Easeus has a free non-destructive partitioning utility called Partition Master 5.8.1 Home Edition. It is currently available for all modern versions of Windows with the exception of 64-bit Windows 7.  In an era were hard drives are so inexpensive and large, there isn’t normally a need to resize partitions. If you need anther partition, why not just by another drive or network attached storage device. But if there ever is the occasion to organize and resize your hard drive partition, this is a great free option from a company that knows hard drives.

So what does Partition Master do? It can be used to extend the system partition to optimize performance, contains a partition recovery wizard to perform disaster recovery, and also has a copy wizard if you need to move the entire partition to another partition without having to reinstall Windows. It can be used to split a larger partition into multiple smaller ones, and  even merge two partitions into a single, larger partition.

Even if you never use it, this is one of those programs you should have on a disk in your computer repair toolkit. Remember, as with a hard drive partition tool such as this or Partition Magic, you must backup your data in case there is a problem and the system partition is lost. It’s also not a bad idea to do a disk cleanup and defrag prior to running any partitioning tool. You can download Partition Master 5.8.1 Home Edition here.

Western Digital, Maxtor, Seagate and other manufacturers have made it easy to copy your hard drive to a new retail drive with boot disks either shipped with the hdd or downloaded via their website. But a lot of computer users do not realize the benefits of having these disks on hand in the event of an emergency.  These small files could save you when things go bad.

Western Digital Hard Drive Utility

Western Digital provides a hard disk utility called Data Lifeguard.  The Data Lifeguard program allows users to setup and copy data to their new hard disk.  I can perform repairs, diagnostics and identification on WD hard drives via a program you download and write to floppy.  Get it here.

Maxtor Hard Drive Utility

MaxBlast is Maxtor’s hard disk utility. MaxBlast 4 is a ATA/IDE hard drive installation utility that makes hdd installations and upgrades easy for beginners and pros alike.  It can automatically identify, partitioning, and format Maxtor ATA or SATA hard drives.
Get it here.

Seagate Hard Drive Utility

Seagate uses SeaTools Desktop Edition to diagnose and repair hard disk problems.  This program is made into a bootable floppy or .iso and used to repair Seagate hdd issues.
Get it here.

No matter which hard drive you own, manufacturers provide these useful diagnostic and repair tools to help the end-user perform minor repairs on their hardware. Probably their most important feature is copying the contents of one hard drive to another.  While there are third-party solutions for this, it’s nice that the manufacturer helps make this experience pleasant and efficient.

Buy a hard drive here

SpeedFan is a free software that can be used to monitor fan speed, temperature and voltages of components. These readings are based on a computers own monitors and can vary greatly, depending mostly on the motherboard. Each model has a different set of monitors that provide the information SpeedFan displays. You can use this information to configure SpeedFan to sound an alarm based on these readings.

This example is based on the configuration for sounding an alarm due to high temperatures. You can check your computers component manufactures to set these alarms, or you can use numbers based on your own experiences with your computer. Most of the computers in use today have built in shut down tolerances. For example, this means that if a component reaches a certain high point the computer will shut down. Because we don’t know why this happened it seems like a random event. When these random shutdowns become a constant problem SpeedFans alarms can help us eliminate, or discover, some causes for the events.

In my experience I’ve learned my PC can have problems with overheating when playing certain games and converting video files. To minimize the chance of destroying my CPU or motherboard I have set SpeedFan to notify me with a beep alarm when the CPU reaches 65 degrees celsius. Some people might find this too high, but based on my components and my experience it works for me.

After opening SpeedFan you will see in the upper right a large Minimize button and a Configure. Click on Configure and a page with lots of tabs at the top will open. Click on the “Events” tab anda pretty much empty screen appears. About 2/3 down there will be the word “If” with a drop down menu. Based on the temps readings you’ve seen when SpeedFan is open select the one that gets the highest. Mine is named Core but you may see another name. Next is a small drop down menu with four choices, < (Less than), =< (Equal to, or less than) > (More than) and => (Equal to or more than). I have selected =>. The next field you input a number, I have put 65 here, representing 65 degrees celsius. The next field is below the first row and says “For” with a number menu then “Times” This I set to 1, which that the first time it happens. Next field is “Allow every”…”seconds” Here I have 0 (Zero) set. Below this is the field “Then”, followed by another drop down menu. The choices here are Execute, Pop up message, Beep and Send Mail. This is the action SpeedFan will take if my CPU reaches 65C, so I select Beep. There are more fields that are left empty, and at the bottom there will be Add, Clear, Update and Remove buttons. Once Add is clicked the alarm is set. All the alarms and the actions taken will be listed above these configuration fields.

