The IT Toolbox – Community Based Resources for IT Professionals

[Support Team]

Hello RangerMSP-ers,

We thought it would be helpful to create a shared list of useful resource sites for IT professionals, and invite all of you to contribute.

It can include technology sites, tech forums, Blogs, IT business related sites and anything you find interesting.

Here’s a start:

1. www.dnsstuff.com (http://www.dnsstuff.com) - DNSstuff helps you configure, monitor and find problems with DNS settings.

2. www.mxtoolbox.com (http://www.mxtoolbox.com ) – Useful MX toolbox including MX lookup (done directly against the domain's authoritative name server, so changes to MX Records should show up instantly) and more.

3. www.ip2location.com (http://www.ip2location.com ) – This is a geo IP solution to help you to identify visitor's geographical location by their IP address.

4. technet.microsoft.com (http://technet.microsoft.com) – Microsoft’ resources for IT professionals.

Please post your recommendations below.

[ajgyomber]

Microsoft Exchange Server Remote Connectivity Analyzer - https://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com

Network Tools - http://www.yougetsignal.com

[lpopejoy]

Pretty tame, but this site is nice sometimes: http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/

[natrat]

Musn't forget www.whatismyip.com :)

[aaspeer]

http://www.centralops.net/co

That site does MX checks, domain checks and more... its free and provides some useful tools.

[specialblendrs]

http://www.experts-exchange.com is a lifesaver!

[paulNZ]

http://www.reimage.com a lifesaver if you are repairing XP machines. Yes it costs but works extremely well ... only 1 failure in the last 3 months and used on 100's ... well maybe not 100's but many, many systems.

[computechcity]

Another good and free online Meeting for support or meeting. http://www.mikogo.com/Welcome.aspx

[swallservices]

Yet another Network Tools site: http://www.nwtools.com

Port scanner: http://www.grc.com [click on Shields Up! on the Services menu at top]

[inna.rz]

http://network-tools.com/

[jtfinley]

www.checkdns.net is pretty good also for mail/web issues. Use the "Quick Check"

[mrdjames]

www.eventid.net - Used to lookup Event Log info

www.getdropbox.com - Share files across multiple machines and also use the public link to share files without having to FTP or Email

www.ccleaner.com - optimize a pc quickly

www.malwarebytes.org - get rid of any nasty spyware or trojans quickly

[Support Team]

Hello Community,

We're happy to present another update to the IT toolbox:

SpeedTest.Net - Reports on your current available bandwidth (http://speedtest.net)
PingTest.Net - Measures packet loss & degradation (pingtest.net)

Reno Breen

[MxToolBox]

Thank you for recommending our website for MX lookup and more! We are always interested in ways that administrators are using our tools in the wild.

If you have any suggestions of tools we can add to mxtoolbox.com, please let us know!

[mundycomputers]

canyouseeme.org (http://www.canyouseeme.org) - type in a port number to see whether it is available to the rest of the world

[Support Team]

Hi MundyComputers,

Thanks for posting this great site, it's very useful in checking firewall settings.

In spirit of your post, I've also decided to add another "screwdriver" into this toolbox...

For all your Proxy server and Anonymous web surfing needs, take a look in HideMyAss.com (http://www.hidemyass.com).

Let me know what you think.

Regards,
Reno Breen

[JoshuaB]

google.com

(yea... late night. ;) But... the ultimate for me. Replaces 'em all. I need a laugh.)

[JoshuaB]

ok... legit answer then:

opendns.com - rocks

Google's new DNS is 8.8.8.8 - open for all. Dang easy to remember... even though I prefer opendns.com.

[Project3IT]

mailradar.com

only recently come across it and it is great.

[neuroncs]

www.ninite.com - automatically install dozens of apps. OMG what a valuable time-saver!

[I-Netcs]

dyndns.org is a great help
filehippo.com

[SkinnerTech]

One of my favorites... checks global propagation for DNS changes...

http://www.whatsmydns.net/

[advantageuk]

I'll ditto http://www.experts-exchange.com, invaluable.

http://www.eventid.net (windows event codes)
http://www.clearclouddns.com (secure surfing)
https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 (port scan)
http://www.pctools.com/guides/password/ (random password generator)
http://live.sunbeltsoftware.com/Download/ (command line verions of VIPRE antivirus with latest defs included)

That'll have to do for my first contribution! :-)

[andyrosebrook]

Didn't see it posted yet, one of my most used apps has been the offline nt password remover. I use this all the time for clients.

http://www.pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

Carbonite is amazing for data backup for business clients or home users protecting their family pictures. I use the $5 mo plan on servers, works great.

www.carbonite.com

The only antivirus I use now is Microsoft Security Essentials.

www.Microsoft.com/security_essentials

[-David-]

http://www.livecd.com/

has a wealth of tools on it that I have found useful in the past and present.

Also allows a USB boot disk to be made with custom drivers. Found that handy when network cards would not work until they had drivers installed.

[I-Netcs]

Combofix.exe from bleepingcomputer.com is one of the most powerful malware removal tools i've ever seen. And it's fast too.

[bdbrower]

http://www.whatsmydns.net can be very handy for DNS/MX status checks (free).

[I-Netcs]

Does anyone have any good tools or hacks to unlock a SATA hard drive?

[Stanley Ng]

www.join.me - Free Screen Sharing and Online Meetings.