Detector – another excellent rootkit revealer
- Ccleaner – Best temp file cleaner available, frequently updated
- CyberShredder – Good freeware file shredder, small and fast
- D.B.A.N. – Secure HD deletion, wipes entire drive so be careful
- Belarc Advisor – Excellent software/hardware inventory tool, free for personal use
- System Information for Windows – Completely free Software/Hardware inventory tool, portable version available, supports scripting and batch modes
- BGInfo – Displays system info on the desktop, This is a direct link to my custom setup. See README.TXT
- Autoruns – most often used to modify startup programs, but also provides a wealth of info
- Dependency Walker – Shows the dependencies of a service or application
- WinDirStat – Shows the dependencies of a service or application
- Treesize – Shows folder sizes in a gui hierarchical format, great for finding where your HD space is being used
- LANSweeper – Free software/hardware inventory program for Windows networks.
- DriverMax – Inventories all drivers on a system then backs them up to a single .zip file
- ProduKey – Displays the ProductID and Key of Office, Windows, Exchange, and SQL Server installed on your PC
- Process Explorer – Task Manager on Steroids, another essential for every PC you touch
- Process Monitor – Monitor Process Activity
- Autoruns – Great registry tool from Sysinternals, most often used to modify startup programs, but also provides a wealth of info
- BGInfo – Great tool for displaying system info on the desktop, This is a direct link to my custom setup. See README.TXT
- ZoomIt – Little program from Sysinternals, provides zoom and more on your desktop, great for presentations
- SDelete – Secure file deletion via CLI
- PSTools – Window’s multitool for managing local and remote systems, these are the tools that put Sysinternals on the map
- Rootkit Revealer – Advanced rootkit revealer by Sysinternals that identifies discrepancies that may indicate a rookit infection
- IPERF – Excellent network throughput analysis tool. See Throughput Testing Made Simple(pdf) for more info
- PortQry 2 – MS command line utility to see what processes are listening on which ports
- Active Ports – Monitors all open TCP/UDP ports on an Windows system
- Packetyzer – Great network sniffer from the folks at Network Chemistry
- Angry IP Scanner – IP scanner that can be run without being installed
- Super IP Scanner – IP & port scanner (my fav) but requires install, an essential for network pros
- SoftPerfect Network Scanner – Free multi-threaded IP, NetBIOS and SNMP scanner with very nice interface
- SolarWinds IP Subnet Calculator – Subnet calculator so you don’t have to think
- SolarWinds TFTP Server – Simple and effective TFTP server
- TeraTerminal – Terminal program, highly recommended, supports telnet & SSH
- TFTPD Server – Network Swiss-Army knife, provides TFTP, SYSLOG, & DHCP server functionality
- Kiwi Syslog Daemon 8.0.2 – Syslog server software
- PuTTY – The standard for SSH communication, supports telnet also
- Dameware Mini Remote Control – Great remote capabilities and a whole lot more, free 30-day trial
- Wireshark – Packet Sniffer, the successor to Ethereal
- Newt Network Scanner – Agent-free scanner to retrieve detailed info of client computers.
- Winfingerprint – Network scanner that can be used to enumerate patch level, OS, user, sessions and more.
- Axence NetTools – A full suite of free network utilities, very handy
- the Dude Network Monitor – network discovery and monitoring with a graphical diagram
- Spiceworks – Free network management/inventory software
- Mozilla Firefox – The web browser you should be using.
- Mozilla Thunderbird – Great mail client from Mozilla (does not support exchange, of course)
- Open Office Suite – Fantastic Office suite, free, full featured, and has inherent PDF capability, did I mention it was FREE!
- 7zip – Open Source, free zip utility, I recommend this over Winzip any day
- Notepad++ – This is what Windows Notepad dreams of being, from html to config files, this is your tool
- Filezilla – The only FTP client you will ever need; fast and reliable.
- Ultimate Boot CD – Like the name says, Ultimate Boot CD, a must have
- Bart’s PE – Bart’s PE is a wonderful CD to boot into a Windows like environment
- MyDefrag – Simple defrag software. Terrible UI, used to be JKdefrag
- SmartDefrag – Robust defrag utility with great GUI and scheduling
- TestDisk by CGSecurity – The only hard drive partition recovery utility you will ever need.
