IT Links.
Useful places to start.

7-Zip

Compress logs and backups, extract archives, and create encrypted 7z files.

• Windows
• Linux
• macOS

Windows has a graphical interface; Linux and macOS packages are command-line tools.

PeaZip

Manage archives with a graphical interface, verify checksums, and encrypt files.

• Windows
• Linux
• macOS

Notepad++

Edit configuration files, scripts, and logs with syntax highlighting and powerful search.

• Windows

WinMerge

Compare files and folders to review configuration changes and merge differences.

• Windows

Everything

Find files and folders by name quickly using a lightweight local index.

• Windows

Wireshark

Capture and inspect packets to troubleshoot DNS, TCP, and application traffic.

• Windows
• macOS
• Linux

Windows packet capture uses Npcap, which has separate licensing terms.

PuTTY

Connect to servers and network equipment using SSH or a serial console.

• Windows
• Linux

The official site provides Windows binaries and Unix source code.

WinSCP

Transfer files securely over SFTP or SCP and automate recurring transfers.

• Windows

The official website download is free; the Microsoft Store edition is paid.

FileZilla Client

Transfer and manage files on FTP, FTPS, and SFTP servers.

• Windows
• macOS
• Linux

Choose the free FileZilla Client; FileZilla Pro is a separate paid product.

iperf3

Measure throughput between two hosts to investigate network performance.

• Linux
• macOS

Command-line tool; requires an iperf3 server and client. Upstream does not officially support Windows.

Process Explorer

Inspect running processes, loaded DLLs, and open handles to track down application problems.

• Windows

Free Microsoft utility under Sysinternals terms; commercial software hosting is excluded.

Process Monitor

Trace file, Registry, and process activity to diagnose errors and access problems.

• Windows

Free Microsoft utility under Sysinternals terms; commercial software hosting is excluded.

Autoruns

Inspect startup programs, services, and scheduled entries when investigating slow startup.

• Windows

Free Microsoft utility under Sysinternals terms; commercial software hosting is excluded.

TCPView

See which processes own TCP and UDP connections and identify listening ports.

• Windows

Free Microsoft utility under Sysinternals terms; commercial software hosting is excluded.

RAMMap

Analyze physical memory usage, cached files, and kernel allocations on Windows.

• Windows

Free Microsoft utility under Sysinternals terms; commercial software hosting is excluded.

CrystalDiskInfo

Check HDD and SSD health, temperatures, and available SMART indicators.

• Windows

Choose Standard Edition for a straightforward interface.

CrystalDiskMark

Benchmark sequential and random read/write performance on storage devices.

• Windows

Choose Standard Edition. Benchmarks write test data to the selected drive.

WinDirStat

Visualize disk usage and locate large files and folders when storage runs low.

• Windows

GSmartControl

Inspect SMART attributes and run drive self-tests through a graphical interface.

• Windows
• Linux
• macOS

macOS installation may require a package manager; hardware support varies.

BleachBit

Preview and remove temporary files, caches, and selected application history.

• Windows
• Linux

Use Preview to review the files selected for cleanup.

Clonezilla Live

Create and restore disk or partition images for deployment and disaster recovery.

• Bootable USB

Boot from USB; restoring an image overwrites the target disk.

Rescuezilla

Back up and restore disk images using a graphical bootable recovery environment.

• Bootable USB

Runs from a bootable USB rather than inside Windows; restoring overwrites the target.

Duplicati

Schedule encrypted, incremental file backups to local disks or remote storage.

• Windows
• macOS
• Linux

The local backup client is free. Hosted management plans and storage services may cost extra.

restic

Create encrypted, deduplicated backups and verify snapshots from the command line.

• Windows
• macOS
• Linux

Command-line tool; cloud storage charges are separate.