Good tools on a general diagnostic/repair thumb drive?

Factual Questions
1

I’m putting together a thumb drive full of programs that will be useful in diagnosing and fixing miscellaneous problems that people run into. A swiss army knife of computer repair.

Portable software is preferred. Needs to be freeware (or trial versions) for now.

The stuff I’ve got so far is:

Microsoft security essentials (good, lightweight) and microsoft safety scanner (essentially the scanning component of security essentials without the realtime protection - it can be run off the thumb drive in case malware is preventing the installation of programs)

MS Malicious Software Removal tool - probably redundant with MSE, but specialized to hit the latest popular malware.

Avast - in case MSE doesn’t catch something, I hear avast is the best of the free antivirus programs

Adaware and spybot S&D - spybot has a portable version, adaware is generally well regarded, between the two of them that should have broad coverage.

Portable firefox and chrome - in case the user’s web browsers are taken over by malware, these will run right off the usb drive in case I need to get on the web

Motherboard Monitor - to get a readout on hardware conditions such as temperature and voltages

Prime95 and OCCT - a way to stress test a system to see how the conditions change under load (to see if it’s overheating for example, or if a bad PSU is leading to voltage drops)

Everest - it’s portable and gives detailed information about the hardware - but something more updated would be nice because it doesn’t recognize all the hardware.

CCCleaner - I’ve never used it but I’ve heard good things. General cleaner program - registry, temp files, etc. Anything better?

I need some sort of program to check hard drive health and possibly extract or recover data from failing drives.

I would like some sort of generalized boot disk with a recovery console or command prompt. If I create a windows 7 boot disk with command prompt, will it be able to work with previous versions of windows?

Is there a good memory testing utility that won’t require you to boot up into a dos environment like memtest86?

What other tools would be useful for a well rounded general diagnostic/repair kit?

2

I’ve had great luck with TestDisk for recovering files from a corrupt disk.

3

SystemRescueCd fits on a CD so it goes onto my thumb drive with plenty of room left over. Tools include GNU Parted, GParted, Partimage, ddrescue, FSArchiver, File system tools, Ntfs3g, sfdisk, Test-disk, memtest, network tools, etc.

4

http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd

5

+1 for Hiren’s, it’s got the “program to check hard drive health and possibly extract or recover data from failing drives.” part well covered, and then some.

6

I stumbled across Hiren’s on my own and it is indeed comprehensive. The tiny Windows XP portable it uses is somewhat restrictive though - many of the things I want to run fail probably because it doesn’t have the necesary support software like .net framework to run on such a minimnal install of XP, but it does have a set of tools that’ll work within it.

7

Hi there, can I suggest you partition the drive and put something like Puppy Linux on one of the discreet sections. Any PC built in the last 5 years will let BIOS boot from a USB drive and will enable you to recover data from a corrupt O/S whether Windows, Mac or what have you. To acsess your SMART data, (info regarding the health of any attached hard drives), SpeedFan is reccomended and as it’s primary function is to give you direct control of a systems cooling system you get two for the, free, price of one.
The other indispensible I rely on is a 3G USB Modem, I’ve network unlocked it and carry enough Sim cards to get me a signal virtually anywhere and Puppy Linux recognizes it. Lastly have an alternate means of getting the Internet, Smartphones and forums like this:p can be a god send.
Peter

8

Installers for:
malwarebytes + latest manual update file
superantispyware
spybot search & Destroy
AVG
easus partition manager
Combofix
winsock repair tool
TDSSkiller
carry the manual installers for IE7,ie8, ie9, firefox
manual installers for XP, Vista, and win7 service packs (thank me when you stumble across an unpatched SP zero vista)
old timers Temp File Cleaner (only takes a few min to run and will end up saving you tons of time on virus scans)
unhide.exe
dial-a-fix
.exe file assosciation registry patches

try a few boot disks, plan on carrying a small CD binder (since you are gonna end up carrying a dozen or so OS disks anyway:

use the Memtest CD
I use a paid boot CD product called Active@boot (file recovery/password stripper/file recovery/registry editor/etc)
AVG rescue CD

Installers for recent versions of java, flash, acrobat reader, open office are also handy
I actually carry all this and more on a 500GB external drive (that way I have someplace to backup customer stuff before reloading too)

IAAONSITETECH :smiley:
www.pcsearchandrescue.com

9

Something I would love more than anything that I have yet to find. a bootable self starting CD hard drive defragmenter. Kinda like memtest disks but runs a defragmenter with zero intervention other than booting.

10

How about “who crashed” for dump analysis?

Microsoft tools for that might be more comprehensive though.

11

Maybe I’m an idiot, but I can’t see a link on that page to download the CD image. Or is it just a list of suggestions to keep on a CD of one’s own making?

12

autoruns is an invaluable tool for the technician. Shows everything that starts at windows startup and more!

13

How about a file recovery tool to get back stuff that shouldn’t have been deleted?

14

I’ve had good success with Recuva for that. This link takes you to a portable version.

15

Quick reply to Drachillix, if you’re a Windows type, posted your question on the Micro mart forum, UK PC magazine, and was given this:
'Task Scheduler already has a task set up for defragmentation.
Just change the properties from Scheduled to At Startup (or add it). ’
Personally I use jkdefrag once a week and it does the job excellently.
Bloody cold in London at the moment, not N. Dakota cold, but chilly nonetheless.
Peter

16

I like WinDirStat:

17

many of the machines I am working with are unbootable or virused to the walls, just want to make a simple bootable task to do just that as a defragged machine is much faster to scan (and the customers would see additional performance improvement.)

18

I believe you can boot using a Windows 7 dvd into command line and use the DEFRAG command.

Also you don’t need the memtest cd, when you boot from the Windows 7 dvd simply press repeatedly any letter key when the “Booting from CD or DVD…” message appears. It will bring a menu to either continue booting the windows installation or run the built-in memory diagnostic tool.

20

Reported.