Professional-grade solutions organized by operational categories
Infrastructure Toolkit
TinyTask: Because Sometimes You Just Need to Record and Repeat There’s beauty in tools that don’t try to be more than they are. TinyTask is exactly that — a micro-sized automation tool that records what you do and plays it back. No scripting, no setup, no learning curve. Just hit record, do your thing, and let it repeat forever (or until you stop it).
It’s one of those programs you don’t think about — until you’re stuck clicking the same 5 buttons fifty times. Then suddenly, TinyTask makes perf
Project Mercury: Because Every Millisecond Counts on a Busy Desktop Sometimes the lag isn’t in the app — it’s in the way the system handles windows, redraws, and focus shifts. Especially on older machines or in cluttered workspaces, switching between windows can feel stickier than it should. It’s subtle, but it slows everything down.
That’s where Project Mercury comes into play. It doesn’t boost CPU. It doesn’t touch RAM. Instead, it tweaks how Windows handles focus, redraw latency, and input r
Clavier+: Because Repeating Yourself Gets Old Really Fast There’s something about typing the same thing over and over — it chips away at focus. Opening the same folder. Launching the same app. Filling in the same phrases. It’s not hard work, it’s just *annoying*. That’s where Clavier+ earns its keep.
This little utility doesn’t try to run scripts across the enterprise or automate servers. Instead, it gives hotkeys real muscle. Want to open a tool, paste some text, or trigger a script — with jus
Actiona: When You Just Need the Computer to Do the Boring Stuff for You There’s always that one task — clicking the same buttons, typing the same credentials, moving the mouse a few pixels over and over. Maybe it’s part of testing, maybe just keeping a workstation in check. Either way, nobody wants to babysit a keyboard for things that could be automated. That’s where Actiona comes in.
It’s not trying to be some big cloud platform. In fact, it doesn’t even need the internet. It just sits quietl
Iperius Backup Free: When You Need Serious Backups Without Paying a Cent There’s a lot of backup software out there that says “free” — right up until you click something useful. But Iperius Backup Free? It actually delivers. No gimmicks. No timers. No hidden traps. Just a solid, Windows-native tool that lets users and IT teams build real backup routines without paying a dime.
It’s not the flashiest tool on the block — but behind the classic UI, it offers surprising power: full folder backups, n
FBackup: Set-and-Forget Backups That Actually Stick Most backup tools either try to hold your hand too much — or they leave you guessing. FBackup finds that middle ground. It’s built to handle real-world backups with as little fuss as possible. You pick what to back up, where to store it, and when to run — and that’s basically it.
The name may sound casual, but under the hood, this tool does the essentials well: compression, scheduling, versioning, cloud targets — even backup encryption (if you
Personal Backup: A No-Nonsense Way to Keep Local Files Safe There’s something to be said for backup software that doesn’t try to be clever. No cloud sync. No login. No aggressive pop-ups asking for subscriptions. Just a window, a list of folders, and a place to copy them to. That’s the whole deal with Personal Backup.
It doesn’t care if the backup goes to a USB drive, a network share, or an FTP server on the other side of the planet. Set it once, and it just runs — whether you’re watching or no
SyncBackFree: Flexible Backup Without Lock-In or Limits There’s a fine line between simple and simplistic — and SyncBackFree walks it well. It’s a backup and sync tool that’s packed with options, but doesn’t shove them in your face. Whether it’s mirroring folders, syncing drives, or backing up critical documents, it handles the job without getting in the way.
You won’t find cloud subscriptions here. No paywalls blocking basic features. It’s free, but that doesn’t mean “half-working.” The core f
MailStore Home: Local Email Archiving That Just Makes Sense Let’s face it — most email clients aren’t great at long-term storage. Mail piles up, search slows down, and backups are… well, inconsistent. MailStore Home fixes that. It’s a free Windows tool that archives emails from just about anywhere — Outlook, Thunderbird, Gmail, IMAP, even old PST files — into a single, searchable, read-only archive.
