User:Jestermeister/Seed

Some of the tools listed in this page can be useful for troubleshooting windows related problems.

They are divided into three types. Standalone tools are executables that can run without the need of any installations. Standalone Commandline can only be executed from commandline (Command prompt). Installable tools require installation on the PC.

A star was placed beside Process Explorer and Process Monitor as I feel that no matter what kind of troubleshooter you are, you will surely find them very useful at some point of your life.

I have written a document on Process Explorer, documenting on its use to troubleshoot memory leaks and CPU usage problems.

Dependency Walker
http://www.dependencywalker.com

Modules, DLL, OCX, SYS, EXE

Dependency walker is a free utility that scans any windows module and build a tree diagram of all the dependent modules. This tool is useful for troubleshooting system errors related to loading and executing modules. Missing modules, import/export mismatches, circular dependency errors, mismatched machine types of modules and module initialization failures.

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Process Explorer *
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb545027.aspx

Process, Activity, DLL, Handles, Memory Leak, Task Manager

Process Explorer has a user interface that is similar to the Task Manager. The CPU and memory usage of each process can be charted out. You can see all the DLLs or Handles related to each and every individual process. It can also be used to track down DLL-version problems and Handle leaks.

This document here provides some information on using Process Explorer to troubleshoot Memory Leaks and High CPU Usage.

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Process Monitor *
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb545027.aspx

Process, Process, DLL, Kernel, Thread, File-system, read, write, Registry, Thread, Boot logging, Activity

Real-time monitoring and logging of window's activity. Things that are monitored includes process details, thread activity, File system read and write operations, Registry read and write operations. Boot time logging included.

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SnoopyPro
http://sourceforge.net/projects/usbsnoop/

USB, Device, Sniffer, transfer, dump

Logs the USB data transferred between two devices.

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Restoration
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html]

Undelete, Recycle bin, undelete

Files that are directly deleted from recycling bin or by software (including Windows) will still reside in the system's memory. If this application is executed promptly, one can still retrieve back these files.

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Elevate
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc162321.aspx

sudo, elevation, administrator, Run As

Acts like "sudo" in Linux. Allows user to do a "Run as Administrator" from the command line.

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PsInfo
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb545027.aspx

Software, Hotfix

Shows all software and hotfixes installed on system.

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Devcon (Device Console)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272

Device Management, Plug and Play, Hardware

Devcon in short will be: Device management on the command-line. It can manipulate drivers, gather information on printer and printer ports, as well as other information on other installed devices.

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Total Uninstall
http://www.martau.com

File System, Registry, Monitor, Uninstall, Analyze

SHAREWARE. VERSION 3 is FREEWARE. Total Uninstall can monitor an installation's before and after state. It works by monitoring a system's files and registry keys. By taking a snapshot before the installation and one after the installation, this program can work out the installed/deleted files and registry keys. The results will be mapped out in a tree.

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USB Monitor
http://www.tucows.com/preview/332433

USB, Device, Sniffer, transfer, dump

SHAREWARE. This tool can capture the data transfer between two devices. The user interface and advanced feature makes this tool more superior to SnoopyPro, otherwise SnoopyPro is more lightweight.

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Wireshark
http://www.wireshark.org

Network packets, NW protocol analyzer, data transfer, TCP/IP, UDP, dump

FREEWARE. This application do a real-time capture of all network packets being transfer to and fro from the system running this application. Also known as a packet sniffer, one should be careful with the use of this tool as so not to violate company's network policy.

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Winmerge
http://winmerge.org

Compare, Difference, Merge, Changes

FREEWARE. WinMerge allows one to make comparisons on folders and individual files.

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Registry Workshop
http://www.torchsoft.com/en/rw_information.html

Registry, REG

SHAREWARE. Registry Workshop is an advanced Registry editor. It can backup, restore the registry. You can make searches to it and save the results. This tool can allow you to compare registry entries as well. It can also edit REG files.

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Unlocker
http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker

File locking, read, write, access, interceding update

FREEWARE. File locking prevents files from being deleted and/or overwritten. This tool can allow one to gain access of a file that is being held up.

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