How-To schools you on SysInternals, &quot;Using SysInternals Tools Like a Pro&quot;

How-To Geek School - USING SYSINTERNALS TOOLS LIKE A PRO - Lesson 1: What Are the SysInternals Tools and How Do You Use Them?

This How-To Geek School series will teach you how to use SysInternals tools like a pro, so your geek cred will never be in question. Not that we are questioning your geek skills. You do use SysInternals tools, right?

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What Are the SysInternals Tools and How Do You Use Them?

Understanding Process Explorer

Using Process Explorer to Troubleshoot and Diagnose

Understanding Process Monitor

Using Process Monitor in the Real World

Using Autoruns to Deal with Startup Processes

Using BgInfo to Display System Information

Using the Command Line Tools

There are many other admin tools built into Windows, available for free on the web, or even through commercial sources, but none of them are quite as indispensible as the SysInternals suite of tools. That’s right, there’s a full set of free tools to do almost any administrator task, from monitoring or starting processes to peeking under the hood to see what files and registry keys your applications are really accessing.

These tools are used by every single reputable computer guy — if you want to separate the wheat from the chaff, just ask your local PC repair guy what Process Explorer is used for. If he doesn’t have a clue, he’s probably not quite as good as he says. (Don’t worry, if you don’t have a clue about procexp.exe either, we’ll cover that in-depth starting in lesson 2 of this series tomorrow).

Remember that time Sony tried to embed rootkits into their music CDs? Yeah, it was a SysInternals utility that first detected the problem, and it was the SysInternals guys that made the announcement. In 2006, Microsoft finally bought the company behind SysInternals, and they continue to provide the utilities for free on their web site.

This series will walk you through each of the important tools in the kit, get you familiar with them and their many features, and then help you understand how to use them in a real-world scenario. It’s a lot of very geeky material, but it’ll be a fun ride, so be sure to stay tuned.

What Are the SysInternals Tools Exactly?

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