Resources, Articles, Guides & Tools
Free Windows Operating System Support Tools
Whether you are a automotive mechanic or a top IT professional, you
need to have the right tools for the job. Unlike an automotive mechanic
you won’t have to spend tens of thousands of your hard earned
dollars on the tools you need. The basic tools you need for IT and PC
support duties on the Windows operating system, are free to download
from CNET.com. Below are but a few examples:
HwiNFO32
One of the first things you need to determine in any type of support
operation is what the machine you will be working on is made of. HwiNFO32
is a hardware recognition utility that will provide you with
all the specs and information you need, and then some; from what type of
CPU it has to hardware performance parameters.
Ccleaner
A very common support tasks is cleaning the system of unused files
and invalid registry entries, providing for more available disk space
and faster overall performance. Ccleaner will do an excellent job at
that as well as totally cleaning out the browser history and even
uninstalling applications.
Recuva
Often times you will be in a situation where you need to recover lost
or deleted files. Recuva was developed for just that purpose. It has a
simple to use wizard type interface and can restore all types of files
from simple text documents to videos, and everything else in between.
You can restore files from removable disks and thumb drives as well as
restore files that were deleted by viruses and crashes.
Defraggler
When a computer system is running slow a disk defragmentation tool
should help speed things up quite a bit. When a computer file is created
it is broken up into pieces and spread out throughout the systems hard
drive. When the file needs to be retrieved it needs to be pieced back
together. Defraggler will basically line up all the pieces together
making the system perform better. It has an easy to use interface that
allows you to pick and chose either various files and folders to
defragment or the entire drive. You are also allowed to determine where
on the drive you would like to store particular files, as well as
scheduling the procedures to take place in the background as it can take
quite some time to perform.
7-Zip
Many support tasks will require the use of compressed or “zip” files.
Compressing the files allows them to be transferred more rapidly and
take up less space. 7-Zip will provide no nonsense no frills compression
and decompression capability that should suit the needs of almost
everyone.
FileZilla
The necessity to transfer files to or from an FTP site or server will
undoubtedly arise at some point. File transfer protocol has become the
staple method of delivering patches, drivers and hot fixes. Filezilla
enables you to perform these tasks with ease.
Almost everyone will find themselves tasked with some sort of
computer problem. For the IT support professionals or just the average
do it yourselfers there are some tools you just can’t do without, and
some cases they just happen to be free.