Although this might sound complicated it is really easy to configure. At this point the list shows I have set SpeedFan to beep if my CPU temp gets to 65C or higher. Every monitor that is on the motherboard can be set as an alarm. This can include Fan speeds, Voltages or Temperatures. All of these, especially voltages and temps, can be the reason for seemingly random shutdowns. But now that I have SpeedFan set to run when my computer starts I know if my computer is getting too hot, even if I’m playing a game. As soon as I hear a beeping I know that whatever I’m doing is causing my computer to overheat.

This article was written by Bama19642 from our tech forums.

The Comodo System Cleaner is a great free utility to help clean the registry and optimize your computer.  Comodo combines registry cleaning with privacy and disk cleaning utilities to help rid your computer of duplicate files and optimize it for speed. The best part of the Comodo System Cleaner is that you can run those three cleaning utilities independently, so if you just want to clean your computer’s disk, you do not have to sit through a lengthily scan. As with most other cleaners, it also produces a backup of the original, so if there is an issue you can quickly and easily revert back without permanently damaging your computer.

We consider the Comodo System Cleaner to be the best, as it has a crisp user interface and a multitude of settings that allows you to tweak your browser for privacy and easily view information about the hardware and software you have running on your computer.

Download the Comodo System Cleaner here and let us know what you think. We’re especially interested to hear how you think this stacks up against CCleaner. So give it a try. Reminder: as with any new software (especially registry cleaners) take a moment to create a system restore point before the first scan.

If you have the need for a squeaky-clean hard drive that can be restored in minutes, then we have two great solutions for you.  Both of these are free and provide a hard drive backup and clone of your Operating System, applications and data. While these two programs are similar, they provide different functions depending on the role you need your computer to play. The first program creates a clone of the drive so it can be immediately restored whenever you need it to. The second option restores your PC each time you reboot it. Both allow you to retain programs and get back to a clean working state within minutes.

Free Hard Drive Cloning Software

ToDo Backup, by Easeus, is free hard drive cloning software that creates an exact duplicate of your drive. In the event of a hard drive or Operating System failure, you can use the clone to get back to the condition when the clone was made. The program creates a bootable  CD so you can restore in the even of a malware attack or other software problem. You can even mount and unmount the drive in read-only mode to copy files from it. As with any cloning software, you will want to periodically do a new image with the latest applications and updates included. Find Todo Backup here.

Windows SteadyState

Windows SteadyState is a great application that reverts a computer back to a known state each time the machine is rebooted. The primary advantage of this machine is once you get it setup to your exact requirements, it will go back to that way each time you restart the computer. Typical scenarios for SteadyState are in libraries, schools, Internet Cafes and the most dangerous situation of all: Your children’s computer. You will no longer have to worry about viruses, system settings being changed or valuable programs being deleted. With a simple restart, the computer is back the way you want it within minutes. Learn more about Windows SteadyState and download it here.

As you can see, both programs allow you to revert a machine back to a known good state, but they behave very differently. Depending on your needs, one of these free solutions can help keep your home or office PC running smooth using cloning and backup techniques.

Recuva is free file recovery software that allows you to recover photos and documents accidentally deleted from your hard drive–even if you have removed them from your Recycle Bin. This free software from Piriform even recovers deleted files from USB sticks. One of the most impressive features of this software is it can even recover lost emails, and another great advantage of Recuva is a portable version that allows you to install a version on a CD or USB drive and take it with you.This software is a must have for techs in the field as well as normal computer users. Recuva can perform a deep scan in a few minutes and recover files that were delete long ago. As with any file recovery program, the more you use the hard drive after deleting a file, the less likely you will be able to recover it.

Recuva can also permanently shred files you never want recovered. This is great is you plan on selling the PC and do not want to risk having private documents recovered by strangers or snoops.

But the best technique for recovering files is to never lose them at all. Be sure to have a redundant method of backing up at home.  A Network Attached Storage device (NAS) is a convenient way to share a large drive with other computer in the house. At the very least, backup weekly to another hard drive or an online service like Carbonite.

Download Recuva Here