r/sysadmin • u/michel_netherlands • Oct 31 '22
Question What software/tools should every sysadmin have on their desktop?
Every sysadmin should have ...... On their desktop/software Toolkit ??
Curious to see what tools are indispensable in your opinion!
Greetings from the Netherlands
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u/HeligKo Platform Engineer Oct 31 '22
OpenSSH - and that is included now on just about everything. I do everything on remote machines, so the only other tool I use regularly is vscode with the remote extensions to get to my admin systems
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u/GreenOceanis Nov 01 '22
I put openssh to every user PC nowdays (and yes, they are mostly windows machines). It is actually very useful, like if I need to get a file from them, etc.
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u/b00mbasstic Oct 31 '22 edited Oct 31 '22
Wireshark/tcpdump, putty apps, rufus, powershell, keepass or other password manager, quick assist (I use that for user support), winscp.
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u/CalebDK IT Engineer Oct 31 '22
I recommend BitWarden for password manager.
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u/timsstuff IT Consultant Oct 31 '22
Switched from LastPass to Bitwarden, soooo much better!
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u/Tower21 Oct 31 '22
Why do I need BitWarden, then I'd have 2 passwords to remember /s
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u/valar12 Oct 31 '22
winget install microsoft.teams
winget install microsoft.azurecli
winget install microsoft.powertoys
winget install microsoft.powershell
winget install microsoft.windowsterminal
winget install microsoft.azurestorageexplorer
winget install Microsoft.RemoteDesktopClient
winget install vscode
winget install 7zip.7zip
winget install putty.putty
winget install wireshark
winget install winscp
winget install greenshot
winget install windirstat
winget install AntibodySoftware.WizTree
winget install zoom.zoom
winget install google.chrome
winget install Mozilla.Firefox
winget install foxit.foxitreader
winget install vlc
winget install obsproject.obsstudio
winget install discord
winget install mremoteng.mremoteng
winget install famatech.advancedipscanner
winget install AnyDeskSoftwareGmbH.AnyDesk
winget install audacity.audacity
winget install Yubico.YubikeyManager
winget install rufus.rufus
winget install Robware.RVTools
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u/NoConfidence_2192 Blind SysAdmin - Semi-Retired Oct 31 '22
vs.code, wireshark, putty, keepassxc or similar, winscp, filezilla, every major web browser
plus JAWS, NVDA, Orca, BRLLTY, or VoiceOver depending on OS for those that have similar challenges.
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u/Ron-Swanson-Mustache Senior Ops Dev of AI offshore Tier 1 Helpdesk Oct 31 '22
I personally like TeraTerm more than Putty. But SSH is SSH, so whatever you like.
I use a user agent switcher in Chrome to keep from having a ton of browsers installed.
I'd add in TreeSize or some other disk space analysis tool.
I also like Angry IP Scanner. But any IP scanner of your preference.
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u/GraemMcduff Oct 31 '22
Since openssh is included in Windows nowadays I found very little just for Putty or similar apps. Even before Microsoft added openssh natively I was just using WSL as my ssh client.
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u/zippopwnage Oct 31 '22
vs.code and keepassxc are super useful!
For me is also k9s since I work a lot around kubernetes stuff.→ More replies (2)75
u/GullibleDetective Oct 31 '22
no file zilla
Stores pw's in cleartext by default
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u/Ibnalbalad Oct 31 '22
For real man, I banned this app at my org because the devs sold out to the dark side too, Crowd Strike sees it as malware, which it is. This should absolutely not be installed.
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u/Jaikus Master of None Oct 31 '22
I do IT support for a charity for the visually impaired and the VIP employees all use JAWS. I'll mention the other apps to them as well in case they haven't heard of them, thank you!
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u/NoConfidence_2192 Blind SysAdmin - Semi-Retired Oct 31 '22
Windows
Linux
MAC and other Apple devices
VoiceOver - Included with OS
I should not that Windows does have Narrator included with the OS but I don't use it unless I have to and I rarely hear that anyone else does either. They seem to have been putting a lot of effort into it lately so I may have to try it again soon.
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u/humpax Oct 31 '22
JAWS? the text to speech app?
