Computer Technician Tools tips/discussion?

[Supatitanman]

Goood afternoon gents- haven't posted in this section in years! Not since high school probably years ago. Now I'm a computer tech working for a private company in New York--going to school for political science.

Now this thread is for specifically computer techs but if you know better please don't hesitate to post.

*and we are not a small mom & pop shop either* the company I work for takes care of small-medium sized business, all sorts of professionals and as well as residents *sorry I'd rather not post the name, seems a bit inappropriate on internet forums for me to be to personal*

Here is the tools that we use and we could compare to be a little bit more efficient and learn from each other.

Virus removal:
- Malwarebytes *this is the backbone and always the middle step of virus cleanups* this always has to be run!!!! by far the most efficient virus removal tool I have ever used
- KASPERSKY BOOT DISK 10 - I can not tell you how great this program is. If I feel lazy - the first thing I do is stick this sucker in and let it do its job, then what it doesn't take care of, I can do myself and always run malwarebytes after this!
- combofix - mainly for windows xp / vista 32 but these are the big guns I hesitate to use because of the slight risk. Great for root kit viruses
- hijackthis/runscanner - I know this might spark some debate, but I friggin love runscanner *http://www.runscanner.net/* personally I much prefer it over hijackthis, try it

Diagnostics*yes I do use pre installation environments* personally I have a modified hirens 15 boot disk USB KEY on me AT ALL TIMES *well its attached to my keys so if I meet some chick out at the bar, we go back to her place and I show her my USB stick-- I will probably get laid. I'm saying that half sarcastically but I'm just kidding , best tool ever though is a nice bootable-USB with all the apps and installers you need. And I can fix her PC in the morning if it needs to be fixed *it really does happen *

Diagnostics tools -

Seagate seatools DOS version *depends on the drive but u must switch from AHCI/SATA to IDE sometimes* I use


memtest86 4.2 - great tool! I dont bother with windows mem scanner

- I've used all sorts of boot disks - geeks squads MRI disk - ultimate boot CD - hirens - falcon 4s boot disk *which is awesome IF IT EVER WORKED and stopped corrupting my damn keys* - parted magic - 50 different linux boot CD's

- driver installation:
* I HAVE TESTED ALL OF THEM*
http://drp.su/ <-- this is the result

now, I prefer to use windows update / manufactures website before I have to whip this bad boy out, but if I'm feeling lazy I just pop the external HD I have with driverpack solution loaded and watch all those uknown devices and uninstalled drivers install damn quick.

I'm just curious what others use at their shops, especially with hard drive daignostics and virus removal - any tips or suggestions? cheers

[Watcher]

There are so many tools that I use I have no idea what to post first.

Lets start with WSCC:

http://www.kls-soft.com/freeware/wscc.php

WSCC is a free, portable program that allows you to install, update, execute and organize the utilities from various system utility suites. WSCC can install and update the supported utilities automatically. Alternatively, WSCC can use the http protocol to download and run the programs. WSCC is portable, installation is not required. Extract the content of the downloaded zip archive to any directory on your computer.

This edition of WSCC supports the following utility suites:

Windows Sysinternals Suite (including support for Sysinternals Live service)
NirSoft Utilities

The setup packages are downloaded from the author's website!

The above package uses the Sysinternals Suite and NirSoft Utilities which are a number of different programs that all do one function very well.

You mentioned " runscanner ", wait to you try Autoruns which is a Sysinternals program.

" YUMI " Is a very easy way to make a boot USB with different utilities.

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-mu...t-usb-creator/

YUMI (Your Universal Multiboot Installer), is the successor to MultibootISOs. It can be used to create a Multiboot USB Flash Drive containing multiple operating systems, antivirus utilities, disc cloning, diagnostic tools, and more. Contrary to MultiBootISO's which used grub to boot ISO files directly from USB, YUMI uses syslinux to boot extracted distributions stored on the USB device, and reverts to using grub to Boot Multiple ISO files from USB, if necessary.

and LinuxLive USB Creator

http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/download

Linux Live USB Creator allows you to create a bootable Live USB key with one of a long list of distributions.

One more: Rapid Environment Editor

Rapid Environment Editor (RapidEE) is an environment variables editor. It includes easy to use GUI and replaces small and inconvenient Windows edit box. RapidEE 6.x supports Windows NT, 2000, 2003, XP, Vista, 2008 & Windows 7 (including 64 bit versions)

That will give you some new stuff to play with.

[anticupidon]

Well ,where i work,boss won't spend a dime for computer diagnostic software or data recovery.
Firsthand,software is good when you know when and how to use it.
I was forced to look for cheap good software,so open source was more than welcomed.
I can vouch for Yumi,i always have a 16 gb usb thumbdrive with all utilities ,but i use Parted Magic more and more.
Moreover,each computer shop has its own policy,so if we receive a computer with virus and stuff,,we extract the important data,reinstall a clean Windows ,purge the extracted data from all suspicious content and copy back in the working computer,so we charge for data back up win reinstall..
For kicks i try man linux distros and sometimes i find some little hidden gems among so many linux distros.
For data recovery,carving and forensic tasks
Deft linux
Bare metal backup,easy and quick
Redo Backup
Hardware stressing
Stress linux
There are so many more,but each one can choose a tool for a particular case.
Of course for those who want a more "professional" toolkit,there is QuickPro software suite..