Secret FREE Windows Tools Nobody Is Talking About

[@LeilaGharani]

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[@jerrydellasala7643]

Been using Sysinternals utilities since Windows 98! Here's a tip. As you noted some utilities require Admin level security. Others, notably Autoruns, may not require or ask for Admin level security when run, but to perform an operation - like Jump To (Registry) Entry in Autoruns - require Admin level to operate. Rather than having to Right Click on the app and select Run As Administrator, right click on the file (app) and select Properties, select the Compatibility tab and at the bottom click the [Change Settings for All Users] button. In the window that pops up, check the "Run this program as an Administrator" box and click OK/OK. Now you'll still get asked if you want to give the app permission to run (always), but you won't have to right click and select the Run As Admin any more!

[@TheRaju991]

Thanks for the tip!

[@theodrummond6518]

Leila, I may not be able to watch every one of your videos but when I do, you are a blessing.

[@silversolver7809]

SysInternals author Mark Russinovich is one of the true major contributors to the software world, along with other greats like Peter Norton, Phil Katz RIP, Nick Bradbury etc. I used SI for 15-20 years from well before Microsoft acquired it and Mark-the utilities are top class and rock solid. I don't use them anymore, as Windows today is far ahead of where it was in the 90s and 00s. But ZoomIt does look interesting :)

[@connclissmann6514]

Agreed! May I add Dan Briklin to your list? From VisiCalc to Spinrite and beyond...

[@silversolver7809]

@@connclissmann6514 Of course :) There are dozens more at least-I only mentioned a few whose work benefited me considerably. Btw I'm fairly sure Steve Gibson was the SpinRite guy :)

[@cowpen]

@@silversolver7809 Greetings fellow old guys!

[@darylcheshire1618]

way back then, I rescued several XT type machines by running Spinrite, the machines were running slowly and the users were going to get rid of them but I run Spinrite on them overnight and tell them to reboot, and all those bad sectors were returned to the system by a low level format of each block. In those days the heads didn’t park and turning off the PC might write random crap at that location. After years the hard disk would have lots of bad sectors.

[@Innesb]

@@connclissmann6514 Dan Briklin and VisiCalc co-author Bob Frankston rarely get a mention these days, but they created what was probably the first desktop ‘killer application’; the reason many people bought PCs in those days. I was lucky enough to be able to teach myself VisiCalc on a TRS-80 when I was a young teenager in the UK (early 80s), and it set me up for a successful life in the ‘computer business’. I encourage visiting Dan’s website (it’s easy to find); there’s a great history of VisiCalc there.

[@simonstone4924]

Thanks!

[@LeilaGharani]

Thank you!

[@fidgetshouse]

Thank you so much. Our IT department and I have been trying to locate the source of a problem with my computer. I have never seen them use these tools to find it, so thanks so much for sharing. I am going too try these tools out. The screen annotation tool is awesome, and something I can really use while teaching. I always learn a bunch from you!

[@akindeju]

Thanks!

[@LeilaGharani]

Thank you!

[@JEmmertz]

The stuff that has come from Mark Russinovich and his Sysinternal's team is outstanding and remarkable: There were times when they knew more about the internal workings of Microsofts file system and stuff than the people at Microsoft themselves. I was not the slightest bit surprised when Microsoft acquired them. It has always seemed like they have been able to, and allowed to, do what they are best at.

[@connclissmann6514]

BGInfo used on all PCs around here. Can save a lot of time and indicates last reboot time. Ready to trim the options and make the font smaller, to keep it in the top right corner.

[@cwcole]

Thanks for the information! PSExec and Process Explorer are two that I use often. PowerToys is also one of my go-to utilities and it's still available today. I still have my 1996 Sony PCV-70 166 MHz Pentium. It came with Windows 95a. I asked the Circuit City salesperson about the single USB port, and she said that it was new technology that is not yet enabled. Upgrading to Windows 95b enabled it and I added a ZIP drive. I think Windows 2000 was the last OS running on it. I skipped Windows ME (that was a terrible OS)

[@ronalcasid3844]

My favorite is psexec. I often fall back to it when Microsoft's newer remote admin tools fail. I use it to execute commands on remote computers.

[@LeilaGharani]

👍

[@gennarocimmino]

thanks for sharing all those key combinations for using zoomit. Kudos for the clarity of presentation.

[@mcdonamw]

I love these tools and there are so many that I have never even touched upon in the last 23 years of using this suite! Mark Russinovich and team were true Windows pioneers and helped me learn a lot of the innards of Windows.

[@LeilaGharani]

👍

[@radicalrick9587]

*Been using Sysinternals for a while. Phenomenal programs for us deep IT troubleshooters.*

[@Tommie_Rogers]

I use ZoomIt all the time when I present training sessions. I did not know about SysInternals but installed Zoomit separately. It is an extremely useful tool when students request me to enlarge a portion of the screen, like the formula bar in Excel, so that they can see the function/formula in more detail.

