Category: Tools

Cross-Platform Flowchart Application a la Visio
article #1150, updated 6 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 32 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 32 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 96 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 105 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 175 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 209 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 215 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 230 days ago

This one works very well:

www.iplocation.net/ip-lookup

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Fix DISM/SFC errors with SFCFix
article #1539, updated 273 days ago

Interesting tool by an interesting community.

www.sysnative.com/forums/downloads/sfcfix/

And they have volunteers to help, with another interesting tool which does fixes as well:

www.sysnative.com/forums/threads/windows-update-forum-posting-instructions.4736/

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