No cloud sync. No subscription. No gimmicks. Just a straightforward way to take control of decad
hMailServer: A Lightweight Mail Server That Doesn’t Try to Be Clever Sometimes what you need is a simple, Windows-based mail server that just does SMTP, IMAP, and POP3 — and doesn’t get in the way. That’s exactly what hMailServer is. It’s not pretending to be groupware. It doesn’t care about chat, calendar, or drive sync. It just wants to deliver email, receive email, and do it with as little noise as possible.
Despite its compact size, it’s fully capable of handling multiple domains, custom ro
IceWarp: All-in-One Mail and Collaboration Without the Usual Price Tag Some companies just want email. Others want the full suite — messaging, calendars, team chat, file sharing, web meetings. Most vendors make that feel like a hostage situation. IceWarp doesn’t. It offers a complete alternative to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace — self-hosted or in the cloud — with no per-user nonsense and full admin control.
It’s more than just a mail server. It’s a collaboration hub. And the big draw? Ever
hMailServer: A Lightweight Mail Server That Doesn’t Try to Be Clever Sometimes what you need is a simple, Windows-based mail server that just does SMTP, IMAP, and POP3 — and doesn’t get in the way. That’s exactly what hMailServer is. It’s not pretending to be groupware. It doesn’t care about chat, calendar, or drive sync. It just wants to deliver email, receive email, and do it with as little noise as possible.
Despite its compact size, it’s fully capable of handling multiple domains, custom ro
One Commander: A File Manager That Actually Feels Modern Most file managers still look and behave like it’s 2001. Grey panels, endless lists, clunky trees — useful, sure, but not exactly easy on the eyes. That’s where One Commander steps in. It’s fast, visual, and actually kind of… enjoyable to use.
Think tabs. Think dual-pane or column views. Think smooth previews, drag-and-drop that behaves, and keyboard shortcuts that don’t require a manual. One Commander keeps everything in front of you — f
FreeCommander XE: A Dual-Pane Power Tool That Plays Nice With Windows Some file managers try to do everything. FreeCommander XE just tries to do *file management* — fast, customizable, and completely under your control. It’s the evolved version of the original FreeCommander, built for users who live in their file system and want something better than Explorer, without abandoning the Windows feel.
Dual panes, tabbed navigation, built-in FTP, folder sync, tree views, filters, archive browsing — i
Explorer++: What Windows Explorer Could’ve Been Sometimes all that’s needed is a better Windows Explorer — not a whole new file management paradigm. Explorer++ fits right into that gap. It looks and feels familiar, but adds just enough muscle to make a difference: tabs, dual-pane view, bookmarks, filters, customizable keyboard shortcuts — all packed into a portable executable that weighs less than most images in your Downloads folder.
It doesn’t try to do too much. It just respects your time.
FreeCommander: File Management Without the Bloat Windows Explorer works — until it doesn’t. Anyone who’s ever juggled multiple folders, bulk renamed files, or compared directory trees knows the limits. That’s where FreeCommander shines. It’s a no-nonsense, dual-pane file manager that gives power users real control over their file system — without turning into a full-blown IDE.
There’s no install required (if you choose portable). It loads fast, runs light, and keeps everything in plain sight. T
Open Web Analytics: Know Who Clicked, Without Sending It to Google Let’s face it — most web analytics tools these days want your data as much as you want the insights. Every dashboard feels like a tradeoff: visibility for surveillance. But what if you could get the numbers you need — visits, clicks, paths, conversions — without piping everything into someone else’s cloud? That’s what Open Web Analytics (OWA) is about. It’s open-source, self-hosted, and does most of what Google Analytics used to
EventSentry Light: When You Want to Know What Just Happened — Instantly Sometimes the question isn’t “what went wrong” — it’s *when* and *where*. On Windows, a lot of that info lives in Event Logs, performance counters, and the stuff you normally don’t check until it’s too late. EventSentry Light is built for that gap. It watches what your system is doing, alerts when things go sideways, and logs everything in a way that makes sense later.
