Computer ITs, What are your favorite 5 utility programs?

Question

I've worked on many friends computers and I'm always looking for a better or easier way to do things. The same diversity that makes computers so great can make it very difficult to sort through all the programs in existence to find one that suits your needs. There is more ways to do the same thing, after all.

I ask that you list your top 5 favorite utility programs or CD boot diagnostics sets. Remember that programs and hardware are virtually the same in a sense so I guess you can include utility hardware also. Please give a brief explanation why you picked your selection. This will help me understand and for others who happen to drop in on this one as well.

Here is my top 5.
1.) Spinrite 6 (A lifesaver when the HDD gives up and saves you money in situations when the HDD is completely dead)
2.) Acronis True Image 10 (Turns a few days of installing, changing settings, and everything into a 15 minute coffee break if you ever need to reformat)
3.) Bart PE (Recently discovered this swiss army knife)
4.) Memtest86 and Memtest86+ (when random errors drive you mad this is the guy to call)
5.) FPORT (I don't know any sniffer programs so I use this when an unknown bit of software just doesn't want to be detected)

Other good candidates are:
Advatrack-to get stolen computers back
CCleaner
Cleanup!
ProcessViewer-better than task manager!
TweakUI-Beats the piss out of playing with the registry yourself!
Coyote Linux-Turn an old PC into a firewall with big features.
Linux in general-Beats the pants off of the other guys. Apple likes them so much they even changed their code to mimic it. Yeah, and Microsoft just makes Vista not practical!

Serenity, as always I enjoy your inputs. I'm very surprised as to how much you know about a lot of these programs!

Anyway, I have to add to this list one more utility. The sad thing about this utility is that I've never used it. I've only discovered its existence today on a blog post. Its called "Autopatcher". Its basically a utility to get your Windows XP,2003, or Vista updates done offline. This was great for people that don't have internet or for those that have to update other peoples computers many times. Downloading each session is daunting and time consuming. This utility made life easier for many. Unfortunately Microsoft deemed it necessary to kill this project. So hats off to "Autopatcher" for a job well done and even though Microsoft killed the project and made the website remove its download page...the program is still floating around on the web and the latest updates were for August 2007.

Answer 1

1. Spinrite is huge! Everyone should have this puppy in their tool kit. The price for this utility is far less expensive than having to pay a file recovery service, or even the cost of the hard drive replacement. Even less technically savvy users can easily use this tool which is why it is the first on my list.

2. CCleaner--While a great little tool which does a lot for its size, it still leaves some garbage on the hard drive, so I use this in conjunction with my Windows Disk Clean utility built into the OS. One thing I really like about CCleaner is the Software Removal utility as it simply does a better job than Windows Add/Remove applet. It also shows up software that the Add/Remove applet fails to.

3. Bart's PE is way cool. It speaks for itself. However, it takes a tad more experiance to use.

4. WinXP Resource Kit utility/tools CD---Too much to discuss here, as it is filled with utilities I have yet to even be able to look at let alone use yet. Everyone should have this on hand. (Also in downloadable format which can be burned to your own CD/DVD as needed). These tools also take more experiance. My favorites are those which even lessor experinaced users can quicly learn to use. Any tool or utility which allows for lessor experianced users to quckly learn is high in my books, but some just have to be learned the hard way, through the school of hard knocks. These are well worth the effort and cover a great deal of ground.

5. ImgBurn--This little Image tool is a large CD/DVD writing tool but is a favorite because it is so simple for even the least experianced to create a bootable disk. The default settings are set so as to just point to an image file and it creates what you need automatically. It simply "knows" what you want it to do by the type of files you are burning. However, for those with more experiance there are tons of options to configure and utilize. Those who had much difficulty burning bootable CD/DVDs for OS installation, (The new Vista PE is fragile at best) found using this tool simple as pie! Everyone should have this and at the price, (free) it is easily attainable.

Now, my most favorite tool isn't actually a "tool" or Utility to to speak. It is the new Windows Home Server. This puppy rocks. It is a repository for all shared network files, including multimedia, automatically backs up every computer on the network nightly, but 'kows' to not copy data twice, or thrice, etc, by only copying simular system files once, not for each computer with the same OS. It also creates an image of each OS which can be used to retore a computer after a crash. There is also Remote Access. This means small home users will easily be able to access desktops of networked computers, and put up a website for family use. Files will be accessable anywhere in the world, from any computer or phone in the world.

Windows Home Server is mostly for those with little or no computer literacy, though it can be (and will, is actually) be used by anyone. It will be marketed to work "out of the box" preloaded in hardware configurations, or as a installable OS for more experianced users. This Server is a stripped down version of Windows Server 2003, but all the power is still there, under it all, for those who wish to peel away the service and use it. It can then be configured to work very much as a full service Server application. There are a few areas where certain features need to be left alone for concern of 'breaking" the Server. However, none of these makes it unworkable for more experinaced users.

I honestly think this Home Server will fully bring society into the twenty first century. Some users have already figured out how to stream media from the server across the net, though this was not the original intention of the programmers.

Anyway, sorry to go on, but this is exciting for me as I am one of those less experianced home users and this "tool" has offered me a method of expanding my understanding and knowlege of computer technology. This year I built my first two computers, burned my first bootable disks, installed my first OSs, etc. It is a blast to learn these things and have others ask ME for help instead of my having to be the one asking! lol Which is why I honestly think this Home Server will revolutionize Home Networks and help users more fully understand what they are using. Anything which so empowers people is a plus in my books.

Answer 2

That really hits my funny bone. Wife 1.0 can be over ridden with Divorce Battle 50/50, but this is an expensive program to purchase.