best troubleshooting tools

**natcom** · March 8th, 2004, 11:06 PM

wich one do you people think are the best troubleshooting tools for hardwarez and softwarez please post links to then if any thanks.

**craigmodius** · March 9th, 2004, 07:01 AM

not trying to be a wiseass, but...

1) your brain

2) google

3) eventid.net if you're talking about NT/2k/XP

**natcom** · March 9th, 2004, 12:16 PM

Im really sorry what I really mean was diagnostics software are they any good ones out there?

**meatwad** · March 9th, 2004, 12:21 PM

Originally Posted by natcom

Im really sorry what I really mean was diagnostics software are they any good ones out there?

To diagnose what? There are easily dozens if not hundreds.

**natcom** · March 9th, 2004, 12:47 PM

Software and hardware programs like Norton utility 2004 among many out there are the type of programs im looking for

**meatwad** · March 9th, 2004, 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by natcom

Software and hardware programs like Norton utility 2004 among many out there are the type of programs im looking for

-Goldmem to test memory.
-IBM Drive fitness and usually whatever utility the manufacturer provides for hard drives
-The MS bundled disk defragmenter
-Ad-Aware6, Hijack This, and CW Shredder for spyware.
-Kaspersky's AntiVirus for virus detection and removal.

**deseqer** · March 9th, 2004, 04:07 PM

Originally Posted by craigmodius

3) eventid.net if you're talking about NT/2k/XP

this place has helped me out alot of times.

**bookmarkmns** · March 9th, 2004, 05:33 PM

Originally Posted by deseqer

this place has helped me out alot of times.

Here goes
Microscope for hardware
All the aboveI've used and think excellent
System suite V-Comm once got me out of a mess.
WinGuides registry mechanic works well
Winguides Tweak Manager intersting but not diagnostic.
Systemworks on disk but not installed is useful in the toolbag.
Drive Image and Partition magic, now Symantec make life easier.

**riddellcomp** · March 9th, 2004, 08:12 PM

Try these...

Tufftest Pro.
A bootable disc that allows you to test your drives, memory, ports etc.

Ultimate boot disc
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
You need the Ultimate Boot CD if you want to:

Run floppy-based diagnostic tools from CDROM drives. More and more PCs are shipped without floppy drives these days, and it is such a royal pain when you need to run diagnostic tools on them.
Free yourself from the slow loading speed of the floppy drive. Even if you do have a floppy drive, it is still much much faster to run your diagnostic tools from the CDROM drive, rather than wait for the tool to load from the floppy drive.
Consolidate as many diagnostic tools as possible into one bootable CD. Wouldn't you like to avoid digging into the dusty box to look for the right floppy disk, but simply run them all from a single CD? Then the Ultimate Boot CD is for you!

It has Sh*% load of tools already included with the disc that you would find useful.

I also use this

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

PE Builder (works great on NTFS partitions.)
What is BartPE and PE Builder?

Bart's PE Builder helps you build a "BartPE" (Bart Preinstalled Environment) bootable Windows CD-Rom or DVD from the original Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installation/setup CD, very suitable for PC maintenance tasks.

It will give you a complete Win32 environment with network support, a graphical user interface (800x600) and FAT/NTFS/CDFS filesystem support. Very handy for burn-in testing systems with no OS, rescuing files to a network share, virus scan and so on.
This will replace any Dos bootdisk in no time!

**nunob** · March 9th, 2004, 08:28 PM

I have to agree with ridellcomp on the Bart's PE Builder it works great and for virus removal I like the free sysclean utility from Trend Micro and for spyware try Spybot S&D, Hijack This, and Adaware6. For file recovery I use Ontracks Easy Recovery Pro 6.

**PolderTech** · March 10th, 2004, 06:37 AM

Natcom,
Perhaps not the 'best' but very helpful: Sandra from www.SiSoftware.co.uk.

**ErSammmy1** · March 10th, 2004, 11:48 AM

I like to use:
http://www.experts-exchange.com
Technet
Google to find any tool that you could ever need
EventID

**Hippie_Tech** · March 10th, 2004, 01:40 PM

BartsPE

Preinstalled Environment for Windows systems. Creates a CD with a multitude of plug-ins (anything from anti-virus plugins to CD burning plugins). Loads an environment to allow you to access Windows when even Safe Mode or Last Known Good won't work. Will even let you connect to the network with another plugin. Haven't had a chance to use it much yet (just discovered it), but it works as advertised and is great.

BartsPE

**bookmarkmns** · March 10th, 2004, 05:22 PM

Experts excellent
Barts PE new to me, Thanks for this one
EventID excellent
Knowledge base - and TechNet - no contest!
So why post again?
First I guess I read the post as quite general, Norton Systemworks type programs and secondly to say how much you can learn of this site and forum!
Is there a good Windows based system diagnostic program still. I found NSW 2003/4 irrelvant.