It’s free, fast, and doesn’t pretend to be a full-blown
Graylog: Log Management That Doesn’t Feel Like Punishment Let’s be real — dealing with logs can get messy fast. You’ve got dozens (maybe hundreds) of sources: servers, firewalls, apps, containers. And most of them just dump logs somewhere and call it a day. Graylog steps in to bring order to the chaos.
It’s a self-hosted, open-source platform that ingests logs from everywhere — syslog, Windows, Docker, APIs — parses them, and lets you search, alert, and visualize exactly what’s happening in you
LogExpert: Real-Time Log Monitoring Without the Noise Sometimes all that’s needed is a fast, responsive log viewer — something that handles huge files, shows new lines in real time, and helps you find what you’re looking for without scrolling for hours. That’s exactly what LogExpert does.
It’s not a full-blown SIEM or logging stack. It doesn’t collect, forward, or parse logs from a fleet of servers. But for local files — especially growing ones — it’s the tool you reach for when Notepad++ or ta
The Dude: Visual Network Mapping That Still Has Teeth Some tools are built for dashboards. Others — for digging deep. The Dude lands somewhere in between, offering a surprisingly effective way to map, scan, and monitor network infrastructure from a single interface that doesn’t care much about trends — but cares a lot about getting the basics right. Originally developed by MikroTik as a side utility for their RouterOS ecosystem, The Dude grew into something more than just a companion app. It’s f
LANMonitor: Real-Time Network Interface Monitoring with Zero Fuss LANMonitor isn’t trying to be a full-blown network analyzer. It doesn’t dig through packet payloads or produce fancy dashboards. What it does do — and does well — is give instant visibility into network traffic on a Windows machine. Small footprint, minimal setup, and a surprisingly useful overview of real-time interface activity. For system administrators and helpdesk staff, LANMonitor is often the first tool opened when there’s
PingPlotter Free: Network Diagnostics That Speak in Graphs Let’s face it — ping and traceroute get the job done, but they don’t show the full picture. When a network issue strikes, you need more than numbers in a terminal. You need something visual. That’s exactly what PingPlotter Free brings to the table.
It’s a real-time network troubleshooting tool that tracks latency and packet loss over time, draws intuitive graphs, and helps you pinpoint the exact hop or time when things go sideways. Perf
NetXMS: Scalable Network Monitoring That Doesn’t Lock You In Some monitoring tools feel like a black box — lots of features, but hard to control. NetXMS goes in the opposite direction. It’s open-source, cross-platform, and surprisingly flexible — built to monitor everything from routers and switches to servers, cloud VMs, and even environmental sensors.
The architecture is built for scale. Whether you’re monitoring 50 devices or 5,000, it holds up. Plus, it’s agent-based and agentless, with nat
Remote Utilities Free: Full-Feature Remote Desktop Without the Catch Remote access tools often come in two flavors: either they’re too basic to be useful — or they’re locked behind licensing walls. Remote Utilities Free doesn’t follow that script. It brings a surprisingly complete set of features, works over LAN or WAN, and gives administrators full control without nudging them into a subscription. The free version already includes remote desktop, file transfer, command line, task manager, and m
LiteManager Free: Remote Access That Just Gets the Job Done Not every remote desktop tool needs to be part of a cloud platform or come with a subscription. LiteManager Free keeps it simple — local or remote access to Windows desktops, fast setup, low overhead, and all the key features in a package that doesn’t try to be more than it is. There’s no fluff here. Just a viewer, a server, and a direct connection between them. For admins dealing with scattered workstations, remote users, or classroom
ScreenConnect (ConnectWise Control): Reliable Remote Support for Admins Who Value Control ScreenConnect — now better known as ConnectWise Control — is one of those tools that quietly proves its worth over time. It’s not flashy, but it’s built for real-world IT support: direct connections, flexible access policies, no drama. Whether deployed on-prem or used as a cloud service, it’s designed to get sysadmins connected fast — and keep them in control. What sets it apart isn’t the UI or the feature
