IT Tool Kit

Software, Web Sites and Documents

Over time I visit various web sites for documents, references, or software as needed. Using Xmarks, my bookmarks follow me from system to system, and a plethora of USB sticks provide access to boot disks and other software. For my colleagues and others, here’s a breakdown of the tools I use.

Top 10

What I consider, at this time, to be the top 10 most referenced, used, or critical items:

  1. Microsoft Security Essentials – Virus, spyware and malware for Windows use, no spam, no toolbars installed (I’m looking at you AVG). The first piece of software installed on a new or cleaned system.
  2. TeamViewer – Multi-platform remote view and control tool
  3. DBAN  (Darik’s Boot and Nuke ) – Hard disk eraser which  allows for wiping drives prior to resell and disposal
  4. UBCD (Ultimate Boot CD) – 100+ tools on a CD or USB bootable media
  5. Putty – The free SSH/Telnet Client for Windows
  6. VirtualBox – Free x86 virtualization for Windows, OS X, and Linux
  7. HijackThis – Quick spyware tool #2, used to catch things the others don’t
  8. SUPERAntiSpyware – Spyware/malware checker #3, yet more defense in depth
  9. DropBox – Synced storage across multiple systems and via the web
  10. FireFox or Google Chrome – Alternate browsers when Internet Explorer or Safari don’t quite cut it

Microsoft Windows

Let’s face it. Microsoft Windows has the largest install base, and with that comes a whole bunch of tools needed to debug and troubleshoot. In no particular order:

  1. ImgBurn – Lightweight tool to burn ISO images and data to CD and DVDs. Much less overhead than others (I’m looking at you Nero).

Apple OS X

With it’s UNIX underpinnings, OS X actually comes with a bunch of tools by default. Most of these are simply ones I use to enhance the OS X experience:

  1. Growl – On-screen and network based notification utility

Development

With a couple scripting languages and an IDE, even if a tool doesn’t exist, you can create it yourself!

  1. Eclipse – I know, it’s Java-based. However, being cross-platform it suites my infrequent development tasks. Plugins for PHP, Pythin, Perl, etc. beyond the fully featured Java development environment.

Networking & Security

These tools are the core for troubleshooting or protecting networks:

  1. Wireshark – Packet capture and protocol analyzer. I’m still amazed at how powerful this free tool is compared to the expensive offerings out there.
  2. pfSense – My favorite free embedded, virtual or PC firewall.
  3. GNS3 – The best tool to mock up Cisco networks. Also a great tool for certification study.