These seven handy tools help you diagnose and cure a wide range of Windows ills, and they’re all free for the downloading

No computer runs perfectly forever. Somewhere along the line, something will go wrong. While each successive version of Windows has been that much more reliable and self-healing, that’s never been an argument to forgo a good collection of software tools.

Over the years I’ve accumulated a slew of third-party troubleshooting apps that have proven their value again and again, so much so that they’re among the very first programs installed in any system I use. If something goes wrong –a Blue Screen of Death, a slow-booting system, a recent program install that’s made everything slower than molasses going uphill in January — I turn to these tools to set things right. All of them are free for personal use, some are open source, and each of them deserves a place in the toolbox of the savvy Windows user.

[ There's no shortage of great free tools for Windows. See also "Top 10 Windows tools for IT pros" and "The best free open source software for Windows." ]

Sysinternals’s Process Explorer
“Task Manager on steroids” — that’s how someone describedProcess Explorer to me when Mark Russinovich first released it many years ago. It can replace Task Manager or run side by side with it, but either way it’s an absolute must-have for technically savvy users. I typically use it as the replacement for Task Manager on any PC I run; it’s just too handy not to have installed.

When you launch Process Explorer, you’ll see a tree view of processes; they’re nominally organized by which process spawned which, but you can click on the column headers to change the sorting as you please. The top portion of the window has four graphs: CPU usage, commit history, I/O bytes history, and physical memory history. Click on one to bring up a full-sized window view that’s akin to the Performance tab in Task Manager –but with a level of detail and insight into what programs are doing that Task Manager doesn’t even come close to providing.

Double-click on the name of a process, and up pops a window with a startling amount of detail: the process’s running threads (and the stack for each thread), which can be frozen or killed; its permissions; its network access; the program it was launched from; even a dump of text strings in either the on-disk program image or its copy in memory. Processes, or whole trees of them, can be killed off, frozen, resumed, or have their windows or priorities manipulated — handy if a process window vanishes behind something else and you need to force it to the front. You can also toggle on or off a lower pane that contains detailed information about a process, find the process for a particular window by pointing to it, or search by name for any running process, handle, or DLL.

Move over, Task Manager. Process Explorer can do everything you can do, and more.

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Source: www.infoworld.com

These seven handy tools help you diagnose and cure a wide range of Windows ills, and they’re all free for the downloading

No computer runs perfectly forever. Somewhere along the line, something will go wrong. While each successive version of Windows has been that much more reliable and self-healing, that’s never been an argument to forgo a good collection of software tools.

Over the years I’ve accumulated a slew of third-party troubleshooting apps that have proven their value again and again, so much so that they’re among the very first programs installed in any system I use. If something goes wrong –a Blue Screen of Death, a slow-booting system, a recent program install that’s made everything slower than molasses going uphill in January — I turn to these tools to set things right. All of them are free for personal use, some are open source, and each of them deserves a place in the toolbox of the savvy Windows user.

[ There's no shortage of great free tools for Windows. See also "Top 10 Windows tools for IT pros" and "The best free open source software for Windows." ]

Sysinternals’s Process Explorer
“Task Manager on steroids” — that’s how someone describedProcess Explorer to me when Mark Russinovich first released it many years ago. It can replace Task Manager or run side by side with it, but either way it’s an absolute must-have for technically savvy users. I typically use it as the replacement for Task Manager on any PC I run; it’s just too handy not to have installed.

When you launch Process Explorer, you’ll see a tree view of processes; they’re nominally organized by which process spawned which, but you can click on the column headers to change the sorting as you please. The top portion of the window has four graphs: CPU usage, commit history, I/O bytes history, and physical memory history. Click on one to bring up a full-sized window view that’s akin to the Performance tab in Task Manager –but with a level of detail and insight into what programs are doing that Task Manager doesn’t even come close to providing.

Double-click on the name of a process, and up pops a window with a startling amount of detail: the process’s running threads (and the stack for each thread), which can be frozen or killed; its permissions; its network access; the program it was launched from; even a dump of text strings in either the on-disk program image or its copy in memory. Processes, or whole trees of them, can be killed off, frozen, resumed, or have their windows or priorities manipulated — handy if a process window vanishes behind something else and you need to force it to the front. You can also toggle on or off a lower pane that contains detailed information about a process, find the process for a particular window by pointing to it, or search by name for any running process, handle, or DLL.

Move over, Task Manager. Process Explorer can do everything you can do, and more.

White Paper
Virtual Workforce: The Key to Expanding The Business While Cutting Costs

Get the independent advice and expertise you need to support a virtual workforce.

Go inside:
The three-step approach to making a virtual workforce a reality.
The four flavors of client virtualization technologies.
The three key initiatives that solve IT challenges.
Download now

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Addressing Linux Threats Leveraging Fewer Resources

The increase in Linux popularity has increased the frequency and sophistication of malware attacks. Read this 2 page white paper now to learn how you can protect your Linux environment with real-time protection that is certified by all major Linux vendors.

Download now

White Paper
The 2009 Handbook of Application Delivery

Ensuring acceptable application delivery will become even more difficult over the next few years. As a result, IT organizations need to ensure that the approach that they take to resolving the current application delivery challenges can scale to support the emerging challenges. This handbook elaborates on the key tasks associated with planning, optimization, management and control and provides decision criteria to help IT organizations choose appropriate solutions.

Download now

White Paper
Mid-range Storage Considerations

A common misconception is that mid-range storage requirements are dramatically different than that of a larger enterprise. Mid-range storage users may require less capacity, but they have similar functionality and management requirements. This ESG paper examines mid-range storage needs and reviews a new solution that adjusts size while retaining value, performance and functionality.

Download now

Source: www.infoworld.com