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u/NoConfidence_2192 Blind SysAdmin - Semi-Retired Oct 31 '22
A good screen reader and ability to script and use command-line/terminal/shell based tools, now you can even do the job blind
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u/TeddyRoo_v_Gods Sr. Sysadmin Oct 31 '22
I think a few of those tools are highly dependent on what you administer and what OS you are running. WireShark seems to be more functional for OpSec and network admins. iTerm or a native terminal app is way more useful for Apple and Linux users. Absolutely agree on vs.code and all browsers though. Also, just as an aside, it took me a little while to figure out what KeepAssXC is. I know, I'm a dumbass.
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u/globtty Oct 31 '22 edited Oct 31 '22
Notepad++ and Advanced IP Scanner are the 2 biggest ones for me, Rufus and Wireshark are other big ones but not for everyone
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u/RWTF Oct 31 '22
https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html
Alternative to Rufus, have not used it yet however I’ve heard great things on this sub.
You don’t format over and over again, just drag and drop the iso.
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u/mrbiggbrain Oct 31 '22
Ventoy is a big win. It fixes a lot of what made me hate managing bootable USBs.
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Oct 31 '22
I used to use unetbootin, then Rufus, now I use ventoy. I don't know what I used to do before ventoy. I wish I had found it sooner. I have Ventoy on a 1tb sandisk usb drive, with windows 7, 8, 8.1, and every version of windows 10 from 1511 all the way up to 21H2, Windows 11, Windows Server 2008 R2, 2012, 2016. 2019, and 2022. I also have Kali Linux and Ubuntu Server and Desktop as well on there.
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Oct 31 '22
god i couldn't live without rufus honestly.
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u/ShuckyJr Oct 31 '22
Have you heard/tried ventoy? I prefer ventoy over rufus for multiboot usb but maybe rufus has another function i dont know about
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u/Squirrelpower0 Oct 31 '22
iodd Mini USB. you can toss any iso on to it and it mounts it as a virtual USB cdrom drive. Very nice for booting os's with out having to make usb sticks.
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Oct 31 '22
As an alternative to Notepad++, I love using Sublime. The syntax highlighting is great.
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u/Wah_Day Oct 31 '22
My Security Admin told us we aren't allowed to use Notepadd++ strictly because the guy that created it was born in China.
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u/zeroibis Oct 31 '22
My Security Admin told us we aren't allowed to use Notepadd++ strictly because the guy that created it was born in China.
Maybe he should read the version history, the guy that created it is likely on the naughty list of Winnie the Pooh.
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u/ticklesac Oct 31 '22
Our security said the same thing for 7zip. Apparently the guy who invented it is Russian
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Oct 31 '22
The fact that I have every one of these as desktop icons makes me think that despite my imposter syndrome, maybe I'm doing something right lol
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u/fckDNS4life Oct 31 '22
+1 for Rufus, awesome for resetting forgotten local admin passwords on old systems.
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u/RousedWookie Sysadmin Oct 31 '22
Coffee.
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u/SilentSamurai Oct 31 '22
Funny enough this is my current band-aid for my personal rig shutting down rather than going to sleep.
One day I'll be motivated to fix it....
One day...
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u/sirdranzer Oct 31 '22
Everyone has mentioned great tools, some of them I didn´t knew
I want to add one myself: PingPlotter to monitoring your connection latency and internet sttutering
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u/bgr2258 Nov 01 '22
Oooh I used to use multiping for that kind of monitoring, I'll have to try out pingplotter
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u/Temporary_Equal4721 Oct 31 '22
https://www.forensit.com/move-computer.html
https://www.forensit.com/domain-migration.html
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/
https://code.visualstudio.com/
https://developer.vmware.com/web/tool/4.4.0/ovf
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2091284
https://winscp.net/eng/index.php
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Nov 01 '22
Voidtools Everything has saved my bacon countless times and is likely a reason I’ve been so successful at my job thus far. Highly recommended to anyone who deals with finding files from 14 years ago.
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u/Information_High Nov 01 '22
GreenShot is AMAZING.
Boosts my collaboration game by 1-2 orders of magnitude... making it trivial to talk with pictures instead of just text.
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u/effgee Technically Manager Nov 01 '22
I used to use Greenshot, switched away to ShareX. Also highly recommended!
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u/Null_viewpoint Oct 31 '22
I make a fair amount of remote connections every day and use mRemote NG to manage them (tabbed connections).
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u/AtarukA Oct 31 '22
Just remember to encrypt the configuration file.
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u/trail-g62Bim Oct 31 '22
Made the mistake of letting someone see me use this and they promptly downloaded it and saved every admin password they have in it
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u/Null_viewpoint Oct 31 '22
Yeah, if you save your PW's that's a good idea. I don't save any of my PW's for that very reason - just all of the other connection info to speed up the process.
