Free Utilities for Windows: Sysinternals

A set of free and unique tools for Windows since XP, offered by Microsoft. Some also operate on older versions.

Desktop

BgInfo
Display system information on the Windows desktop: free disk space, CPU utilization, and so on. It consumes few resources. The image at right is just a small subset of the infos displayed.

ZoomIt
Magnyfying glass. The use must start with the configuration of function keys.

Startup

Autoruns
GUI to configure programs launched at Windows startup.

Programming

DebugView
Allows viewing debugging information on a local machine or on a network. Graphics and all systems.

Hex2dec
Converts hexadeximal numbers in decimal.

Security

AccessChk
Shows what kind of accesses will be made on the resources (files and so on).

AccessEnum
Indicates who (administrator, user) has access to directories and content of the registry. Graphics.

RootkitRevealer
Detects viruses in the registry.

SDelete
Secured delete erase files so they can neither be recovered nor the hard drive scanned for their content.

System and files

Diskmon
Displays disk drives activity.

DiskView
Displays graphically the physical location of files on a hard disk.

DU
Displays, for a given directory, the number of files and the used space.

Handle
Indicates files which are used by active programs, and which processes are active.

NtfsInfo
Information on an NTFS volume, or about the directory and in what form it is stored.

ProcessExplorer
Graphical interface designed to display the current process and system activity.

ProcessMonitor
Brings together in a single interface several older system software, and runs on all modern versions of Windows. It displays processes and software in progress and help to track down malware.
It allows you to edit the registry and so replaces regmon.

ProcFeatures
Displays the name and characteristics of the processor, such as support for 3D Now, SSE ...

VolumeId
Change the ID of a FAT or NTFS volume (whereas label changes its name). Take effects only after reboot.

WinObj
Management of objects, for administrators.

Files

Strings
Converts files containing unicode characters to code illegible for common text editors.

Sync
Empty buffers and closes files being written, to secure eject a removable drive.

Local and network (Windows)

These tools work for the local system, but you can specify a remote Windows machine. Do not therefore operate on a Linux server.

Portmon
Management of serial and parallel ports.

PsExec
Replacement for Telnet to perform procedures on a remote machine.

PsFile
Watch on remote files open and allows to close them.

PsInfo
Provides information on a local or remote Windows system.

PsPasswd
Change password, for administrators.

PsShutdown
Shuts down the computer or restarts it.

Network and Internet

ShareEnum
Detects domain of users of shared files.

TcpView
Watch ongoing connections and allows them to be closed.

WhoIs
Displays the whois for a domain name or IP address.

Other tools

Other tools are also included that have a more specialized purpose. This article does not describe programs used only on older versions of Windows or working only on the server version of Windows, see the link above for more.