Here’s some of the software I use on a day to day basis.
Just because I love these tools, doesn’t mean you will. I’ll discuss what I use and why.
Avast
Avast is a great all-around anti-virus tool. It’s simple enough for most end-users to setup in a few minutes.
Once downloaded and installed, I like to merge the two icons and disable the animation. I find that the spinning globe is quite distracting.
It needs to be registered within, I think, 30 days before it stops working. That’s okay, you can register for free on the website to get a license that will be good for a year. At that time you need to obtain another (free) license key. Note that the free version is only for home, non-commercial use. It updates itself, scans in the background and stays out of the way. It’s so good at blending in that sometimes I get worried and – don’t laugh – check to make sure it’s still up to date and running properly.
The Piriform Suite
Aah. These are software architects that, if I had any extra, I’d donate money to. They make great software, including a defrag utility that can run on a schedule, an un-erase utility, a “crap cleaner,”.. you get the idea. PC housekeeping utilities that blow the competition away. It’s all free.
The Sysinternals Suite
This is an invaluable set of tools. Not for the feint of heart, most of them are advanced enough that the average joe who uses their computer at home for web browsing or email would probably not get much value from them. For an IT technician, though, these are fantastic. For example, when users complain about their computers being slow, once it’s been given the obvious treatment- malware scans, defrag, etc.. if the problem persists, I take it to the next level. This is it.
It has tools that, for example, monitor file activity. Opening, closing, editing. You can filter out specific processes or paths. This can be great for trying to figure out why the computer runs fine except for one application. There are many other tools, all very well thought out, focussed, and they don’t leave you with that “unfinished” feeling. Oh, no, they’ve been written well and are very clearly for techs who are ready to get their hands dirty. Love it.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx
Acronis
Acronis makes disk manipulation utilities. Specifically, I am experimenting with a product called True Image Echo Workstation. I think the name’s too long but the product seems to work well. I don’t have a whole lot of experience with disk cloning utilities so, I’ll just finish by saying this may or may not be a great utility, but it’s good enough for me.
Steve Gibson’s SpinRite
Okay, this one is a must have. For $70USD the ROI is just silly. Ever had a drive fail? This will bring it back. Almost every time, period. The licensing is one license per hard-drive (I think- please check.), however those of you who have lost your data know this is nothing. Please, if you lose data or your hard drive dies, give this product a try. It’s written in assembly and is small enough to email. It’s ridiculously efficient, can be stored and run from almost any medium (haven’t tried USB booting but it’s supposed to work fine.)
I can’t rate it highly enough, it’s saved me a number of times. Check out Steve Gibson’s other products, he’s the author of ShieldsUP!
Originally posted 2009-03-10 14:31:32.
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