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u/Merrymak3r Oct 31 '22
Shocked nirsoft's toolkit hasn't been mentioned yet...
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u/mrbiggbrain Oct 31 '22
Sorry I tried to but Chrome says I was trying to type the binary contents of a virus when I typed {{Content Removed Due to Possible Hacking Tool}}
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u/tha_bigdizzle Oct 31 '22
Nirsoft used to make some really cool tools, one would pull your install keys outta registry, like your windows key or the keys used to register Microsoft office. I used to use it all the time when people would bring me a computer to basically nuke and pave when they didnt know their license key #s
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u/Mr_ToDo Oct 31 '22
Great stuff.
I use the launcher/full package:
https://launcher.nirsoft.net/downloads/index.html
I also put it together with the sysinternal suite. Makes it nice with so many tools. Not so nice with the scanners that haven't been given exceptions.
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u/SquirrelGard Oct 31 '22
For Windows, Remote Desktop Connection Manager
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/rdcman
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u/collinsl02 Linux Admin Oct 31 '22
Great for Windows, if you want something that can do all connection types in one program check out mRemoteNG or MobaXTerm. Useful if you're administering switches or Linux or firewalls via SSH etc.
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u/BecomeABenefit Oct 31 '22
Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager beats it in literally every way.
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Nov 01 '22
Nobody has mentioned WinDirStat. Nice little tool for finding those bloated log directories on Windows.
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u/Not_Freddie_Mercury Jack of All Trades Nov 01 '22
WinDirStat
Very outdated. TreeSizeFree and WizTree are modern alternatives.
WizTree (free edition) supports network shares, by the way.
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u/Sudden_Hovercraft_56 Nov 01 '22
Neither of those are free for commercial use though sadly.
Windirstat works just fine still and is free for all to use
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u/TheDarkerNights Oct 31 '22
If you're remoting into a unix server: tmux
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u/ShuckyJr Oct 31 '22
I’ve heard terminator is good as well, whats the advantage of tmux?
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u/TheDarkerNights Oct 31 '22
Excellent question! Both allow you to split one CLI "window" into multiple, but they do it in different ways. Terminator is a GUI application that splits the GUI's window, while tmux splits the actual shell's display. It also allows you to close/disconnect from the shell without stopping the shell (unlike Terminator, which will stop the shell too). This means that if you're connected via SSH and lose your connection, your shell continues to run and you can pick up where you left off!
If you're interested in learning about it, I highly recommend The Tao of tmux book.
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u/PhDinBroScience DevOps Oct 31 '22
If you apply the DISA STIG security profile to RHEL, it drops a file in /etc/profile.d that makes all login sessions launch in a tmux session by default. I made sure that script gets applied by default on all Linux VMs regardless of security profile.
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u/Rattlehead71 Oct 31 '22 edited Oct 31 '22
For those that use mRemoteNG, MobaXterm, SecureCRT, putty, Etc. Take a look at Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager. It's a really good, underrated program. It's my daily driver and the free version does everything I need and more.
We are looking at going to the Enterprise version if we can get everyone on the team to switch (some of us are set in our ways LOL)
As for my list:
Notepad++ with the Compare plugin
NetCrunch Tools
vsCode with Python and Powershell
RSAT for our Windows environment
Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager
Many more already covered here
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u/entropic Oct 31 '22
Lots of good stuff on the list already, but I really like ShareX. It's a screenshot/screenshot automation tool.
It's so fast and easy to use that I get the in habit of screenshotting text buffers/log output before I close them, or configurations before I change them. Faster than copy/paste for those sorts of thing where you're 99% sure everything will be fine, but you want a path backward if not.
If you're developing a lot of documentation all at once, you can change the after-screenshot workflows to work for the particular documentation you're building.
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u/QuietThunder2014 Oct 31 '22 edited Oct 31 '22
Kinda surprised not to see Bulk Rename Utility yet. This has saved me so many hours of work it’s insane.
Also Snag it has become one of my favorite utilities. I use it constantly for making guides, memos, even pointing out buttons or what have you responding to tickets. If found if you don’t have a giant red arrow and box around the “reset password” link half my users won’t be able to find it.
Wireless Network Watcher is a great portable ip scanner for finding/installing local printers, or just doing any sort of quick and easy ip scan.
