Category: Tools

Automatically Resize Windows in Windows with AutoSizer
article #1583, updated 3 days ago

AutoSizer:

www.southbaypc.com/AutoSizer/

really works remarkably well. Rather helpful if you bring up ticket note windows or anything else over and over again which need resizing. It repositions and maximizes as desired too. By default it runs by window class (my own preference!) but can address windows by title as well. Sits in the Windows tray nice and quietly and does its job. Lovely!

Newly updated as of this writing, I’m running it on Windows 11.

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Cross-Platform Flowchart Application a la Visio
article #1150, updated 16 days ago

My favorite by far is draw.io. Online:

app.diagrams.net/

or cross-platform installable:

github.com/jgraph/drawio-desktop/releases/

Two more I have used:

http://www.yworks.com/products/yed

https://www.calligra.org/flow/

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Windows PE / 10PE / LiveCD / Boot CD / USB for PC Repair and Hardware Testing
article #1013, updated 43 days ago

Many old friends, e.g. Hiren’s and UBCD4Win, are no longer in development, and do not boot on quite a lot of newer hardware; for a while there was no clear replacement. But there is Medicat, which is Linux-based:

gbatemp.net/threads/medicat-usb-a-multiboot-linux-usb-for-pc-repair.361577/

and there is a new Hiren’s renaissance:

www.hirensbootcd.org

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Windows password reset tool
article #1546, updated 43 days ago

There is a renaissance of Hiren’s Boot CD, called Hiren’s Boot CD PE:

https://www.hirensbootcd.org

Today (2024-02-12) my up-to-date Lazesoft could not reset a Windows password, but when I booted into the above, loaded drivers using the embedded Lazesoft, and then reset the password using the NT password edit/reset tool, it worked. There’s also a way to build the bootable with custom driver additions.

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Test files and URLs for viruses
article #1573, updated 106 days ago

This very nice tool will download an executable from a web site and test it for bad actor behavior.

www.virustotal.com/

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Check web sites for active infections, via sandbox analysis
article #1569, updated 115 days ago

This tool does the job, it uses Crowdstrike and other major-player tools:

www.hybrid-analysis.com

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Windows cleanup, fixup, and performance with PrivaZer
article #1554, updated 185 days ago

This tool:

privazer.com/en/

has privacy-related cleanup as its first purpose, but it does a more thorough cleanup of many parts of the Windows filesystem than I’ve seen anywhere else, including $MFT, $LogFile, and USN entries to name just three. It really has to be seen to be believed and understood, it gives you lists of what it did and they are extraordinary. It is not an OS optimizer, but it’s such a good cleaner that it will free up resources very significantly towards performance and issue elimination.

One thing good to do while running it, is to uncheck “Traces in free space”. This item is great for trace removal of all sorts, but it’s not needed when the goal is just general system upkeep, and it does take a long time.

You can definitely use the machine while cleanup is running, but probably should set process priority to “Low”, there’s a clicklink for this near the bottom, middle-left.

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Forensic drive data extraction: free imager, cross-platform
article #1551, updated 219 days ago

Highly recommended by the indefatigable Bruce Blackman:

www.geeksforgeeks.org/how-to-create-a-forensic-image-with-ftk-imager/

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WIM utilities
article #1548, updated 225 days ago

See:

wimlib.net

Amazing piece of work. wimverify may be immediately useful if you are using WIMs.

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GeoIP (Geolocation) lookup of servers on the Internet
article #1545, updated 240 days ago

This one works very well:

www.iplocation.net/ip-lookup

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