[@LeilaGharani]

Thanks for sharing!

[@alanmonaghan9194]

If you are watching someone's presentation in Teams, I think holding Ctrl and using the scroll wheel allows you to zoom in and out. You can also then drag to other parts of the presentation area.

[@deltawing9]

Wow, this is powerful. Thank you Leila!

[@WesleySnipes1969]

I have used the suite over the years, absolutely needed

[@kraj1966]

My favorite tool is Autoruns. That is helping too much in speeding up my Windows. Thank you for the tutorial

[@LeilaGharani]

👍

[@StageMan57]

That's right! It's been around since 1996. I've been using it since 1996. I came online in 1995 as a Microsoft Professional at the age of 38.

[@jonasfermefors]

I used to use Sysinternals a lot, but now I rarely use it because most of the things I used to use regularly have either become part of Windows or Power Toys.. for example, checking open files is now a right-click away with Power Toys and a lot of the tools I used to use in Zoomit are now built in to Teams. There are still some use cases for Sysinternals but mostly for developers, I think.

[@JBB685]

Zoomit is built into teams?!

[@martyc5674]

Can we use zoomit in teams??

[@jonasfermefors]

@@JBB685 No, but a lot of drawing tools are available.. not the timer or zooming - but personally I don't use those.

[@jonasfermefors]

@@martyc5674 No, but a lot of drawing tools are available.. not the timer or zooming - but personally I don't use those.

[@martyc5674]

@@jonasfermefors any that you recommend?- what I use zoomit for is the arrows squares/drawing - I haven’t come across any that are native to Teams, would love to hear of one that is.

[@leeprice9442]

Thank you didn’t know about this!

[@vijayarjunwadkar]

Thanks Leila for yet again a super useful video! You are helping us in so many ways, really appreciate! My favorite tool is Zoomit, it has been very helpful during meetings and trainings for sure! 👍

[@LeilaGharani]

Thanks for sharing, Vijay!!

[@cecilialim5181]

I can get most of ZoomIt functions except drawing. Can you help why my drawing does not work despite pressing hold shift, hold control, hold tab ….?

[@sugathmudalige1265]

Thanks for this valuable video, Watching from Sri Lanka, Sharing knowledge is highly appreciated.

[@MeRGB2]

These Is The Best Channle In My Life Thanks 😁

[@russervinsa]

Great video! I will proably start using zoomit right away. It has several tools i have been looking for. Negative commentors not worth the air.

[@barb0ful]

Process Explorer helped me to solve a little mystery with my application at a customer computer. It requires a couple of dll's that usually are registered in GAC. Despite all needed dll's were there (I mean particular versions), application was still throwing exception. Process Explorer was actually my last resort help. What I found thanks to it, was that system provided an old dll version to the application because someone had copied an old version one of dll's into c:\windows\system32 which should never be there. Even correct dll version existed in my application folder and in GAC, the old one was being called.

[@LeilaGharani]

Thanks for sharing your use case!

[@barb0ful]

@@LeilaGharaniMy pleasure! :)

[@sergiomoura5371]

ZoomIT is definitely my favorite tool. Thank you for the great video, Leila!

[@joseotoya2102]

Excellent! Many thanks Leila! 🙏

[@garynagle3093]

Great video. I use process explorer daily. Now need to check out the others . Thanks!

[@AnalogX64]

You will soon be able to talk about "PC Manager" by Microsoft, which is in beta right now, its a free utility with similar features as CCLeaner (I stopped using it) for Windows 10 and 11. PS: 00:35 That is the Commodore Amiga 1000, my 2nd computer after the Commodore 64. Good times :)

[@Prometeo59]

Wow, that's great news. Microsoft should have done it years back. Or maybe make an OS that doesn't need CCleaner equivalent! Call me crazy.

[@droidx1191]

You are an extraordinary instructor.

[@chrism9037]

Wow, thanks Leila! I had never heard of this. I've used Power Toys, but never knew of this.

[@jig270]

Autologon is a must for me for my home computer. when i hire someone for IT support job i always ask "tell me about any three sysinternal tools that you use". many of them scratch heads as nowadays true IT professionals are very hard to find. using them for last 18 years, they are still relevant for example you don't use use built-in tools of a compromised system you use sysinternals. Even in your comments i see people not understanding their importance.

[@samemardini]

Amazing video. Thank you!!

[@princedemiterios2488]

Very useful tools as perfect intro , Thank you .

[@naderhumood]

Thank you very much indeed, you outdid yourself today.........Great utility apprauch.

