25 free Microsoft Windows Tools

Like many software companies, Microsoft offers many programs free. Internet Explorer is probably the most popular but there are numerous well-known Microsoft freebies, from Windows Live Mail to Photosynth.

However, some of Microsoft’s most useful free tools go completely unnoticed.

You may be familiar with a few of the tools in Microsoft’s Sysinternals Suite. With 67 freebies on offer, there’s an awful lot to explore – and in this article we will take a look at the ones that are suitable for home PC users.

Begin by downloading the Sysinternals Suite. It requires no installation – right-click the ZIP file and choose Extract or Extract all and choose a suitable folder. Use a new folder and it will make things easier if you create a folder on the C: drive, such as C:\Tools.

While some of the Sysinternals tools work in Windows, others need to be run from a command prompt. Press Start, then All Programs, then navigate to the Accessories folder and find Command Prompt.

In Windows 7 and Vista, right-click and choose ‘Run as administrator’. Now change to the Sysinternals folder by typing cd C:\Tools and pressing Enter.

Now, let’s learn more about the best of these Microsoft freebies.

WINDOWS TOOLS
Replace the Task Manager using Process Explorer
Process Explorer (procexp.exe) runs in Windows and is mainly used for advanced troubleshooting, but it can also be used by anyone as a replacement for the Windows Task Manager. Click Options, Replace Task Manager and when you next launch Task Manager, Process Explorer opens.

Click Options, Hide when minimised, and when you minimise the program it will put small live graphs in the Notification Area, showing processor (CPU) and memory usage.

Click on one of these to open Process Explorer, then click on the graph area under the menu to see an expanded version of these graphs. Hover the mouse pointer anywhere on the CPU Usage chart, and the tooltip shows which program is using most CPU at that moment.

For Computeractive's guide to using Process Explorer’s other features, click here.

Run multiple Desktops
If you’re fed up with always running out of room on the Windows Desktop for new windows, Desktops (desktops.exe) is the answer. This provides up to four extra independent Desktops, each of which can be running different programs.

Launch the program and a small icon appears in the Notification Area. Click this, then click one of the three empty panels to create a new Desktop. To load Desktops when Windows starts, right-click the icon and choose Options, then check the ‘Run automatically at logon’ box.

To switch instantly between Desktops, press Alt and the 1-4 number keys. The only slight annoyance is that you can’t have different colour schemes and backgrounds on each Desktop.