Installer Packages |
| SysInternals – Autoruns, Process Explorer, & BGInfo startup registry editor, & IE lockdown |
| JKDefrag – JKDefrag Installer w/ Shortcuts |
| Network Tools – Bundled AngryIP, SoftPerfectScan, SuperScanner, TFTPD, Teraterm, & PuTTY |
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| Essentials for Every PC |
| Mozilla Firefox – The Best web browser (don’t forget the addons listed further down) |
| Ccleaner – Best temp file cleaner available, frequently updated |
| JKDefrag – The best defrag in an easy install format |
| 7zip – Open Source, free zip utility, faster w/ better compression (dump Winzip) |
| Foxit PDF Reader – This is faster, smaller, PDF Reader without the bloat of Acrobat. |
| CDBurnerXP – Excellent burning software, supports ISO image burning, good interface, small footprint, XP only |
| Irfanview – A wonderful, 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 |
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| Scumware Removal |
| ComboFix – If you have an infected PC start with ComboFix. UserGuide & Tutorial here http://tinyurl.com/2yct9u |
| Spyware Doctor by PCTools – Fast scans and great detection rates, link points to Google pack free version |
| Spyware Terminator – A good solid cleaner |
| Advanced Spware Removal – Lots of good tools, fast scans, and good detections |
| Spybot Search & Destroy – Powerful scumware cleaner that includes an immunizer, startup registry editor, & IE lockdown |
| Super Antispyware – Very nice spyware cleaner. |
| Hijack This 1.99.1 – Advanced cleaner, use with caution |
| LSPfix – Repairs damaged Winsock stacks |
| WinSockFix XP 1.2 – Repairs damaged Winsock stacks |
| Rootkit Revealer – Advanced rootkit revealer by Sysinternals that identifies discrepancies that may indicate a rookit infection |
| SmitFraudFix – Desktop/Homepage Hijacker Removal tool. Great tool |
| Spyware Blaster – a very good spyware prevention software |
| AntiMalware Toolkit – a toolkit that helps you download all the latest versions of several antispyware tools, very handy |
| MalwareBytes – one of the best antispyware cleaners available |
| BOClean – Comodo’s antispyware utility |
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| Clean/Shred |
| Ccleaner – Best temp file cleaner available, frequently updated |
| D.B.A.N. – Secure HD deletion, wipes entire HD |
| Eraser – Secure HD deletion, always highly rated. |
| SDelete – Secure file deletion via CLI |
| QuickClean – RMcCurdy.com’s quick temp file clean shredder based on Sdelete, for advanced users only |
| CyberShredder – Good freeware shredder, small and fast |
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| Info Tools |
| 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 – Great tool for displaying system info on the desktop, This is a direct link to my custom setup. See README.TXT |
| Autoruns – Great registry tool from Sysinternals, 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 |
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| SysInternals Utils |
| Process Explorer – Task Manager on Steriods, 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 Multitools 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 |
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| Network Tools |
| 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 |
| 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 |
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| Open Source Apps |
| 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! |
| TorPark – Portable Firefox version that uses the EFF’s anonymous browsing TOR technology |
| 7zip – Open Source, free zip utility, I recommend this over Winzip anyday |
| 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. |
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| Boot Tools |
| 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 |
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| HardDrive Tools |
| JKDefrag – Simple, small, excellent defrag software. This is my favorite but it is for purists only… |
| SmartDefrag – Robust defrag utility with great GUI and scheduling |
| TestDisk by CGSecurity – The only hard drive partition recovery utility you will ever need. |
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| Linux Live CD’s |
| 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 |
| Auditor – Linux distro that is primarily for security tasks |
| BackTrack – Another great Linux distro that is primarily for security tasks |
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| Wireless Tools |
| 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 SourceWi-Fi network scanner compatible with Vista |
| AirSnort – WEP key cracker (nix only) |
| Kismet – Wireless detector and sniffer (nix only) |
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| Security Tools |
| NMAP – The ultimate scanning/probing tool. |
| SNORT – The standard for intrustion 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 |
| Firewalker – Reconnaissance network security tool that attempts to determine what layer 4 protocols a given firewall will pass |
| Cain & Abel – Password cracker and network info tool, use with caution it is very powerful (your antivirus will detect this as a trojan) |
| NetCat – A swiss army knife network tool/scanner etc |
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| Mozilla Firefox Extensions |
| AdBlock – It blocks most internet ads |
| Download Them All – Faster downloads, an essential add-on |
| FlashBlock – Prevents annoying flash elements from autoplaying, very nice |
| Xmarks – Keep bookmarks automatically synched between multiple computers |
| Personal Menu – replaces the standard menu bar with a customizable dropdown menu |
| Bit.ly Preview – Mouseover previews of shortened URLs, very handy for Twitter.com |
| 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 |
| Download StatusBar – View download progress in status bar, very useful |
| Gestures – Perform browser functions with Mouse Gestures, very handy, you won’t know how you surfed without it |
| 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. |
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| Miscellaneous |
| CDBurnerXP – Excellent burning software, good interface, small footprint |
| EventComb – This is a great MS utility for parsing event logs and looking for patterns in error messages, available here as a standalone |
| WinRAR – Very good .zip and .rar program |
| Foxit PDF Reader – Say no to bloat, dump Acrobat. This is faster, smaller, and without the gunk of Acrobat. |
| 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 synching often changing folders |
| Nlite – Excellent software for slipstreaming 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 encrption software, very good, easy, and secure |
| InfraRecorder – Free CD/DVD burning software with excellent audio/data/ISO features. |
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| FastStone Photo Resizer – Image converter/resizer that provides great batch functions |
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| 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 |
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