Thursday, January 22, 2009

Ultimate Boot CD: A toolkit with something for everyone

The Ultimate Boot CD is a collection of open source/free utilities. It has tools to check a computer's CPU, RAM, and hard drives. It can use the information of these tests to both stress-test your hardware and to generate a comprehensive technical support document. There is little that a technical support person could ask regarding the computer's hardware that these reports would not answer!

There are so many tools on this free CD that I cannot describe them all. I'll probably cover a few of my favorites in coming posts. I would highly recommend downloading a copy and trying it out on an unused computer. I should note that some of the applications are intentionally dangerous, such as the disk wipe, and should be used after gaining confidence.

For a school, this disk is a real help. Not only can it create useful technical reports, but it can clone and wipe hard drives. Both of these services are important as you receive donated computers or dispose of old equipment.

T