[@CarlReznik]

Hello Leila, Thank You for the refresher video. I have been using some of the tools since the early releases. What tool do you use to get the Mouse to right-click the icon on the video to demonstrate the tutorial?

[@yossiea]

With Sysinternals and PowerToys, you can really have some fun,

[@elpollolocoman119]

Restart is my favorite. lol Thank you, keep it sincere and I'll continue to watch.

[@sseemm]

Wonderful. Thanks

[@draknagar]

Excellent presentation and informative!!!

[@Obamjur]

for me, turning on the desktop, using the browser, printer and some other software without crashing is a feat. I always thought that Windows loaded too much unnecessary stuff. I was wrong... there are many more unnecessary things! Thanks for the video!

[@dkod19]

Before I retired, we were using BGInfo for years on an enterprise basis, so that when a user called the Help Desk, we'd know the machine name they were calling about. I've used other Sysinternals utilities over the years personally. They can look overwhelming, but are great tools worth learning and using for anyone that can do their own troubleshooting.

[@dummyload7803]

But using those tools on a company pc is risky because as we all know using 3rd party software that came over usb or so is all a company need to kick your a*s out the door

[@dkod19]

@@dummyload7803 BGInfo had been recommended by our lead citrix engineer. He got senior technical management to sign of on it. He got it to work on citrix virtual sessions.

[@lionsground]

I like your windows content and the way you guide us through. Thank you for your professional hard work Lei.

[@BANIAAAAK]

Very useful thanks a bunch!!!!

[@Gaminiheraliyawala]

Wow... This is an excellent tutorial of sooo cool tools...👍👍👌👌Good for a system/ network admins or those who want to be.

[@DavidSuares10]

Thank you! It was really easy to understand. I'll even send this to my friend who need some win os help. I'm about to follow

[@cseonlineclassesmalayalam]

Very valuable video 👍 thank you

[@Lhglex]

Thank you for your interesting and useful videos!!

[@techinzicht]

Very informative Thanks! 👍👍👍

[@anilksingh1974]

Super informative...Thanks a lot. Any suggestion for a tool to get uptime of list of servers?

[@kevinbarrett1362]

Wow most of these windows tools I actually need because I've been looking for tools like these. Great video instruction that's a sub from me. 😊

[@LeilaGharani]

Glad to have you aboard!

[@maliawhite4912]

ZoomIt is my favorite. Thank you!

[@kingwesleyXIV]

In my IT study they only gave me things that are building into windows like "event viewer". This is something i wanna check out though

[@thewillsfamilyaccount6486]

Nicely done!

[@wtmf80]

I've been using this since it came out in the 90s. Great stuff.

[@LeilaGharani]

👍

[@babelkot4627]

Merci pour les explications..très claires même pour un francophone..

[@LeilaGharani]

Happy to hear that!

[@angchin2135]

Amazing!! Thank you!

[@sanjaykumar6004]

Thanks Leila, for letting us know such useful features

[@LeilaGharani]

My pleasure 😊

[@MarkJFellows]

Hi Leila, I like sysinternals too, and I am a longterm user. My favourite utility is ShareX which does screen capture - image, GIFs and OCR. I have a multibutton mouse and one mode is permanently set to ShareX so when watching something, I can quickly capture it.

[@haxorsys]

Wow 😳 really important video ❤️

[@suhailanjumabdurraheemsayy7639]

Thanks for nice information!!! On Windows 11 Store it's available as an app. Is it having all the similar functions?

[@mjibranafridiofficial]

Amazing 💯💯💯

[@Daithai96]

Great video. I've used Sysinternals since long before MS acquired them. Autoruns and ProcMon have always been fantastic tools. Mark Russinovich is definitely a genius. I've not looked at them in while, but I'll download the full suite and look through it again. I love the manual side to these tools, rather than relying on blackbox utilities to address issues.

[@dj_maridao]

Thanks, my dear! Hugs from Brazil!

[@drewsoffice]

Great video! Awesome!

[@Kibrusha]

Thank you for the tips. Can you help me restore the windows search functionality? It looks like it is working but no result.

[@collinstanton]

Extraordinary, you are very gracious for sharing such advanced tools. Thank you so much, even though, it's definitely required learning for me... 😂🥰🌹

[@jaqoncee6670]

Wow, this will assist so much.

[@crcurran]

Windows 11 has zoom built in. Press Window Key and the + key to zoom in. Then + and - to zoom in and out. I've been using Sysinternals since the 90s. Mark Russinovich was a windows God to young system engineer me back then.

[@Number6_]

That was very informative. I will have to get that. It is the sort of thing that only soft ware engineers have.

[@tjj5259]

Thanks. One question - is this better installed via MS store or download the zip?