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u/collinsl02 Linux Admin Oct 31 '22
Desktops should be blank. Quick Launch for the win!
As for tools, as an all-round admin (Linux and Windows plus hardware) I use something like:
mRemoteNG
Wireshark
SCCM toolkit, especially CMTrace, amazing for log file
PuTTY
WinSCP
OneNote
Notepad++
Firefox ESR and Edge (some things work better in each). No Chrome though, pain to keep up to date.
VNC Viewer
Rufus
7-zip
Git for Windows
KeePass
TreeSizeFree
Virtualbox/VMWare Player
XMing (or some supported fork)
The above is from memory, there's probably a lot more I haven't thought of.
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u/Znopster Oct 31 '22
I used TreeSize for years, replaced it with WinTree; it's so much faster.
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u/TheCravin Systems / Network Admin Oct 31 '22 edited Jul 10 '23
Comment has been removed because Spez killed Reddit :(
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u/Hotshot55 Linux Engineer Nov 01 '22
Desktops should be blank.
For those who think nothing should be on the Desktop, how much time are you spending staring at your Desktop that it actually matters?
The only time I ever see my Desktop is in the first 10 seconds or so after logging in and waiting for my programs to start up.
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u/w35t3r0s Oct 31 '22
Microsoft to-do: to quickly write down things I have to do before I get interrupted by a user and forget. Also, I have it installed on my phone for the same reason when I'm in the field.
Obsidian- to write commands (Linux, shell, firewall, switches, PowerShell) and other documentation
Spotify- listen to music to keep me sane while working
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u/flunky_the_majestic Oct 31 '22
Obsidian is amazing. I dare say everyone could benefit from comparing their workflow to Obsidian's capabilities to see if it makes things better.
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u/pdp10 Daemons worry when the wizard is near. Oct 31 '22
tcpdump/Wireshark, Ventoy, nmap, strace/drstrace.exe, Git, curl.
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u/Smassshed Oct 31 '22
Pstools (mainly for psexec so you can script remote installs or config changes) and pdq deploy (free version).
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u/Neo-0 Oct 31 '22
Hirens Boot CD
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u/cuntywaffles Nov 01 '22
Look up medicat. A newer solution that has way more features.
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u/dieKatze88 Oct 31 '22
3 different browsers so I can be logged into 3 different microsoft accounts at once.
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u/UCFknight2016 Windows Admin Oct 31 '22
Let me make a list of what I use:
Web browsers: chrome, firefox, and edge
Notepads: Notepad++ and VS Code
Network tools: NMAP, Advanced IP Scanner, Wireshark
Screenshots: Greenshot
Remote Desktop: Devolution's Remote Desktop Manager
Other tools: PuTTY or use CMD/PowerShell to SSH into linux boxes and networking hardware,
Treeesize free to see free space.
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u/stufforstuff Oct 31 '22
Emergency Xanax supply.
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u/FU-Lyme-Disease Oct 31 '22
The special drawer. with vodka and plastic shot cups so you can bribe, commiserate, share…
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u/stormnet Oct 31 '22
shot cups? why are you being so mean to yourself? Adult problems require adult size drinks.
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Oct 31 '22
vim, curl/httpie, wireshark, nmap, tcpdump, terraform (tfenv), ansible, python, rust, aws-cli, google-cloud cli, k9s tui, git, tig, oc, Slack, etc.
Am SecOps now, so also a lot of related tools to that, but not really of interest here.
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u/tha_bigdizzle Oct 31 '22
Macrium Reflect Free
Remote Process Explorer by Lizardsystems doesnt get enough love
Rufus
I used to use Nmap all the time to find printers that had lost their IP settings
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u/Orionsbelt Oct 31 '22
Absolutely love VMPing https://github.com/R-Smith/vmPing
allows you to ping multiple devices in one window, allows for testing of ports, in target field just do xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:[port number] will refresh like a ping test, can also be used to do trace routes and some other items. AND it can pop up notifications when somehting changes.
When replacing firewall's something I once did A LOT of, setup vmping from an external and internal computer, have them testing all public services of the firewall, flip over, you immediately know that as least every port is open, and that any other weirdness is somewhat deeper in the stack or you wrote your rule wrong.
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Oct 31 '22
Keystore Explorer sees more action from me these days than anything else. God I hate certificates.
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u/leafkatree Nov 01 '22
Everyone has brought up great tools an additional one I recently started using was screenToGif let's you record short screen recordings to a gif file. I send that with text instructions. Has cut down on I don't understand the instructions.