- Knoppix – Linux Distro that runs from CD, good for file recovery, great for nix noobs
- CHNTPW – Windows local administrator password reset tool, one of a kind, a lifesaver
- BackTrack – Another great Linux distro that is primarily for security tasks
- NetStumbler – Find AP’s, filter by encryption, see signal strength, and more (XP Only)
- inSSIDer – Free Wi-Fi network scanner compatible with XP & Vista
- Vistumbler – Free, Open Source Wi-Fi network scanner compatible with Vista
- AirSnort – WEP key cracker (nix only)
- Kismet – Wireless detector and sniffer (nix only)
- NMAP – The ultimate scanning/probing tool.
- SNORT – The standard for intrusion detection.
- HPING – command-line oriented TCP/IP packet assembler/analyzer
- Ettercap – Tool suite for man in the middle attacks on LAN
- dSniff by Dugsong – Great collection of Auditing/Pen Testing tools
- Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer – Microsoft Baseline Analysis
- Nessus Vulneraility Scanner – THE network vulnerability scanner
- Cain & Abel – Password cracker and network info tool, use with caution
- NetCat – A swiss army knife network tool/scanner etc
For the most current list see my Diigo Firefox Extension list.
- AdBlock – It blocks most internet ads
- Download Them All – Faster downloads, an essential add-on
- FlashBlock – Prevents annoying flash elements from auto-playing, very nice
- Xmarks – Keep bookmarks automatically synced between multiple computers
- Personal Menu – replaces the standard menu bar with a customizable drop-down menu
- Mozilla Ubiquity – The Ultimate Killer WebApp
- ForecastFox – Compact weather toolbar powered by AccuWeather©
- PDF Download – Allows you to download PDF without automatically opening the file
- Fire Gestures – Navigate the web with your mouse, great add-on
- Download StatusBar – View download progress in status bar, very useful
- Stylish – Great for improving and tweaking FF interface, after install start here http://bit.ly/rVDsr
- Nuke Anything – Allow hiding of almost anything, for example before printing, via context menu “Remove Object”
- Site Advisor – McAfee’s Site Advisor provides link ratings on search results to protect you from potentially malicious sites
- NoScript – Prevents a website from running a script unless you specifically allow the script, makes Firefox safer
- Better Gmail – Collection of UI tweaks for Gmail
- Better GCal – Collection of UI tweaks for Google Calendar
- Better GReader – Collection of UI tweaks for Google Reader
- Shareaholic – Makes it easy to submit content to multiple social sites.
- EventComb – This is a great MS utility for parsing event logs and looking for patterns in error messages
- PhotoStory 3 – Free app from MS that you can do amazing photo shows, panning, narration, music, the works
- XP AntiSpy – Utility that lets you disable some built-in update and authentication “features” in XP, great tweaker for XP
- WinTime Agent – Network Time problems? this is your salvation, highly recommended, server & client functions
- WinMerge – Folder comparison tool, great when backing up files, or syncing often changing folders
- Nlite – Excellent software for slip-streaming Service Packs & creating unattended installations
- VisionApp RemoteDesktop – Manage Multiple RDP sessions and credentials, req free registration
- Irfanview – A wonderful, fast, compact image file editor. Try it… you’ll love it
- Revo Uninstaller – The best app uninstaller on the planet. 5 star recommendation
- Launchy – An excellent keystroke app launcher to replace icons and menu trees
- doPDF – PDF converter/virtual printer, quick and easy
- File Recovery – An excellent file recovery software from Soft Perfect
- MagicISO – Virtual CD-ROM that allows you to mount/create/edit ISOs
- Truecrypt – Disk/Volume encryption software, very good, easy, and secure
- ImgBurn – Free CD/DVD software that supports ISO files
- FastStone Photo Resizer – Image converter/re-sizer that provides great batch functions
- SyncBack Freeware – Very robust backup and sync software
- Outlook Attachment Remover – Excellent attachment pruning tool, great for reducing pst size
- Health Monitor – Free and powerful Windows system monitoring tool
- Free Media Converter – A great utility for converting video and audio formats
- Log Parser – A great windows log parsing utility CLI only see, add Log Lizard for Gui
- Log Parser Lizard – An excellent GUI front end for Log Parser
- JavaRa – Detect & Uninstall old versions of Java
- Flash Player Uninstaller – Detect & Uninstall old versions of Adobe Flash
- Display Fusion – Fantastic multiple display manager