[@msmith3090]

These tools don't need to be installed. You just download the zip file and expand the files to a single folder. Then you can run any of the executable files by simply double-clicking on it.

[@Eternal_Tech]

I have never used the Microsoft Store (MS) version of Sysinternals. However, based on what I have read, if you use the Microsoft Store version, it will create an entry in your Start menu for each tool. For me, this would clutter my Start menu, but if you like all these shortcuts, then use the MS Store version. If you would just rather access the tools via the command line, then download the ZIP version.

[@NigelBryant]

This is so cool. keep up the great work!

[@LeilaGharani]

Thank you! Will do!

[@mabrouk642]

Nice post, Thank you Leila!

[@P-G-77]

In fact SysInternals remain a MUST HAVE...

[@JamilShehu-v3k]

Thank you so much leila ... this is so amazing and highly recommend, thank you! once again .

[@georgep.v9751]

I have shared the vedio to my family members for try. They will easily understand tbe procedures than me. After getting their report, I have to try. OK. Thank you very much for this efforts.

[@ShilmiyaRilwan-lx3vt]

Hey there!! Can you explain the prudence Concept in accounting please?

[@nipunkavinda8254]

Very useful utilities...

[@JeltonLantaca-fo4od]

Hello, im always following your videos, but just a little sugestion if you mind, can you create a video that give us a tips about microsoft default apps that actually not important and safe to uninstall without affecting the whole system, because i think there are to many apps which is i'm not sure if it is important or not. Just sharing 🤗🤗

[@jamc666]

Powertoys are also a must-have :)

[@LeilaGharani]

Absolutely!

[@matlholelosaba4977]

@@LeilaGharani So wish the two could exist as one. Powertoys and SysInternals.

[@davidcooper3871]

Big request: please help us figure out how to share calendars between iPad, PC w Outlook and Android phone!

[@andredeoliveira3684]

Great video!

[@duendemacabron]

As a winadmin I will take very advantage of this tool. Thnks! ❤🎉

[@LeilaGharani]

Hope they'll come in handy for you!

[@leonidasspyropoulos849]

Awesome video, thank you, valuable info.

[@LeilaGharani]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@chh8860]

OMG ... GULP!!! ... 😮😮😮 ... Utilities??? ... an instant migraine! ... about two minutes into this video I was nauseous and dizzy ... I got the same feeling Indiana Jones did in 'Raiders of the Lost Arc' when he was lowered into the snake pit ... 😣😣😣 ... "Why did it have to be 'Utilities'???" But I have full faith in Prof Leila ... and her enthusiasm about 'Sysinternals' will give me courage as I get lowered into the 'Utilities Pit' (my palms are already sweaty). But once there I will quite likely will find a nugget to use ... and then another ... and another. Which is why 'Thursdays With Leila' is so important. Thank you ... thank you ... thank you .... 😍😍😍

[@LeilaGharani]

Oh, the snake pit. Sorry for bringing up such bad feelings 😊 But I'm told, sometimes we have to get out of our comfort zone. So thank you for accompanying me down this path 🙏

[@barnesandrewj]

Appreciate you!!

[@theworldbroker]

Does it not make issues with other shortcuts?

[@davecook81]

Thank you!!

[@t.robinson4774]

YEARS ago I think I was part of a group using the beta version of Autoruns. It was handy for a quicker boot time and identifying unintentional/ poorly prioritised boot programs. It worked well but after the trial access was limited, then dropped off completely. Now that I’m older Zoomit looks just as useful. Thanks!

[@ahmad1980595]

Please more tools like these

[@surendraramcharan2756]

Please, if you can , do a video on how Microsoft (excel and word) defers when working on a Mac device. Is there a difference?

[@steves470]

I just tried to start Zoomit from the SysInternalsSuite folder, on Windows 11, V.10.0.22621 N/A Build 22621 and the (not sure what you officially call it) ..box/prompt appears, telling me: "The application you're trying to install isn't a Microsoft-verified app" and then I can click "Get apps from store", or "Install anyway". Other items, like AutoRun64 do not give me this prompt, even if i run as admin. Any thoughts on this? Thanks!

[@kiruthikar2900]

Mam Can tell that what is the tool that you are using for showing that keys pressing on keyboard and virtual mouse button clicks mam? its is very useful tool mam. Thank you mam.

[@kaushikbarot9653]

Very good and useful information

[@sachinrv1]

The first tool Zoom It has it all I need, although, I watched teh video till end. The rest were little technical. Thanks a ton Leila :)

[@LeilaGharani]

Great to hear!

[@B12ALPINA]

Thank you very much Leila

[@AsN..]

Thank u Dr.Lelia 😉

[@LightShadow]

My fav. tools are Total Commander AND Listary Pro

[@yuanchoy2]

Thanks for this video and helpful for trouble shot some PC and laptop