Hello everyone,

Where would a plumber be without his plumbing tools? Where would a carpenter be without his woodworking tools? And where would I be without my computer repair technician tools?

In my next few posts I’m going to list and explain the repair tools (both software and hardware) that I can’t live without. I use these tools everyday, they are my favorites, and I would heartily recommend them to anybody interested in repairing or optimizing their computer.

1) Cleaning Tools: Assuming that I can boot into the Operating System, the first thing that I usually do is get rid of all the unnecessary, junk files that have accumulated. I use four software “cleaners” to do this and even though it’s a bit of overkill, each program finds different files. The order of running these programs is unimportant.

A) CCleaner: I run both the file cleaner and the registry cleaner. This is a very well known program and does a good job. Beware of the “additional installs” that want to piggyback along with CCleaner. I have never had any issues with using the registry cleaner (it’s not overly aggressive).

B) PureRa: Another great small program. Cleans out some files that CCleaner doesn’t get to.

C) CleanUp: Cleans out the invisible Content.IE5 folder. I have seen it clean out as many as 6GB from this folder.

D) Revo Uninstaller: I use the free version and in the tools module there is a “junk files cleaner”. Revo gets many temp files that other cleaners miss. Along with the “junk files cleaner”, Revo is my favorite uninstaller in the whole wide software world!

Professor Randy says: Using the best tools will make all of the difference when repairing a computer. I have tested these tools time and time again where “the rubber meets the road”. Try them, you will love them!