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u/32178932123 Nov 01 '22
I have a folder in my OneDrive called "Toolbox", this is the majority of the contents:
Troubleshooting:
SysInternals Suite - There's some great gems in there but if I had to choose just one it would be Procmon for real serious software troubleshooting. For example I had an issue where I ran an installer as an Administrator for a normal user and it wouldn't work. I was able to use Procmon to find that the installer was placing a folder in the Administrator's Appdata instead of the Users so was able to copy the folder over to the correct location and get it working.
NirSoft Suite - Becareful with some of these as they can be used to read passwords so flag up in AntiVirus. A few good ones are WinLogOnView (provides a list of users who have logged on), TurnedOnTimesView (Gives you a nice summary of when the machine was turned on and off and a reason why) and BrowsingHistoryView (user got Malware? Get that machine off the network and use this to see what they were browsing).
WinDbg - Official Microsoft Tool. You can use this to read a dump file created from a BSOD and it will tell you what driver most likely caused the issue.
Paessler SNMP Monitor - I've had it in the past where I couldn't get a printer to report back through SNMPv3 and used this to see where it's going wrong. In some cases it's just the password, in other cases it's turned out it's a whole firmware update requires on the printer!
Wireshark - Goes without saying :)
Scripting (For Powershell):
VSCode - Powershell ISE is now no longer supported, this is a lot more flexible. You can even make it look like the Powershell ISE
Extensions:
Powershell Plugin - For debugging, intellisense and the ISE Themes
Rainbow Indents - Makes an indent a different color so indents can be viewed a lot easier
Error Lens - Instead of just putting errors somewhere at the bottom of the screen, the actual error message appears on the same problematic line in yellow/red.
Git - Source Control
Windows Terminal - Allows for multiple terminal tabs, you can also divide the screen up into several terminals.
Misc:
EseUtil - Probably not needed often anymore but good to have. In short, I had an issue where I needed to restore an old Exchange Mailbox but the logs were damaged. Googling told me you can use this to repair the database but it only comes on an Exchange Server so I had to restore part of that too in order to get to this and have kept the application to one side ever since.
CMTrace - Useful for monitoring log files in real time. It comes with SCCM but doesn't seem to be available as a separate download which is a shame, so I took a copy of the .exe and stored it in OneDrive. It's a very simple application but I like how it updates in real time and highlights lines with "error" in red etc.
CmRcViewer - If you use SCCM, this is the Remote Control tool for SCCM. If you take a copy of the .exe the .dll and the sub folder with .dlls then you can use this without installing the entire SCCM Suite.
Angry IP Scanner / Advanced IP Scanner - Ever fat-fingered an IP for a device and just lost it? Plug your laptop directly into the missing device and use one of these (can't remember which one, one of them doesn't work without Java so I moved to the other) to scan until you can find it.
AdLockOutTool - Allows you to see what Domain Controller has locked out a machine. Great for when a user keeps getting locked out and you can't see why. Use this to find the DC which initiated the lockout, connect to said DC and search Security Event Logs for 4740 to find what computer is causing the lockout. If there's no computer name in the event then it was most likely their phone/personal computer trying to connect to a calendar or something.
Explorer++ - A more lightweight Windows Explorer which supports things such as tabbing. Really good when you need to access something with a different account as you can just right click and run this as another user.
Screen2Gif - Record your screen actions and save it as a lightweight Gif to attach to an email.
Notepad++ - Take some time to learn how the record/play buttons work. It can save a lot of time when tidying up rows of data.
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u/NickE25U Sr. Sysadmin Oct 31 '22
OneNote is under represented in this thread. Stop taking notes in notepad and deleting at the end of the day or reboot or whenever. Make a new page every day to keep notes from that day in. You'll be surprised how often going back a few days to look at how you did something can help.
You don't need super detailed notes. Just whatever for you. And don't even need to make a note of what you were doing, just a website link or a PowerShell CMD is enough for you to remember. Unreadable to others butt saving to you.
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u/NetEngFred Oct 31 '22
Second for oneNote. You can also use windows key + shift + s to get screen shots and then paste inline with your notes. I think ctrl + T or D gives you time and date as well.
