Have you ever wanted to see what programs start up when your computer boots? Or maybe defrag your pagefile? Or how about finding out what files, registry keys, etc. are currently open? You can do all this and more for free with Sysinternals Suite by Mark Russinovicha and from Microsoft.
The Autoruns program from the Sysinternals Suite
Sysinternals Suite is a collection of extremely useful utilities for Windows. I have been using them since Windows 95. From everyday user to computer repair technician, there is something here for you. There is currently over sixty utilities included in the Sysinternals Suite.
The Process Explorer program from the Sysinternals Suite
For the everyday user there is Autoruns, Desktops and PageDefrag. With Autoruns, you can see what programs are configured to automatically start when your system boots. Desktops allow you to create up to four virtual desktops and switch in between them. And with PageDefrag, you can defragment your pagefile and registry.
The TCPView program from the Sysinternals Suite
For the computer repair technician there is Process Explorer, Process Monitor and TCPView. With Process Explorer, you can see what files and folders a program has open. Process Monitor is a real-time monitoring tool that provides detail information (PID's, path, etc.) for files, registry and processes. And TCPView gives you a detail listing of all network endpoints, local and remote, with addresses and port numbers.
For more information on Sysinternals Suite and all of the free utilities included, just follow the links below.
Sysinternals Suite
Sysinternals Utilities Index