PC Mag’s 15 “Must Have” Utilities

Published on January 28, 2011 By DrJBHL In Personal Computing

Fifteen incredible and free utilities for your computer. Registry, startup, audio editors and more! Only one is "pay", I believe.

Granted, this list is from March, 2010 however, these utilities are incredible and I’ll be on the lookout for the 2011 list for you when it comes out.

The “must have 15”:

NetSurveyor Professional

Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2010 Suite

Process Explorer 11

Process Monitor 2.8

Registry Workshop

VLC media player 1.0.5

Wireshark 1.2.6

Source: http://tinyurl.com/y9ts84k

Comments (Page 3)

IROKONESS

on Jan 29, 2011

for looking too much like a red-headed poof

Iobit's Smart Defrag ... is one of the best defraggers out there. It has 3 defrag options [Standard, Optimize and Deep Optimize] and keeps HDD's running at optimal performance.

DrJBHL

on Jan 29, 2011

Good proposals all.

PoSmedley

on Jan 29, 2011

Have a look at Google Desktop

I gotta admit, I resisted Google...all things Google. I now have my W7 set up with Goggle Desktop and Chrome. No Firefox. I've had to fight the urge to install Firefox and have succeeded. I really love Google Desktop...even the sidebar. I have Google Mobil on my Blackberry as well. I finally broke down and bought the Pro version of Rainlendar and have that synced with my Google Calendar and am running multiple calendars. It's been a lifesaver at work.

tazgecko

on Jan 29, 2011

I have Rainlendar Pro on my computers as well, Po. I run Linux on one of them, and the ability to sync my calendar on three computers, on two OS at three separate locations (and it looks good).... for less than $20 ... Awesome!!

PoSmedley

on Jan 29, 2011

the ability to sync my calendar on three computers, on two OS at three separate locations (and it looks good).

I know. I have it synced to three computers, including work and have my BB calendar synced to it via my google calendar.

natas2

on Jan 30, 2011

PoSmedley

reply 28

umm. Rick Astley. WTF?
You got Rick Rolled.

Well, I suppose so. I didn't actually do anything, I saw the name and then was like, wtf. Did I just get rickrolled?!

BernieTime

on Jan 30, 2011

DrJBHL

reply 17

Quoting BernieTime, reply 14That's a pretty weak list of "Must Haves".

Quoting Werewindlefr, reply 16
Quoting BernieTime, reply 14That's a pretty weak list of "Must Haves".I agree with that. Among these, I've only ever needed VLC.
Then please feel free to add those you feel are "must haves".

Let's first define as "Must Haves" for who. Techies? Gamers? Network Admins? General PC use?

That's in part why the OP comes off as weak as it just seems like a random mish-mash as Grandma doesn't need a packet sniffer, registry monitor, etc..

DrJBHL

on Jan 30, 2011

BernieTime

reply 14

That's a pretty weak list of "Must Haves".

Then you qualify:

Let's first define as "Must Haves" for who. Techies? Gamers? Network Admins? General PC use?

That's in part why the OP comes off as weak as it just seems like a random mish-mash as Grandma doesn't need a packet sniffer, registry monitor, etc..

Just post the one's you find "must haves" for you.

VistArtXPosed

on Jan 30, 2011

I've got Audacity & Malwarebytes on this list. What about WinRAR? It's decompression speed is LIGHTNING FAST (compared to WinZip or Windows' built-in decompressor, plus ".rar" file compatibility) regardless of how big the .zip or .rar (even on my other 6-year-old PC).

I highly recommend WinRAR to be added to this list.

Disturbedcomputer

on Jan 30, 2011

Secunia PSI

The Secunia PSI is a FREE security tool designed to detect vulnerable and out-dated programs and plug-ins which expose your PC to attacks. Attacks exploiting vulnerable programs and plug-ins are rarely blocked by traditional anti-virus and are therefore increasingly "popular" among criminals

Uvah

on Jan 30, 2011

Yes but will it conflict with MSE or IOBit 360. I use both of them plus MalWareBytes

ne_zavarj

on Jan 30, 2011

Secunia PSI

ShellExView

MartView

ExtMan

DTView

FileAlyzer

PoSmedley

on Jan 30, 2011

That's a pretty weak list of "Must Haves".

It is PC Mag's list...just being passed on here. From some of the workspace screenshots posted in the forums, there are probably more than a few folks who use them or would find them interesting. Most of them aro out of my area. I do appreciate posts like this because it presents software and apps I hadn't previously heard of and I get to learn something. If it weren't for posts like this that members take the time to share I wouldn't have Vista Anti-Lag, Glarys Utilities, or a few others that have helped me out. The internet is a big place and I can't find everything on my own.

Uvah

on Jan 30, 2011

I'll second that. more than once these apps saved me a headache or two. Plus I got some very powerful tools and all fit my nonexistent budget. Kudos to Doc.

DrJBHL

on Jan 30, 2011

*edit. Sorry, don't have the 'old code' to embed the vid.

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