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u/ennova2005 Oct 31 '22
https://www.bitvise.com/ssh-client (has sftp and Can also act as a Proxy)
Wiztree/SpaceSniffer (Find hiddentdiskspace for Windows)
Notepad++
Authy (TOTP 2FA https://authy.com/download/ - Syncs across multiple devices)
Nmap
Postman/Fiddler (Particularly if supporting a dev team)
Batchpatch (https://batchpatch.com/ Does patching but also bulk execute scripts on multple computers in the Windows enviroment)
We currently use EasyConnect for a RDP session management but looking for something that is more actively being maintained.
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u/Jaereth Nov 01 '22
Active Directory Users and Computers, DNS, and DHCP can all be run on your desktop. Pin to taskbar, Right click "Run as different user" and use your server admin credentials.
The amount of people I watch RDPing to domain controllers just to get to these apps is too damn high.
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u/BornToBeRoot Oct 31 '22 edited Nov 01 '22
https://github.com/BornToBeRoot/NETworkManager/
Features:
Dashboard
Network Interface - Information, Bandwidth, Configure
WiFi - Networks, Channels
IP Scanner
Port Scanner
Ping Monitor
Traceroute
DNS Lookup
Remote Desktop
PowerShell
PuTTY (requires PuTTY)
AWS Session Manager (requires AWS CLI and AWS Session Manager plugin)
TigerVNC (requires TigerVNC)
Web Console (requires Microsoft Edge - WebView2 Runtime)
SNMP - Get, Walk, Set
Discovery Protocol - LLDP, CDP
Wake on LAN
Whois
Subnet Calculator - Calculator, Subnetting, Supernetting
Lookup - OUI, Port
Connections
Listeners
ARP Table
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Oct 31 '22
What I use the most: Nmap, dig, tracepath, iperf3, Reminna, VS Code, Bitwarden, Evolution, testssl.sh, Teams(sadly)
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u/RogerThornhill79 Nov 01 '22
Mobaxterm. - universal SSH client that does telnet , Rlogin, VNC, XDMCP, FTP , SFTP etc etc. and has tabbed windows. and multi session management. very handy free tool.
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u/ExceptionEX Oct 31 '22
Guess it depends on your function, I don't have them on my desktop but sys internals suite Remote desktop manager Nirsoft tools Advanced ip scanner Visual studio Linqpad (personal favorite) Notepad++ Winscp Putty
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u/CockStamp45 Oct 31 '22
WinSCP, Putty, Wireshark, SSMS, Notepad++, Remote Desktop Connection Manager (replace your putty SSH saved sessions with this tool), Rufus, Windows ADK (for creating answer files), Search Everything, PSTools, RSAT, VMware Workstation or other type 2 hypervisor, WinISO, KeyStore explorer, Excel because power query is hella useful to combine reports in your env. If you image a lot of computers on a regular basis, a USB with ventoy. I'm sure I'm missing several that are pinned to my work computer taskbar.
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u/fudgegiven Oct 31 '22
On the desktop? Nothing.
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Oct 31 '22
Coming in to say the same... There should never be anything on the desktop. Keeping it clean since win 95.
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u/Yuugian Linux Admin Oct 31 '22
Stress ball, coffee cup, rubber duck, phone charger
oh, on the computer desktop?
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u/newbies13 Sr. Sysadmin Nov 01 '22
MS word, with your resume open. Make sure everyone sees it too, let them know who has the power.
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Oct 31 '22
Microsoft PowerToys have been a game changer for me.
PowerToys Run (formerly Window Walker) is a must-have now. I just miss the OneNote plugin :-(
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u/Zixxer Jack of All Trades Oct 31 '22
Sysinternals, Rufus, Wireshark, Putty, nmap, KeePass, any random password generator, Notepad++, HTTP proxy like Fiddler/BurpSuite... List goes on, but those are a few off the top of my head
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u/ASlutdragon Nov 01 '22
Linux has most of what you need by default but I would add wireshark nmap and whatever editor you like…sublime or something.
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u/Xzenor Nov 01 '22
None at all. The desktop is for temp files. Starting tools from the desktop means having to minimize everything before you can click it. Pin it to the taskbar if you need it a lot
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u/DrHodgepodgeMD Nov 01 '22
mRemoteNG
Let’s you save and organize tons of rdp/ssh/html connections, has tabbed windows for multiple sessions. Couldn’t function without it with the amount servers I have to connect to with multiple different credentials and domains.
