These are all services/programs/utilities for doing various System/Network Administrator tasks; whether you are administering to your own computer or some remote machine. It's all stuff that I use (or have used at one time or another) and like. Yes, there are TONS of good things on the Internet but there is lots of crap as well. I have compiled this list to let you benefit from my experience so hopefully you won't have to waste as much time as I have finding the good programs that actually work, are not bundled with loads of spy and adware, cause conflicts with other programs, cause conflicts with Windows, make you swear like a sailor with Turrets, make you stay up all night reinstalling your OS and apps from scratch, etc.

• ZoneEdit - DNS is the linchpin of the Internet; the cornerstone if you will. ZoneEdit will host DNS for your domain (up to five actually) for free and allows you to edit anything you want from A/MX/CNAME records to web redirects to email forwards. It's what I use.

• Remote Desktop - Do you have a computer at home running Windows XP Professional and you want to access it from work or any place else? This is the client portion of Remote Desktop which will allow you to connect to any computer running Windows XP Pro or Windows 2000/2003 Server assuming remote access has been enabled and you have a user account on the host machine. NOTE - Windows XP Professional already has this client installed.
• Remote Desktop Web Connection - Want to access that remote computer but because of your firewall you can't use the Remote Desktop client? c r i m i n a l e . c o m is proud to host the ActiveX control for your browser! Just click the link, enter the host name/IP address of your target computer and install the ActiveX plug-in and away you go over port 80.
• UltraVNC - Do you have more than one computer networked together? Would you like to be able to access and control all of them from your desktop? This allows you to do that. All the best features of the other VNC applications, amazing speed even over slow connections and file transfer!

• Active ShutDown - Need to reboot that machine you are connected to remotely? This utility will terminate all open applications and log you off and then shut down or reboot the remote host.
• FREEping - Need to monitor that other computer and get notified if it's down? This will do that on the schedule you specify. NOTE - it uses the Windows Messenger service to notify you so if you have disabled it or installed SP2 for Windows XP, better fire it up again.
• - Allows you to synchronize your PC's clock with an atomic clock. You can schedule this, start the program with Windows, etc. And it's free; unlike AtomTime.
• Belarc Advisor - This is a utility that scans your computer and tells you all you could ever want to know about the hardware, configuration, installed programs and way too much else to mention here. Ever wanted to go shopping for an upgrade (RAM, hard drive, video card, etc.)and don't want to open your case more than once? This is the answer.
• EasyCleaner - This program will allow you to clean your registry (remove entries that don't point anywhere thus speeding up your computer), delete all sorts of temporary files, clean up your Add/Remove Programs list, view hard drive usage in a whole new way, etc., etc. Not for the complete novice as messing with your registry can hose your PC; as always, proceed with caution and make a backup first. ToniArts (the author) is now charging for this download to cover bandwidth costs but you can still get it for free from MajorGeeks and from c r i m i n a l e . c o m here
• RegSeeker - This registry cleaner also allows you to view your registry in a way that is helpful to the non-power user. You can also sort keys by different criteria and optimize your OS.
• Partition Saving - A DOS program that will save, restore and copy hard drive partitions (Win98/2000/XP). More or less like Norton Ghost by Symantec - only it's free. THE best way to safeguard your system is to perform a clean install of your operating system, all your applications, patch and update everything, configure and tune your computer and then save an image of your hard drive. If your machine goes kaput, all you have to do is restore the image. That's what this is for.
• Un Plug 'n Pray - This utility disables the Universal Plug & Play Service that some versions of Windows have turned on by default.
• Shoot The Messenger - Have you ever received a pop-up on your desktop that contained some sort of advertisement? That's because by default, Windows has a 'Messenger' service enabled. This utility safely disables that service. NOTE - this has nothing to do with IM (Instant Messaging) and won't disable that.
• EndItAll - This utility will allow you to truly end all running processes on your PC. You know how some installers warn you to close all running programs or how the Win 98 defrag utility frequently quits and restarts because something is still writing to or reading from the disk? Not anymore. Use with caution - this is a Power User utility. You can get it here.
• - "BootDisks - PC Support - Essential Utilities" All the best boot disks from DOS to Windows to Linux. Also a great resource and tech support site.
• System Security Suite - Removes internet tracks and junk files from your computer. It also allows you to delete cookies, clear Internet Explorer cache, delete index.dat files, clear typed URLs, Windows temp folder and much more. You can also specify custom folders.
• HoverIP - See your TCP/IP config (for all network connections), run NSLOOKUP, PING, TRACERT, scan ports, all from one GUI.
• ActivePerl - Need to run Perl scripts on your workstation or server? Need to use Perl scripts in your cgi-bin after transferring your web site from UNIX/Linux to a Windows web server? Just install ActivePerl.
• Blat - Need to email that Perl script output to yourself? Need to email anything else to yourself without using an email server? This is the tool.
• OpenVPN - This software allows you setup a secure tunnel to send data over the Internet. And it's compatible with just about every platform/operating system.
• SyncToy - This Microsoft utility (for Windows XP SP2) will make synchronizing files between your PC and some remote share/server/drive a dream. Totally GUI, totally cool.
• Replicator - Karen Kenworthy's (KarenWare) Replicator copies selected files from one drive/folder to another. Source and Destination folders can reside anywhere on your network or across a WAN connection.
• gu4 - Harddisk Image Cloning for PCs. Not only can it clone disk to disk (any size) and copy disk partitions, it can also create and restore image files both locally and from a FTP site.
• DriveImage XML - This utility utilizes the Volume Shadow Copy Service in Windows XP and Server 2003 to backup drive and partitions to image files or clone drive to drive while Windows is running.
• Restoration - A way to undelete files that were removed from the recycle bin or directly deleted from within Windows, you can even recover from a Flash card that has been formatted.
• Recuva - "A freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players."

• Enough is Enough! - This utility allows you to lock down Internet Explorer so that ActiveX, cookies, Java, etc. will not work. It also lets you quickly and easily add sites to your Trusted or Restricted Zone with two new buttons. If you hate it when things just don't work and you don't like to push extra buttons, this may be much too much for you. Then again, it does help secure IE...

• AirDefense Personal - Software that protects mobile users of hotspots and other public Wi-Fi networks from wireless-specific risks that could expose private data and transactions.
• NetStumbler - A free packet sniffer utility used to locate Wi-Fi networks.