Sysinternals are a group of utilities to help you manage, troubleshoot and diagnose your Windows systems and applications. Microsoft acquired Sysinternals in 1996 and offers these tools free of charge for people who want to get the most out of Windows and other software. Some of the programs are GUI based while others only work from a command prompt. The Sysinternals site is broken down into several categories for the different types of utilities offered.
File and Disk Utilities – Utilities for viewing and monitoring file and disk access and usage. Some examples include AccessEnum which shows you who has what access to directories, files and Registry keys on your computer and PageDefrag which lets you defragment your paging files and Registry hives.
Networking Utilities – Networking tools that range from connection monitors to resource security analyzers. Some examples include PsFile which lets you see what files are opened remotely and Whois which shows you who owns an Internet address
Process Utilities – Utilities for looking under the hood to see what processes are doing and the resources they are consuming. Examples include Process Explorer which shows you what files, registry keys and other objects processes have open and which DLLs they have loaded and also PsExec which will execute processes remotely.
Security Utilities – Security configuration and management utilities, including rootkit and spyware hunting programs. Examples include AccessChk which shows you the accesses the user or group you specify has to files, Registry keys or Windows services and LogonSessions which lists active logon sessions.
System Information – Utilities for looking at system resource usage and configuration. Some examples include Regmon which lets you see all Registry activity in real time and PsLoggedOn which will show users logged on to a system
Miscellaneous Utilities – A collection of diverse utilities that includes a screen saver, presentation aid, and debugging tool.
The site also offers a discussion forum for any questions you may have about any of the utilities as well as a blog containing information about any updates and other news. If you would like training on the Sysinternals software or other topics there are Webcasts available as well as DVD training. Click here to go to the Sysinternals website.