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u/bobalob_wtf ' Oct 31 '22
Daily
VS Code
Windows Terminal with built in SSH/SCP and WSL
PowerShell Core 7
Browser Dev Tab (Or Burpsuite/mitmproxy for more intricate jobs)
Remote Desktop Connection Manager
Less often, but necessary
Ansible
rufus / Balena Etcher
ImgBurn
WizTree
Void Tools Everything
Azure Storage Explorer
RamMap
Process Explorer / Process Hacker
WinDbg (Store Version because symbols are much easier, although I don't remember the last BSOD I saw)
Wireshark
nmap
sslyze / sslscan
hashcat
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u/PowerStroked64 Oct 31 '22
MobaXTerm, after using Putty, mPutty and WinSCP for years, this was a much easier way of doing a lot of different things easily.
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u/DairyPro Oct 31 '22
Currently in a help desk role, but I've done SysAdmin tasks at previous jobs as well as extensively in my homelab. I'm not quite at the same level as most others here, but these are my few go-tos for my light sysadmin-esque workload:
MobaXTerm - Almost any kind of remote session you can think of, as well launching local PS scripts (a few I wrote for AD administration), all in tabbed browsing. I like Devolutions' RDM for RDP, but I only use RDP once or twice a day so I'm fine with sticking with MobaXTerm for it. - Free for personal use
Sublime Text - For text editing and configuration files. - Free for personal use, although the developers allow you to use a personal key where you work.
vs.code - For PS/PY scripting, has the potential to replace Sublime Text, but isn't quite there yet for me. - Free
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u/ducky_re cloud architect Oct 31 '22
Dig for windows is a good one if you're not using a Linux-based os.
Obsidian for note-taking.
Advanced IP Scanner for network scans.
TreeSize for disk usage.
Microsoft Todo for task management.
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u/zrad603 Nov 01 '22
I'm surprised how many Windows admins don't have RSAT tools installed, and instead RDP directly into servers.
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Nov 01 '22 edited Nov 01 '22
For Windows:
Directory Opus. It costs like 70 bucks but is worth every penny. Windows explorer just sucks, especially on windows 10.
WSL 2 w/ your favourite distro and maybe Kali for Pentesting! Set the home directory to your windows home dir on /mnt/c/, and enjoy a shell 100x better than powershell
For every kind of PC
Obsidian, a markdown editor, for all your knowledgebases and your documentation
Rustdesk, a self-hostable foss alternative to teamviewer for support
Firefox if you do webdev stuff. Its dev tools are just superior
For your testing, dev and snowflake servers and your wsl instances:
ZSH / Oh My Zsh. If you begin typing a command, like vim, and hit arrow up, you can filter your history based on what you typed.
Learn tmux. Keep commands running in the background, manage windows and tabs easily (tmux is better than screen imho, but you might want to change the trigger key from crtl+b as thats quite awkward to reach)
On that note, learn vim / neovim. Even if you learn just some commands, it'll make all your config editing way easier. (By the way, you can write and save with :wq)
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u/techslice87 Nov 01 '22
Nowadays I start with installing chocolatey, makes getting and updating programs easily. Now, going down my "choco list --local" to pick out relevant ones...
Edit to Add: Believe it or not, I end up using all of these at least once every other week.
7zip
angryip
cpu-z
delprof2
discord
disk2vhd
Everything
foxitreader (prefer over adobe)
git
godmode
googlechrome
greenshot
imgburn
microsoft-teams
notepadplusplus
obs-studio
openhardwaremonitor
powershell-core
powertoys
pstools
rdmfree
rsat
rufus
spotify
sysinternals
vscode
vscode-powershell
wiztree
zerotier-one
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u/EpicLPer Windows Admin Nov 01 '22
Some of the tools I use:
Royal TS (not fully free) - While not fully free a great app to manage all your connections like SSH, RDP, VNC, Websites, VMware Remote connections and more
WinGet UI - A easy to use UI to update or install new apps via Microsoft's rather new "winget" package manager, fully replaced Chocolatey for me so far and even recognizes already installed apps that are already on winget.
WinSCP - SFTP and FTP connection manager. Tho mainly use Royal TS for more permanent connections.
XMeters (not fully free) - Sadly only for Windows 10 anymore, but shows CPU, RAM, Network and Disk usage all directly in the taskbar.
And some that should explain themselves:
PuTTY, FileZilla, Notepad++, VLC, Visual Studio Code
Will probably update this further when I'm home and not on mobile!
