External Links of Interest to Techs

We find many of these resources to be a valuable resource for business owners and PC technicians.

Disclaimers

Always be cautious when using links to visit any external resource. If you are unsure of where the link will take you, all links on this page are available in plain text, in order to copy/paste the full URL (starting with the “http://” all the way to the end) into the “address” bar/box at the very top of your web browser. Copy/Paste commands are found when right-clicking on text that you highlight by clicking and dragging the mouse over the text with the mouse button held down. Also with highlighted text you may use the keyboard combination CTRL+C to copy, and CTRL+V to paste.

Always be cautious and scan any software downloads for malicious software, but also please see this link for more information on potential false-positives with your anti-virus or anti-malware software.

Be aware of what you’re installing! Even reputable and virus-free software installers may contain potentially unwanted bundled software, usually installing ad/spyware or junk toolbars on your systems, and these can usually can be “unchecked” during installation of the main software to avoid these unwanted secondary installations. Most anything here requiring an installation should not include this junk, but things change (and companies sell out) all the time!

Tech Shop / Ticket Management

pcrepairtracker.com

PC Repair Tracker

PC Repair Tracker – written by a repair tech for repair tech shops, it’s tough to beat a developer that actually uses his own software!
(Also contains integration with our own d7, d7II, and d7x PC technician software!)

Audio / Video Software

xibo.org.uk
xibo.org.uk
Free Digital Signage – server/client software enabling the display of rotating/scrolling content on monitors in your show room.

software.muzychenko.net
http://software.muzychenko.net/eng/
Windows software from Eugene Muzychenko
Home of Virtual Audio Cable, which creates virtual audio devices for routing audio between different applications!

pcfreetime.com
http://pcfreetime.com
Home of Format Factory – a free multi-functional media converter supporting most any format!

Misc Apps / Utilities

nirsoft.net
http://www.nirsoft.net
Home of all of the favorite password recovery tools, there’s a lot more portable apps on this site to be had in many categories!

sysinternals.com
http://www.sysinternals.com
Utilities so sweet that Microsoft had to buy them up (but didn’t muck them up) and hire the author.

roadkil.net
http://www.roadkil.net
Home of Unstoppable Copier, there are tons of great apps on this site for techies.

Security Software

Windows Defender (built-in to Windows 10)
Yes, we actually do feel this is among the best overall anti-virus/malware protections for your PC, and while we don’t recommend a direct replacement for Windows Defender,
we still recommend a supplemental protection such as our own CryptoPrevent Anti-Malware!

~~privacyware.com/personal_firewall.html~~
SORRY, WE SEE THAT PRIVATEFIREWALL IS NO LONGER DISTRIBUTED
~~Home of Privatefirewall – a super light HIPS capable firewall with tons of other features!~~
~~(by light, I mean most of the 3.57MB installer is the help file!)~~
* Usage on Windows 10 will require tweaking and may not be suitable for all users, see the bottom of this page for details.

VPN Software (Information)

The Best VPN
thebestvpn.com
Reviews a number of VPNs and puts them through the paces of average users providing a real look at the ease of use and performance of the various trials.
Please note we do not endorse any particular result from any software comparison site.

That One Privacy Site
thatoneprivacysite.net/vpn-comparison-chart/
Large detailed list of available VPN software and some of the specifications they have.

Malware / Virus Related (Information)

Microsoft Anti-Virus Exclusion List (Technet)
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/953.windows-anti-virus-exclusion-list-en-us.aspx
If you install Anti-Virus software on a Windows server (or even some special purpose workstation configurations) you will probably need to set some scanning exclusions within your Anti-Virus software! This list from Microsoft covers everything you should need to know about setting Anti-Virus exclusions for Windows, server components, and other various Microsoft products.

kernelmode.info
http://kernelmode.info
“A forum for kernel-mode exploration.” – Software development, debugging, reverse engineering are among the topics on these forums, and the Malware sub-forum is a great spot to obtain samples of the latest malware to practice your removal techniques.
(WARNING: Contains download links to malicious software ‘samples’ which will infect your PC if you aren’t aware of how to use them!)

“False Positive” Submissions (Links Page)
Our page containing external links to submit “false positive” reports to various anti-virus/malware/security software vendors, so you can let them know when their software incorrectly flags other software as malicious.