Windows 7 Utilities

.NET Version Detector 2009 – displays installed .NET versions. (Source: MSDN)

Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) – provides directory services for directory-enabled applications

AdblockIE – ad blocker for Internet Explorer 8; inspired by Firefox’s Adblock & Noscript. AdblockIE blocks offsite JavaScript and filters images, Flash, and frames. (Source: TechNet)

Autoruns – shows which programs are configured to startup automatically when your system boots & you login. Autoruns also shows you the full list of Registry and file locations where applications can configure auto-start settings. (Source: TechNet)

BitLocker To Go Reader – provides users read-only access to BitLocker-protected FAT-formatted drives on non-Windows 7 computers

CoreInfo – 64-bit command-line utility showing the mapping between logical processors and the physical processor, NUMA node, and socket on which they reside, as well as the cache’s assigned to each logical processor

Desktop Time Tracker – keeps track of time spent on your projects from the system tray

Desktops – organizes applications up to 4 virtual desktops

Disk2vhd – a utility that creates VHD (Virtual Hard Disk – Microsoft’s Virtual Machine disk format) versions of physical disks for use in Microsoft Virtual PC or Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines (VMs)

Explore as Administrator PowerToy – overcomes the limitations of Windows Explorer inability to display a UAC prompt when creating a folder within or copying a file into a protected folder

Fishbowl brings Facebook to your desktop. Experience your Facebook content in new ways with a trial desktop client application that lets you personalize how you read your newsfeed, update status, comment, like, browse and upload photos.

GmailNotifier – notifies you when you receive email from Google Gmail, with full Windows 7 integration (CodePlex application)

Hyper-V VM State to Memory Dump Converter – converts saved virtual Machines to memory dump files for debugging

InkSeine – offers the unique ability to search for objects directly from ink without transcribing queries to a search box

Insomnia – prevents your computer from temporarily going to sleep (Source: MSDN)

IPsecPing – command-line IPsec endpoint testing and debugging tool. It uses the winsock secure socket extensions, and supports IPv4, IPv6, IKEv1, and AuthIP

ISO Recorder PowerToy – makes images of CDs & DVDs to create ISO images

LogParser – a powerful, versatile tool that provides universal query access to text-based data such as log files, XML files and CSV files, as well as key data sources on the Windows® operating system such as the Event Log, the Registry, the file system, and Active Directory

LUA Buglight – identifies admin-permissions issues “LUA bugs” (Least-privilege User Account) in desktop applications

NetMon 3.3 – tool to allow capturing and protocol analysis of network traffic (Support: TechNet & KB294818)

NetMon Experts

• Simple Search – lets you search within frames for ASCII like strings using a direct case-insensitive search or regular expressions. It can also search within the comment text of frames as well
• Top Users – shows you the heavy talkers in a trace

NetWiz (Network Monitor Wizard) – assists in using NMCAP through a wizard interface

TCP Analyzer (x64 version) – provides various performance statistics & visualizations for a captured TCP connection

OffVis – displays OLESS-based binary files in two ways: a hex view of the raw file contents & the tree of objects built up from parsing those raw file contents on the right side (Source: TechNet)

Patch Registration Cleanup Tool – installation errors caused due to incorrect patch registration may be corrected using this tool

PowerShell Pack – contains 10 modules to help supercharge your Windows PowerShell scripting. Allows you write user interfaces in PowerShell script, manage RSS feeds, schedule operating system tasks, and much more

pptPlex – zoom in & out of slide sections and move directly between slides that are not sequential in your PowerPoint presentation … now updated for multi-touch devices

ProcDump – command-line utility whose primary purpose is monitoring an application for CPU spikes and generating crash dumps during a spike that an administrator or developer can use to determine the cause of the spike

Process Monitor – advanced monitoring tool that shows real-time file system, registry and process/thread activity

PsLoglist – command-line event log display utility that accepts wildcard matching for event sources

Remote Server Administration Tools – enables IT administrators to manage roles and features that are installed on computers that are running Windows Server 2003 / 2008, from a remote computer

SlickRun – gives you instant access to any program or website. (Source: MSDN)

SyncToy – synchronizes files and folders between locations. Typical uses include sharing files, such as photos, with other computers and creating backup copies of files and folders

Synergy – easily share a single mouse & keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own display, without special hardware. (Source: MSDN)

Taskbar Meters – three apps live on the Windows 7’s task bar: CPU Utilization, Memory, & Disk IO

Terminals – a secure, multi tab terminal services/remote desktop client

Time Zone Change Gadget – easily change time zones

TweetCraft – in-game Twitter client for World of Warcraft allowing you to send/receive Tweets in-game, upload in-game screenshots and AutoTweet achievements

Ultimate Windows Tweaker – a freeware utility for tweaking and optimizing Windows 7 and Windows Vista. With judicious tweaking, it promises to make your system faster, more stable, and more secure (Source: TechNet)

VHD Tool – an unmanaged code command-line tool which provides useful Virtual Hard Drive (VHD) manipulation functions including instant creation of large fixed-size VHDs

Virtual PC – allows you to run many applications on a virtual Windows environment (Installation Instructions)

Virtual Router – turns a computer into a Wifi Hotspot using Windows 7’s Wireless Hosted Network (Virtual Wifi) technology

WhoCrashed – shows the drivers which have been crashing your computer (Source: Windows Live)

Windows Access Panel – minimizes the trouble in accessing the buried settings & “hidden” system utilities within the Control Panel (Source: TechNet)

Windows Double Explorer – manages two or more Windows Explorers in one application

Windows Image to Virtual Hard Disk Converter (WIM2VHD) – command-line tool to create sysprepped VHD images from any Windows 7 installation source. VHDs created by WIM2VHD will boot directly to the Out Of Box Experience, ready for your first-use customizations. (Source: MSDN)

Windows Installer CleanUp Utility – use this utility to remove installation information for programs that were installed by using Windows Installer (Support: Compatibility)

Windows Live ID Sign-in Assistant 6.5 (Beta) – installs the Windows Live ID online provider to link a Windows Live ID to a Windows 7 user account.

Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 (x64-bit version) – syncs content between a computer and a mobile phone

Windows NT Backup Restore Utility – restores backups made on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 to computers that are running Windows 7

WinHlp32.exe – required to display 32-bit Help files with the “.hlp” file name extension

Windows Speech Recognition Profile Tool – allows speech users to backup and restore their speech profiles