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on Microsoft’s site under the Sysinternals download pages (specifically, I was looking at RDCMan)

First up, NotMyFault a handy little tool to ‘simulate’ a kernal memory leak leading to a hang so you can ‘learn how to identify and diagnose device driver and hardware problems’ and generate blue screen dump files on misbehaving systems.

Next, BSOD Screen Saver that’s right, the OFFICIAL Microsoft BSOD screen saver! Already sad it’s going black? Bring back the Blues! Complete with simulated reboots :wink: The prank value here between these two items is already great!

Got an all-caps screamer? Turn their Caps Lock
into a Ctrl key instead!

More helpful is this fantastic debug tool!

Other tools available there too but these are the ones that stand out to me!

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Sysinternals is great! It’s been a while since we’ve had a DC question about one of those tools, maybe I need to put that back on the list? :sw_profcapsaicin:

Just a heads up, though, a lot of enterprise antivirus solutions mark the BSOD screensaver as malware… I actually got in trouble with the security team at a previous job for putting it in my OneDrive and syncing it to all of my workstations because it flagged all of my machines as infected :joy:

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We use MS Defender for Endpoint, I wonder if it would treat it as a threat??

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I love Sysinternals, and keep forgetting to check back in to see if there’s any new fun stuff. I don’t know where I’d be without RCDMan (looks like I’m due for a new version, too), AccessEnum, Autologon, and ProcMon to name a few.

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I enjoy ProcMon and RDCMan the most, haven’t used either of them in awhile.

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Every.single.day for me, just so I don’t have to enter the pesky credentials like I’d have to if I use my RMM’s remote access tool. :rofl:

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I came here expecting sledge hammers and chain saws.

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I have been using Sysinternals Tools for decades at this point. They have held up for the most part over the years.
Autologin is awesome for not needing to save a password in the registry for those systems that need to have a autologin.
Procmon, Process Explorer are also great tools for finding what is running on your computer.
Disk2VHD is awesome for moving your physical servers to a virtual environment and works pretty good if you are not limited by the restrictions (Disk size mostly).
PSTools is an oldie but goodie for remote launching commands. I used to use it before PowerShell became a better tool.
AD Explorer is a great testing and troubleshooting tool for not messing up your live AD.

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Go give Devolutions free RDM a whirl. Upgrade your caveman remote lifestyle to something better :slight_smile:

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I’ve been seriously considering RDM…maybe tomorrow on Read-Only Friday??

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I feel like I would keep forgetting that I have the BSOD Screensaver turned on and constantly have mini heart attacks thinking I bricked my PC.

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That’s funny that right there, I don’t care who ya are!

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oh man there’s a BSOD screensaver?! lol but also this might be what gets me fired.

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That could describe some of these tools too!

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Sysinternals AutoRuns is another jem in the suite! It’s a great way to identify, locate, and manage any programs that run during logon.

For any sysadmins out there, PingCastle is another great free tool we’ve been using to tighten up our AD!

Thank you all for the great contributions!

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Also love that you can get the whole package, or just pieces of it if you don’t need everything.

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Didn’t sysinternals have a serious security flaw recently reported that Microsoft decided not to fix?

Critical Vulnerability in Microsoft Sysinternals: Understanding and Mitigating DLL Injection Risks - CinchOps, Inc.

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My first thought when I read about “random tools” was the almighty paperclip.

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That reminds me of the paperclip tools I had to make back when floppy disks were common. The floppy drives they put in laptops and some small form factor desktops had very little clearance around the disk, so the little metal sliding door on the disk would get caught and pulled off inside the drive. I found that I could bend the end of a paperclip into a small hook to pull those pieces out. Once I retrieved five metal doors and a couple of springs from one drive after people kept shoving more disks into the already littered drive opening. A paperclip and tweezers saved the day!

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you aren’t kidding, feels like moving on up to park avenue

devolution free rdm is definitely an upgrade, one app to connect to just about everything and adding proxmox support. very nice.

4 Spice ups