what free software utilities are a must have?

[computerABUSER]

Hey!
It seems that only a select few people seem to know what to use or should I say not to use on a (home) computer so what would you say would be a must have as far as making a

"CD" to have with you for the purpose of taking with you to a friends house to troubleshoot it for the typical problems that people always will have.

I know of 'Ad-Aware' and 'Search n Destroy' and of course the beloved 'Firefox' but are there any other ones that you would recommend? Thanks for your input.

Regards,
CA

 

[BlueWeasel]

Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows
You can boot XP entirely off a CD and it has spyware/AV, burning, and many more applications.

Other apps:
SpywareBlaster
CrapCleaner
Antivir antivirus
MS Antispyware
Autopatcher (for all the latest XP patches rolled into one)

 

[lozina]

fdisk
format

will solve any problems!

 

[nweaver]

linux live cd...good for recovering files, and verifing it's not a H/W problem

imaging app (I use the rdeploy app from altiris) to image a drive prior to major mucking.

 

[Fern]

Some I like/use:

1) memtest86 (+)
2) Everest Home edition or some sort of similar freeware
3) MBM5, or something else for newer mobo's so I can read the voltage rails and temps w/o going into BIOS

If it is a gaming rig I'd prolly take along 3DMark05 or something similar (Aquamark).

Maybe Sissoft Sandra. Sometimes the performance wizard can point out useful stuff

Fern

 

[MangoTBG]

WinPooch, Nixory and Clamwin are all opensource programs.

Winpooch is an antispyware and antitrojan program. Here.
Nixory is an antispyware program for firefox. Here.
Clamwin is an antivirus program. Here.

 

[FOBSIDE]

When I was doing onsite work for client, I always carried Windows Service Packs. After a while the programs get updated too quickly for CDs and I used a USB pen drive most of the time. I carried the latest copy of Stinger, 7-Zip, and various anti-spyware programs. I carried around readers for common file types too, because a lot of times people's problems were that they just couldn't read files properly.

 

[FOBSIDE]

I almost forgot about WinPatrol and HijackThis!, which are great for looking at startup items. Spyware items are often found in the startup items. It's also a great way to turn off the items that start up that aren't necessary, like QuickTime, Real Player, and Office. WinPatrol has an interface that names some of the programs a little better than msconfig, but be careful. Removing the wrong startup item is bad news.