One thing about being an IT Specialist either you are a Systems Admin, Network Admin, Desktop Specialist, Web Developer, etc… YOU NEED TOOLS. You need tools to help with your daily job and tools to help troubleshoot and solve issues. I always tell my junior IT specialists, the more tools or software you know and mastered, the better IT specialist you will become. Some tools are necessary in daily IT troubleshooting and it will be your weapons in the IT world.

Network and Systems Tools

• Putty: A Free Telnet/SSH Client – Use the Putty tool to telnet into switches and routers devices
• TCPView – Show you detailed listings of all TCP and UDP from your system
• WireShark – Network protocol analyzer tool
• NMAP – Free Security Scanner
• SolarWind Network Monitoring Tools – Free Tools from SolarWind
• Sysinternals Suite – Windows Troubleshooting utilities. Highly recommended for Windows Admin users.
  Note: It is bundled with all the Ps tools. Example: PsExec.exe
• Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools
• Windows Server 2008 – Remote Server Administration Tools – You would need to add this feature from the Windows Server 2008 disc.
• Kiwi CatTools – Configuration Management
• VMWare PowerCLI – Command Line tool for VMware
• Spicework – Free Network Monitoring and Help Desk system
• OTRS – Free Help Desk system
• Foglight – Network Monitoring. (Used to be free for 100 devices. Now it is 100 interfaces).
• PRTG – Network and Bandwidth monitoring
• MRTG – Traffic Monitoring – Linux/Unix
• Nagios – Network monitoring – Linux/Unix (Free and Commercial versions available)

Remote Software Tools

• realVNC – Free Remote Access (Server and Client)
• DameWare – Remote Software
• TeamViewer – Free Remote Software
• LogMeIn – Remote Access and Remote Desktop

Development Tools

• Eclipse – Software Development tool

FTP/SCP Tools

• WinSCP – Free SFTP, SCP and FTP Client for Windows
• FileZilla – Free FTP software (Client and Server versions)
• WinSCP – Free SFTP, SCP and FTP Client for Windows
• SolarWind FTP server

Virus/Malware/Trojan Cleanup Tools

• Malwarebytes – Free Anti-Malware software
• AVG – Free Antivirus software
• Avast – Free Antivirus software
• HiJackThis – View Registry, Browser, and computer settings.
• TDSSKiller – Anti-rootkit utility
• GMER – Rootkit detector and remover

CD/Virtual Drive Tools

• MagicISO – Virtual CD/DVD-ROM
• Daemon Tools Lite – Create Disc Image File and Virtual CD/DVD drives

Compression Tools

• WinRAR – Archive Manager. Decompress RAR, ZIP and other compressed files
• WinZip – Compress and Uncompress files
• 7-Zip – Free File Archiver

Password Management Tools

• KeePass – Free Password Management
• LastPass – Free Password Management

Processes Tools

• Process Explorer – View all DLLs running in your system

Text Editing Tools

• Notepad++ – Free text editor
• Large Text File Viewer – View Large file

PDF Tools

• PDFCreator – Free PDF Creator and Converter
• CutePDF – Convert to PDF for Free, Save PDF

IM/Chatting Tools

• Pidgin – Free Chat client

Security and PenetrationTools

• BackTrack – Penetration Testing and Security Auditing tools

Useful Online Tools

• MX Toolbox – View MX record, DNS, Blacklist
• DNSStuff – View DNS, Blacklist, Whois lookup
• Speedtest – Broadband Speed Test
• Speakeasy – Broadband Speed Test

Useful Plugin Tools

• Firebug for Firefox – Web development tool to inspect HTML, javascript, and network usage

If you find or know of a useful tool, please let us know and we will add into this list.