Be Prepared: Mk II

[tikdoph]

For those poor souls in Tech Support, what software tools do you carry around with you in your bag of tricks when you're out in the field, and do you have your apps on floppy, CD, or USB stick?

[AntZ]

Floppy, CD, DVD and USB stick. Plus somewhere around here I got a spare HDD with IDE cable full of diagnostic stuffs. And I don't even have a tech job - its all for when stupid relatives and mates ring up because they have screwed things up for the umpteenth billionth time and need me to fix it.

[tikdoph]

Floppy, CD, DVD and USB stick. Plus somewhere around here I got a spare HDD with IDE cable full of diagnostic stuffs. And I don't even have a tech job - its all for when stupid relatives and mates ring up because they have screwed things up for the umpteenth billionth time and need me to fix it.
Heh, yeah... but what "diagnostic stuffs" do you commonly use when fixing things for someone who has screwed something up on their system? The floppy/cd/USB question was just an aside from the topic question about what apps techies can't get by without in their line of work. ;)

+rep anyways for participating.

[dozer]

usb stick for me

spybot
adaware
stinger
hijackthis
vnc
winrar
ghost

some others i cant think of

[lostreality]

virus scanners, spy ware removal thingies, patches (blaster worm etc), service pack discs, popular driver discs, errrrrrrr hammer (to hit the customer with when they ask stupid questions and delay you) then the usual demagnatised tools etc.

edit: i also have a cdrom full of utilities like cd burning tools for back ups also carry a copy of norton ghost (business users) and loads of other stuff.

[BSS]

In no particular order...

Knoppix (http://www.knoppix.org) - A live Linux distro. It's set up to be a usable desktop environment right off the CD. Want to know if your hardware basically works? Then just see if this runs OK. If your Windows install is broken you could realistically use this to do something productive until it gets fixed.

Ultimate Boot CD (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/) - A veritable swiss army knife of diagnostics and utilities. Star attractions: Reset Windows passwords. Also includes every manufacturer's HDD diag program.

BartPE (http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/) - Create your own live bootable Windows CD. You can add all sorts of software to this to make it do whatever you want... provided the programs are simple, or you already have a plugin for it (or know how to make your own). Star attraction: Easily regedit a broken Windows install.

What apps can't I get by without?

HijackThis (http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/index.html). Seriously, AdAware and Spybot just don't cut it anymore.
Ghost (http://www.symantec.com). I use Corporate Edition where I work. Which lacks I think CD-R and USB features, but has better network stuff. Untold amounts of successful hard drive data recovery with this. (use command line switch -fro)
PSTools (http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/pstools.shtml). Do godlike things to people over the network. Infact, take a look at all of the tools on the SysInternals site. It's all free, and I'm sure you'll find a use for at least half of the stuff there. Other notables... Regmon, Filemon, Handle and of course NTFSDOS.
APorts (http://www.download.com/Active-Ports/3000-2085_4-10121832.html?tag=stbc.gp). Kinda like a GUI version of fport if you've seen that. Like netstat but it shows you what programs are using the connections.
SuperScan v3 (http://www.foundstone.com/resources/proddesc/superscan3.htm). My port scanner of choice.
Packetyzer (http://www.networkchemistry.com/products/packetyzer/). Packet sniffer of choice. Based on Ethereal, it's just a prettier version really, but it has a rule builder thing in it.

I think that's it...

[Icky_Thoomp]

The only other tool that I use that has not yet been mentioned is Dameware, which is a remote-control tool very much like PCAnywhere except better. MUCH better.....

I also have an ultimate CD boot disk that APC had on there cover last year. That one is very good value. I like the idea of the Knoppix distro on a CD, just gotta increase my Linux knowledge.

[dozer]

the one i use most is recovery pro, recovered files after a ghost image was put on from fat to ntfs.

[tikdoph]

I use Dameware at work too. It's brilliant. I recently installed it here at home so I can control my second computer sitting 1.5 metres away from my regular box. Yes, I'm incredibly lazy. :D

Recovery Pro sounds good. I've seen it about but never tried it. I'll have to give it a burl.

Oh, and great work, BSS. Since your post, I've tried around half of your suggestions already. Good stuff. :)

[dozer]

actually i realise i use bart most at work, gives you a lazy gui to clean and map drives, load ghost and map other nw stuff, weve modded it to a floppy version that does one click ghosting.

[repeat]

Administrator's Pak (http://www.winternals.com/products/repairandrecovery/index.asp?pid=ap) from winternals.com as well as the ones listed above.

[BSS]

Oh yeah remote management. Although this isn't the sort of thing you would carry around with you...

On my work PC I have installed both UltraVNC (http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net/) and Radmin (http://www.radmin.com/).

Radmin IMO is the best remote control program that exists. It's fast, and consistent. It only doesn't support transparencies. The client requirements are relatively small (one .exe and one .dll, no install required).
But VNC has its built-in java client in its built-in webserver. If you haven't seen this, please try it. http://IPAddress:5800. Normally I'm out and about fixing things on other people's PCs, I don't want to install crap onto their computer just to contact mine. So I use that. UltraVNC (vs Real) has the nice touch of giving your cursor focus the password box when you connect so you don't have to mouse click before typing your password... Oh yeah it does tons of other stuff, but it's the little things that do it for me :)

One thing about my previous post which may have been missed... I try to use free software wherever I can. So besides Ghost, BartPE (on technicality) and now Radmin. All of the things I mention are free despite sometimes slightly better alternatives being available.

eg. At work I use OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org) instead of MS Office, and CDBurnerXP Pro (http://www.cdburnerxp.se/) instead of Nero.