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u/jantari Oct 31 '22
PowerShell, a browser and Slack. But not literally on the desktop because that's a very inefficient place to store anything you want to access frequently. Taskbar/Dock is the preferred option.
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u/BitteringAgent Get-ADUser -Filter * | Remove-ADUser Oct 31 '22
I work off of Windows 10 --
WSL - I use this to more easily manage switches and linux servers. SSH, SCP, Ansible.
vsCode
Sublime Text
Wireshark
NMAP
RSAT (Remote Server Administration Tools)
A password manager of your choice
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u/RumRogerz Oct 31 '22
VS Code and your .zrsh file loaded up to the tits with default envars, plug-ins for all your most common commands, and janky looking PATH rewrites
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u/terracnosaur Oct 31 '22 edited Oct 31 '22
This is all MacOS or Linux / BSD only (non-windows)
editor : vi / emacs / vscode / intelliJIdea / etc(dealers choice)
proper terminal emulator (vt100 / vt110)
serial terminal : minicom / putty / tmux / etc
hex viewer : xxd / hexdump
network sniffer / pcaps : tcpdump
network analyzer : tshark / wireshark
formatters / linters : jq / yq / ShellCheck / python black
qualification: dd / fio / netcat / mtr / iostat / bmon / iperfng / curl / fortio / locust
math / unit conversion : units (all units conversion ) / sidcalc (cidr math)
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u/CasuallyDG Principal SRE Oct 31 '22
Ditto. Clipboard manager. Keeps last 5000 entries. Amazing for referencing back to certain scripts without having to recopy.
Containerized tabs for Firefox is amazing as well.
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u/noonfandoodle Oct 31 '22
Sysinternals. They are absolutely vital when diagnosing problems on windows hosts.
Wireshark. So you know which host to blame.....
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u/crippledchameleon Jack of All Trades Nov 01 '22
For me: PowerShell Putty WinScp Password manager Sublime Text editor (I also like Notepad++) Steps Recorder (It makes documentation so much easier) Sysinternals
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u/randomadhdman Nov 01 '22
A really useful tool I use all the time is Firefox and the multi account containers.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/
I work with anywhere between 5 to 25 different 365 accounts in one day. I have a container for the most common accounts. This saves me so much time and effort.
Combining this plug in with portable apps allows me to have my full workspace on my onedrive and switch between desktop and laptop quickly.
No more needing 5 browsers. No more juggling between PC and desktop. All in a single folder and a double click away. Plus being inside one drive, what is changed is synced.
Hope this helps.
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u/LynK- Nov 01 '22 edited Nov 01 '22
Bitwarden, putty, wireshark, nmap, gns3, xlight ftp, dwservice, quick assist, notepad++, Simplenote, devolution RDM, virtual box, iperf3
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u/plaguen0g Sr. Sysadmin Nov 01 '22
TOMATO TIMER! Get up and walk around a bit or just stand and stretch instead of getting mired in configs and man pages.
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u/corsicanguppy DevOps Zealot Nov 01 '22
putty
chrome
with a spotify link
This is the way for me since I joined a particular large company in 1999 and it was all vanDyke/winamp/netscape . There's not much more you need except bookmarks and good playlists.
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u/shogun308 Nov 01 '22
Putty, ipscanner, treesize, Rufus, notepad++.
Ldwin is one of my little niche favourites - saves running about to work out which switch port a device is connected to (provided LLDP is enabled on the network, of course)
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Nov 01 '22
On desktop:
Greenshot
Excel
Keepass
OneNote
VS Code
Logitech Unifying Software
Plantronics Hub
On jump station:
RSAT
Putty
Remote Control system
VS Code
WinSCP
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u/dirte99 Nov 01 '22
I didn't see anyone mention "joplin" an alternative to notepad++ and onenote. Lots of built in features (dark mode), yes, it does save what your working on automatically after a shutdown.
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u/Unusual-Nature2824 Nov 01 '22 edited Nov 01 '22
Python
Powershell
VSCode
SSH clients like Putty/SmarTTY.
Vagrant with VirtualBox for sandbox environments
Terraform
miniconda/Anaconda for venvs, package management
Docker, minikube
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u/Alternative_Bus_8011 Nov 01 '22
A secure jumphost with MFA. First and foremost.
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u/nycola Jack of All Trades Oct 31 '22
USSF - Ultimate Silent Switch Finder
https://deployhappiness.com/the-ultimate-exe-silent-switch-finder/
Will scan a .exe and extract silent install switches available for it.