The problem with being good with computers is that you end up fixing everyone’s computers. A geek, then, should really keep handy a USB thumbdrive with some necessary tools, and maybe a couple CDs, too. Here’s what I recommend. (Unless otherwise noted, they’re all free downloads.)

CDs

• A Linux Live CD. I’m fond of Ubuntu, but Knoppix is another common one. When the system won’t even boot, you can fire up one of the two and use it to try to rescue, if not fix, the install. There are plenty of options besides Ubuntu and Knoppix, and some are quite specialized, so it’s worthwhile to look around.
• The Ultimate Boot CD. Great for all sorts of stuff, including hardware testing (Memtest, but also all sorts of other diagnostics). I owe a lot to UBCD because it saved my butt when I broke my bootloader a while back…

Windows Software Tools

Even though I run Linux on my system, I don’t have too many Linux users who come up and ask me how to fix their computer. So here are some Windows tools you might find handy.

• The Unstoppable Copier. As anyone who’s tried to copy data off a damaged disk has noticed, Windows will abort the whole process if it encounters a single corrupt file. This is incredibly irritating when you’re trying to copy huge amounts of data, or, say, copy your data off of a hard drive that’s starting to die. The Unstoppable Copier, well, copies everything it can without stopping.
• A keyfinder, for figuring out CD keys of installed programs. I have Jalapeno’s Keyfinder Thing personally.
• CCleaner, although it’s updated enough that if the target machine has Internet access, you’re better off just downloading it. But it’s worth keeping a copy on your thumbdrive, just in case. It’s likely that you’ll free up huge amounts of space the first time you run it.
• Diskeeper Pro. It’s not free, but there’s a 30-day trial. I ended up buying the full version. It works much, much better than the one included in Windows, and it can defragment paging files (by allowing you to schedule it to run before Windows boots). Very good for when your paging file ends up in literally hundreds of fragments. (Run it after CCleaner for maximum effectiveness.)
• CleanUp! is sort of like CCleaner, but not quite. The GUI isn’t as spiffy, and it doesn’t give you as much control. But even after running CCleaner weekly, CleanUp! reclaimed a ton of space the first time I ran it. Be very cautious with what you let it delete.
• Recuva (Beta) is made by the CCleaner people. It’s almost scary, in that it can find and recover deleted files. And, in my experience, it works.
• AdAware (the free version) and Spybot S&D, two apps that work great for removing spyware, adware, etc.
• Some SysInternals tools… Mark Russinovich developed them for a long time, and it’s now been acquired by Microsoft. In particular, I’d download…
  • Process Explorer, which I find far superior to the default Task Manager stuff.
  • Autoruns will show you what runs automatically on your system. It’s not the only way (Start -> Run -> msconfig [enter] works too), but it does more than the others I’ve seen. N.B. that CCleaner lets you manage what runs at boot, too. But still, Autoruns.
  • BGInfo sets your background to contain some information about the system, like its name, the username, etc. I don’t use it, but I could see why some would find it handy.
  • BlueScreen Screen Saver, if you’re feeling like having some fun with someone.
• CPU-Z is good for finding out detailed information about the processor, motherboard, RAM, etc.
• 7-Zip is a free RAR/ZIP tool for Windows. It beats trying to install a cracked copy. 😉
• SyncBack is recommended highly on Lifehacker, although I’ve not tried it. It looks like it makes creating backups super-easy, though
• CopyTrans (formerly CopyPod) copies songs from your iPod to your computer. It’s great for whe n you have an iPod loaded up with your music and then get a new computer and trade in your old one, for example. I haven’t used it in a while, so I don’t know the free trial is fully-functional like it used to be.
• Picasa is the way to keep your digital photos organized. Too many people (myself included, until recently) keep all their photos in a mess of folders, which is really a horrible solution. Picasa is completely free, and distributed by Google. (As an added bonus, it runs on Linux too!) Not so much a system recovery tool as something to install for them and impress them.