Some paths to useful tools on Windows.

March 11, 2013

Because I had to troubleshoot this weekend in total 2 notebooks (why not booting, unable to install Windows 7, etc.) I came across one useful tool that is able to log what is happening on startup (in case you are able to boot at least in safe mode) and that is :

msconfig

More on this tool here : http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/itdojo/monitor-windows-7-boot-logs-with-the-help-of-msconfig/3463

But that is not what I want to share here, its just how I got the list of tools. On the last Tools tab of his tools you can find nice list of tools that you can “extract” out as lets say shortcut on your desktop and thus speed up some tasks you do often. So here is the list :

Tool name Description Command
About Windows Display Windows version information C:\Windows\system32\winver.exe
Change UAC Settings Change User Account Control settings C:\Windows\System32\UserAccountControlSettings.exe
Action Center Open the Action Center C:\Windows\System32\wscui.cpl
Windows Troubleshooting Troubleshooting problems with your computer C:\Windows\System32\control.exe /name Microsoft.Troubleshooting
Computer Management View and configure system settings and components C:\Windows\System32\compmgmt.msc
System Information View advanced information about hardware and software settings C:\Windows\System32\msinfo32.exe
Event Viewer View monitoring and troubleshooting messages C:\Windows\System32\eventvwr.exe
Programs Launch, add and remove programs and Windows components C:\Windows\System32\appwiz.cpl
System Properties View basic information about your computer system settings C:\Windows\System32\control.exe system
Internet Options View internet properties C:\Windows\System32\inetcpl.cpl
Internet Protocol Configuration View and configure network address settings C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\system32\ipconfig.exe
Performance Monitor Monitor the performance of local or remote computers C:\Windows\System32\perfmon.exe
Resource Monitor Monitor the performance and resource usage of the local computer C:\Windows\System32\resmon.exe
Task Manager View details about programs and processes running on your computer C:\Windows\System32\taskmgr.exe /7
Command Prompt Open a command prompt window C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe
Registry Editor Make changes to the Windows registry C:\Windows\System32\regedt32.exe
Remote Assistance Receive help from (or offer help to) a friend over the Internet C:\Windows\System32\msra.exe
System Restore Restore your computer system to an earlier state C:\Windows\System32\rstrui.exe

In case you know about some more, please share.

Hope this helps.


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Written by Dušan Roštár - the "mr edge case" guy
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