Thomas Leigh Diary

Abundant Toolbox

Recently I've described two small useful tools: FileTypesMan and ShellMenuNew. It inspired Me to take a closer look on their author's website - and I'd like to tell You that I'm very surprised, amazed and impressed.

First of all, the site consists of much more programs than the two I've mentioned. But the main surprise comes when You realize what are their common characteristics - which make those tools even more unique. Let's see...:

1. Tiny size.
   NirSoft tools usually weight less than 100kB! :)
2. No installation required.
   Just download what You need, extract a .zip file and You've got it ready to use! :)
3. Speed.
   One of their significant advantage is speed: those tools work really fast :) .
4. Low requirements.
   To this day many of them You can use even under control of Windows 98/2000­ - which makes them usable also on older computers.
5. Portability.
   Those programs can be used directly from a USB Flash Drive, without leaving any traces in the computer itself.
6. Easy backup.
   In order to backup settings of a particular program, just copy a .cfg file located in the same folder of its .exe file.
7. Leave the Registry clean.
   Almost every NirSoft tool doesn't write anything to the Registry or to user profile folder. That way Your operating system remains clean and won't slow down.
8. Easy localization.
   Many Nir's utilities are available in other languages. In order to change the language of a particular tool, download the appropriate language zip file, extract the '***_lng.ini', and put it in the same folder that You Installed the utility.
   It is also possible to easily translate NirSoft tools to another language, even by an average user.
9. Curiosity.
   Most of NirSoft tools can be used from command-line, without displaying any user interface.
10. Ethics.
    As the Author says: "As opposed to many other freeware developers, my policy is to avoid from any 3-party software installation and give the users only what the documentation says, without unexpected "surprises"."

So I encourage You to explore NirSoft website - where You'll find several utilities simply organized in various categories (like Network Tools, System Tools, Password Tools, and so on).