DameWare Remote Support: For Admins Who’d Rather Not Leave Their Desk DameWare isn’t trying to be the newest thing. It’s been around for a while — and that’s kind of the point. In many corporate networks, especially Windows-heavy ones, DameWare Remote Support still holds its ground as a dependable, on-premises tool for getting things done remotely without jumping through cloud hoops. It’s not just a screen-sharing tool. It’s a full remote administration platform that ties into Active Directory,
NetLimiter Free: The Quiet Way to Keep Network Traffic in Check Sometimes it’s not about full-scale traffic shaping or enterprise firewalls. Sometimes, all that’s needed is a way to figure out — right now — which app is eating up the bandwidth and how to tone it down without killing the system. That’s where NetLimiter Free quietly earns its spot. No flashy UI, no bloated integrations — just a compact little panel showing who’s talking to the network, how much they’re saying, and giving the admin
SimpleWall: The No-Bloat Firewall That Just Says “Yes” or “No” There’s something refreshing about software that doesn’t try to be clever. SimpleWall isn’t a full endpoint security suite. It doesn’t scan files or run in the cloud. What it does — and does well — is give administrators a dead-simple way to say which apps are allowed to talk to the network… and which aren’t. It hooks into Windows Filtering Platform (WFP), so it operates at a system level, but without introducing extra drivers or t
GlassWire Lite: Visual Firewall and Network Monitor for Quiet Oversight GlassWire Lite isn’t about deep packet inspection or intrusion prevention. It’s about visibility. Clear, visual insight into what’s happening on the network — when a process reaches out, when a port opens, when traffic suddenly spikes. For admins managing endpoints or trying to troubleshoot odd behavior on Windows machines, that kind of clarity is worth a lot. Unlike its Pro counterpart, the Lite edition keeps things simple.
Comodo Firewall Free: When Windows Firewall Just Doesn’t Cut It Every admin hits that point where the built-in Windows firewall starts feeling… limited. Too quiet. Too passive. That’s usually when Comodo Firewall Free enters the conversation. It’s not about brute-force protection or enterprise-level integrations — it’s about getting a clearer picture of what’s trying to connect, where it’s going, and whether it should be allowed in the first place. There’s a bit of a learning curve, sure. But
VirtualBox: When You Just Need a VM — Right Now There’s something oddly comforting about VirtualBox. It doesn’t shout for attention, doesn’t push subscriptions, and definitely doesn’t pretend to be a cloud platform. You just install it, pick an ISO, and spin up a virtual machine. That’s it. No agents. No login. No drama. It’s the kind of tool that’s always there when it’s needed — whether it’s for testing, building, or just trying something risky without breaking a real system. And yeah, it’s no
VMmanager Free: KVM Virtualization With a Clean Interface and No Strings Attached VMmanager Free doesn’t try to reinvent virtualization. Instead, it focuses on making KVM easier to deploy, manage, and maintain — especially for teams that don’t have time to handcraft libvirt commands or mess with raw XML. It wraps the power of Linux virtualization in a clean web interface, backed by automation where it makes sense. The free edition doesn’t cut corners. It runs stable, supports core features, and
XCP-ng Center: A Desktop Console That Still Gets the Job Done While most virtualization tools move everything to the browser, XCP-ng Center takes a different approach — it stays local. It’s a Windows application built specifically for admins who’d rather click through a fast native GUI than rely on a dozen open tabs or cloud panels. This is the unofficial but widely used graphical interface for managing XCP-ng and legacy XenServer nodes. Originally based on XenCenter, it’s since grown into its o
vSphere Hypervisor (Free ESXi): VMware-Grade Virtualization Without the Bill Not every project starts in the cloud. And not every cluster needs orchestration, SDN overlays, or Kubernetes plugins. Sometimes the goal is simple: run a few virtual machines on reliable hardware, with performance that doesn’t flinch. That’s where vSphere Hypervisor, better known as free ESXi, quietly continues to deliver. Even without a vCenter license, ESXi still gives sysadmins a rock-solid platform — with native dr