I'm curious about which free or low-cost tools you use and what tasks they help you with. I'll kick things off with a few: RDPguard for blocking IPs on certain ports temporarily, TreeFileSize for tracking storage usage, and PDFgear as a good alternative to Adobe for PDF management. I've recently shifted back from a cloud-focused work environment to more local network tasks, so I'm excited to explore some new tools that can streamline my work. What do you recommend?
9 Answers
And for scripting, you can’t go wrong with PowerShell! It’s powerful for automating tasks and can really streamline your daily workflow. Have you thought about integrating any scripts into your toolset?
I definitely want to start using more PowerShell; it seems so useful!
Also, Netdisco is excellent for getting insights from your switches, like tracking MAC addresses and port history. It's great for keeping your network organized! Check it out if you're managing an environment with multiple devices.
Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager is a tool I swear by! It's super versatile and can manage a variety of remote connections efficiently. I've relied on it daily, and it handles everything I need so well.
Sounds great! I’m definitely going to check that out.
Been a fan for years. It's a lifesaver for my remote work.
If you're into network monitoring, give GNS3 and Wireshark a shot. GNS3 is excellent for network virtualization and testing, while Wireshark is a must-have for packet analysis. They’re both free and incredibly powerful when it comes to network management.
You might want to look at Ventoy! It allows you to boot multiple ISO files from a USB drive. Just install it to the USB, copy your ISOs there, and select which one to boot from when starting up. It's super easy!
Action1 is great as a free reporting and patch management tool for under 200 endpoints. Works well for backup and remote scripting tasks, just avoid relying too much on its remote tool—it’s not the best.
NAPS2 is my go-to for scanning and managing PDFs. It combines, splits, and rearranges documents effectively, and supports multiple scanners through one interface. It’s a game changer! Plus, OnlyOffice is a solid alternative to Microsoft Office that works cross-platform.
I love NAPS2 too! It's perfect for my scanning needs.
OnlyOffice sounds interesting. I'll give that a try!
Have you checked out Sysinternals? It's a classic, and I've been using it for over 20 years. It has a ton of great tools for system management! Also, fun fact: you can even map Sysinternals as a network drive.
That's a neat trick! I've found Sysinternals to be incredibly helpful for diagnostics.
I've been meaning to try that out. Thanks for the tip!
Notepad++ is amazing for editing text files. It’s more than just a text editor; I use it for batch modifications on CSVs when exporting from clunky databases. It saved me countless hours of manual work when handling format incompatibilities!
Totally agree! Its search and replace features are a godsend.
I heard they had a security issue recently. Still, it’s a powerful editor.
Absolutely! I have a few scripts I use, primarily for regular tasks.