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No power user runs Windows with just stock settings; the plethora of third-party PC utilities is an embarrassment of riches. But what about Microsoft's own contributions? Tools like SyncToy and Pro Photos are pretty well known, but there's actually a wealth of advanced tools buried in the Sysinternals section of Microsoft's Technet site for IT professionals.
The Sysinternals site hosts some of the most powerful Windows utilities you can find. Yet surprisingly, not too many people know about them, since TechNet is primarily a System Administrator resource. Whether you're looking for more powerful ways to find out what's under the hood of Windows, need help creating VHD images for use with virtualization hosts, or just wanting to play a joke on your co-workers, these little-known utilities have you covered. We cherry pick and go over the features of the ten most useful Sysinternals tools, and then show you the best of the rest. Read on to dive into this awesome stash of Microsoft-sanctioned tools and tweakers for Windows XP, Vista, and 7!
What's going on when you start your system or run a particular Window program? Process Explorer knows. This tool enables you see the interaction between Windows programs, components, and programs.
To get information about any program, double-click it to open a multi-tabbed properties sheet. How much CPU time and I/O is the program using? Click the Performance Graph tab to find out.
Other tabs reveal process threads, security settings, environment settings, and file (Image) information, TCP and UDP ports used, and additional performance details.
Use the menus to customize color highlighting, select how much information to display, and to search for particular handles or DLL files. Process Explorer provides an unparalleled "inside view" of your system.
Download Process Explorer here!
No matter how fast your computer, Windows services and startup programs help slow it down at boot time. Autoruns digs far deeper than Windows MSConfig to show you exactly what's running when you start your computer.
The default Everything tab shows you every startup program and service. To help you manage what's going on in a more digestible fashion, use the tabs to view specific items: Logon, Explorer, Internet Explorer, Scheduled Tasks, Services, Drivers, Winsock Providers, Print Monitors, LSA Providers, Network Providers, Sidebar Gadgets, Codecs, Boot Execute, Image Hijacks, AppInit, KnownDLLs, and Winlogon.
By default, Autoruns in limited access mode, even for administrators. If you want to enable or disable an option, you might see an Access is Denied error message. Click Run as Administrator, and after Autoruns restarts, make your change.
You can use Autoruns to clear away a lot of startup clutter (for example, if you're running a proprietary print monitor for a printer you don't have installed anymore). However, be wary of seemingly "duplicate" entries. For example, in the KnownDLLs tab on a 64-bit system, you will see the same DLL name in two places: the System32 folder and the Syswow64 folder. Don't disable them!
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SantanaPanero
December 11, 2009 at 11:34pm
You forgot PS_Shoutdown !!!
the EASY way to tell a windows machine to shutdown after X minutes, hours, etc,....
Hg Dragon
December 11, 2009 at 3:16pm
After going 'round-and-'round with one too many person at our locations about restarting their PC's like they should be doing, we installed BGInfo on every box. Now they can't say, "We restarted it like 5 times already!" when we ask them to restart again since we can show them that "Actually, you haven't restarted the terminal in two months."
It also ended up helping us out on disk space issues when our one of our apps would freak out and start filling the hard drive. We would know when it started becasue they would go from 30GB free space to 300MB in a week.We don't have to walk them through running an ipconfig either to find out which station we need to look at since each location refers to their terminals in a different way than any other location. What they call "Register 1" might me "Station 8" ont the network and no amount of coaching will get them to change it. Since the IP is now embedded on the desktop thanks to BGInfo, they simply have to look at that.
Leo Scott
December 11, 2009 at 12:06pm
If you go to the utilities index there is a link to get ALL the utilities in one file. Much easier.
nekollx
December 11, 2009 at 11:14am
don't you need like a $300 subscribption to get these off tech net though?
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popstop785
December 11, 2009 at 10:01am
I've always been fond of the wallpaper changer in XP as well as the BSoD screensaver. :D
franktank
December 10, 2009 at 10:03pm
I'm a professional IT guy so maybe I've had more reason to use these utils more than other max pc readers.
if this is unknow maybe you should write an article covering all the sysinternals stuff. You can run most if not all of the tools directly from the website now.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx
StahnAileron
December 10, 2009 at 8:16pm
Couldn't you just define a PATH in the start-up config to point to a folder if you wanted the programs in their folder for commandline function? I would guess if you're using these on a regular basis, you'd be a heavy power user and that'd be the most elegant fix.
HeartBurnKid
December 11, 2009 at 8:15am
I just put PSTools into its own directory, then added that directory to the PATH environment variable in the System control panel. It works much, much better that way; easier to keep it up to date.
frewster
December 10, 2009 at 7:53pm
I had never heard of any of these programs before, and they all seem to be very useful! Good job!
