Ninite

Move along, nothing to see here

- ComboFix is a fantastic malware remover, but it is slow, and the machine is unusable when running it. Also, there's no way I've found to just update it's detection & removal database, so you need to download a fresh copy every time you use it (unless you're using it multiple times per day). I use Microsoft Security Essentials to prevent infections, and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for 90% of the removals where MSSE fails. ComboFix is the last resort.
- CCleaner is a fast and easy way to do many of the things that I used to do manually - clean out startup items, uninstall software, delete temp files, etc.
- HDGraph is another one I use all the time. It creates a pie chart of where all your hard drive space is being used. It's great for finding out what program is eating all your hard drive space.
- Others that bear mentioning: 7-zip, MWsnap, Network Notepad, PDFcreator, Wireshark, and WhoCrashed (free for private use, low-cost for business use)

These aren't tools IT pros would use sorry. Don't know any IT pros that use any of these so called 'tools'. You're better off classifying Google as a tool.

Nothing on this list has anything to do with an IT job.

Several months ago talked with an IT support technician at a major college in our area, who had been using Ninite on system reloads to help speed up reloading the OS and basic software on spyware infected machines. We "tried out" Ninite on a new build, with concern for that persisting question on all free software....why are they giving it away and how are they making their money... On our installation on all new equipment and right after the OEM install of Windows 7, we found after using Ninite that we also now had several pieces of adware that seemed to have been introduced during the installation (or shortly afterwards). although no new software had been intentionally installed on our part before of after the scan). These were software items that we normally remove when we find them' on systems that are having spyware / malware problems. Didn't try it again to see if that was a fluke or normal occurance. But we saw enough to make us avoid potentially creating problems for a client with the offered "convenience", and reported our finding back to the college IT department to check out. So just a word of caution, any convenience may be offset by the hidden "cost".

Personally, I use stuff like Combofix (not often and with care), Super Antispyware, Spybot, CCleaner, Puran Defrag, MSE, and a few other less essential packages. Check Majorgeeks.com. They have a nice collection well organized. I've just recently tried the Microsoft Virtual Machine for running 16-bit apps in Windows 7. It works, but it's not a perfect solution. Perhaps the Sun version will be better. I like TestDisk for recovering files from damaged drives. I'm still looking for a tool that will help me find big files and folders easily. I like the duplicate image finder in Picasa, though it's in the experimental menu. It works. These are all free stuff, and IMHO, they're the best I've found, free or not.