Top 10 Free Tools for IT Professionals

Independently reviewed by industry experts, these free tools proved to be useful for IT pros. Audit Active Directory and file servers, detect inactive users, block USB devices, and more - for free.

The following freeware tools by NetWrix Corporation can save you a lot of time and make your network more efficient - at absolutely no cost. Some of these tools have advanced commercial versions with additional features, but none of them will expire and stop working when you urgently need them.

10) Disk Space Monitor (reviewed by MS TechNet Magazine Sep'09) - Even with today's terabyte-large hard drives, server disk space tends to run out quickly and unexpectedly. This simple monitoring tool will send you daily summary reports regarding all servers that are running low on disk space, below the configurable threshold. Download

9) Virtual Machine Sprawl Tracker (mentioned in Redmond Magazine Apr'10) - Uncontrolled creation of virtual machines, that are rarely used or not used at all, consumes physical resources and diminishes the value virtualization. This common drawback of virtualization is typically called "virtual machine sprawl". NetWrix VM Sprawl Tracker is a free tool designed to address the issue of VM sprawl via tracking of VM activity over time and reporting of VMs that have been inactive for too long. Download

8) Service Monitor (reviewed by WindowsReference.com) - This very simple monitoring tool alerts you when some Windows service accidentally stops on one of your servers. The tool also detects services that fail to start at boot time, which sometimes happens, for example, with Exchange Server. Download

7) VMware Change Reporter (reviewed by TechTarget) - If you don't know what is being changed by your colleagues in the VMware infrastructure, it's very easy to get lost and miss changes that can affect the things for which you are responsible. This tool tracks and reports configuration changes in VMware Virtual Center settings and permissions. Download

6) Active Directory Object Restore Wizard (reviewed by 4sysops.com) - This tool can save the day if someone accidentally (or intentionally) deleted a bunch of Active Directory objects. It provides granular object-level and even attribute-level restore capabilities to quickly rollback unwanted changes (e.g., mistakenly deleted users, modified group memberships, etc). Download

5) File Server Change Reporter (reviewed by 4sysops.com) - This tool continues the line of auditing tools; this one for file servers. File Server Change Reporter detects changes in files, folders, permissions, tracks deleted, and newly-created files, and sends daily summary reports. This is a very useful tool to detect mistakenly-deleted files and recover from backup or to see if someone changes some important files. Download

4) Inactive Users Tracker (reviewed by MS TechNet Magazine May'08) - This feature tracks down inactive user accounts (e.g., terminated employees) so you can easily disable them, or even remove them entirely, to eliminate potential security holes. The tool sends reports on a regular schedule, showing what accounts have been inactive for a configurable period of time (e.g., 2 months). Download

3) Password Expiration Notifier (reviewed by Redmond Magazine Feb'09, 4sysops) - This tool will automatically remind your users to change their passwords before they expire to keep you safe from password reset calls. It works nicely for users who don't log on interactively and, thus, never receive standard password change reminders at log on time (e.g., VPN and OWA users). Download

2) USB Blocker (reviewed by Windows IT Pro Nov'09) - Users bring tons of consumer devices: flash drives, MP3 players, cell phones, etc. , into the office and this aptly-named tool can block them with a couple of mouse clicks to prevent the spread of a virus and to restrict the take-out of confidential information. The product is integrated with Active Directory and is very easy to use. Download

1) Active Directory Change Reporter (reviewed by Windows IT Pro Sep'09, Windows IT Pro Jan'09, TechTarget, TechRepublic) - This is a simple auditing tool to keep tabs on what's going on inside your Active Directory. The tool tracks changes to users, groups, OUs, and all other types of AD objects, and sends summary reports with full lists of what was changed and how it was changed. In addition, it has a nice "rollback" feature that helps rollback unwanted changes (including deletions) very quickly. Download

For full list of NetWrix freeware tools please click here.