Issues with your account? Bug us in the Discord!

Best MS-DOS / Command Line tools?

Hi there, I'd be in the need of some advice.

I'm putting together a compilation CD of the best (IMHO) freeware software around and I'm already almost up to the full 700 mb's of stuff. The programs are your basic system tools, spyware and virus cleaners and some more in-depth scanners and cleaners. I need the disc as I throw an odd job every now and then cleaning up people's comps and doing some basic diagnostics and hardware replacements and software cleanups on them. I have almost all the necessary Win 2K / XP -freeware software that are basic necessities and downright useful, but now I'm writing the boot section of the disk.

I'd be in the need of all kinds of good MS-Dos- or Nt equivalent tools that can be run and used from MS-Dos or its NT equivalent.

So far I've gathered stuff that I consider to be useful:

KillCmos, F-Prot for Dos, unzipping utilities and Fdisk & Debug from FreeDos. I'm going to use Cutemouse for the mouse and an all-around ATAPI -device driver for optic disc drive recognition. For the rest, I think I might pretty much copy & paste from the standard Win 98 boot disk when it comes to tools. (Win compatibility is a major issue here, most ((heck, all)) the comps run windows that have problems. :))

Now what I'd need are recommendations on freeware or other good tools that can be run from the MS-Dos Prompt or NT equivalent. Stuff from password removal to disk defragmenters to hacking tools, to low level format, diagnostics, cd-testers, mouse utilities, port identifiers and whatnot. Whatever could be useful if you have to clean up, inspect and work on someone else's comp.

Any suggestions are welcome. :) Size-wise there isn't much of a requirement, command line tools don't take much space but I still have more or less 30 megs to spare on the disc.

Comments

  • although its none of the things you asked for i always found this list to be quite useful when looking at other peoples computers:

    [URL=http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php]startup application list[/URL]

    (they also have a downloadable version on the site)
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    Not a dos tool or a fix-it tool...just is a really nifty tool:
    [url]http://www.mlin.net/StartupMonitor.shtml[/url]

    I've even caught spyware and viruses trying to install themselves on computers where it's installed! Of course...once caught then the computer has to be cleaned...but it still catches them :)
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    Are you aware of [url=http://theopencd.sunsite.dk/]The Open CD[/url]? It doesn't have everything you're looking for, but it's a good place to start from when building an all purpose CD.

    As for tools, I recommend you chuck in some command line archivers such as ARJ, RAR and pkzip/pkunzip.
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    I think a disk image of this on bitorrent would be fantasticly uber
  • BekennBekenn Sinclair's Duck
    You're going to want to include attrib, deltree, and xcopy, all of which come with DOS. Probably MSD as well, but I'm not sure how useful that'd be on anything with NT installed.
  • SanfamSanfam I like clocks.
    Don't forget EBCD! Emergency Boot CD has so much wonderful stuff on it that I've found way beyond useful in disaster recovery.

    [url]http://ebcd.pcministry.com/[/url]
  • Data CrystalData Crystal Pencil Artist
    You see, this is why I come to you guys. :) Thanks a heap.

    Sanfam: The EBCD looks good... have to look into it. I don't know how the bugger works or if I'm skilled enough to incorporate that into my cd which is also bootable. But I'll look into it.

    Bekenn: Almost all the software on the disk will be 2k/xp stuff, and I am adding the normal DOS commands to the disk if I have the space. :) Not yet sure whether to use the ones on the 2K OS or the normal Win 98 boot disk, will have to see. When I have the time to continue the compilation, that is. ;)

    Biggles: Yes, I have already arj, pkunzip, pkzipfix and rar. They're meant for unzipping only, zipping is handled by 7Zip which is on the disk. I looked into the Open CD, it's a bit limited in comparison to the current version of my cd, but it has many same programs. I still have to consider GIMP. :)

    Random Chaos: Thanks, looked efficient, but I have another program for registry cleanups which has the startup monitoring as well. You can do wonders and clean up the old gal' with the prog. It's called RegCleaner 4.3 (build 780). and it's discontinued already, since the program is so good that I think they charge money for the later versions nowadays. ;) Still works like a charm. You can Google, but I uploaded it for your convenience.

    [URL=http://koti.mbnet.fi/cijk/RegCleaner.EXE]RegCleaner.EXE Download[/URL]

    wiseguy: Thanks, that'll help. I'll probably add the list to the cd. :)

    croxis: Otherwise not a bad idea, but most of the stuff on the cd are programs that are being updated constantly. I just dl and overwrite the new versions and burn a new cd from a file I have whenever I decide to update it. With all the virus scanners and whatnot, the problem is that the files get outdated so fast. And I don't use Torrent or keep my computer on all the time, so it's a problem. But when I get it working, I think I can arrange it if someone wants me to send the cd-Image via ICQ or something like that and upload it. I'll get back on that if I remember.

    But anyways, thanks a lot. :)
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    Don't forget a command line tool to burn to CD (don't know where to find such a tool outside of Linux) - but this is very useful if you need to archive off data before a format say.

    Of course...if you can't find a DOS tool for that...you can always make a linux bootable with their command line burner tool and just mount the FAT32 drive. I understand you can sometimes mount NTFS drives also.
  • Data CrystalData Crystal Pencil Artist
    If someone is interested, so far I have:

    Aida 32
    Naiobrin Software CD-Rom Tool
    CPUSpy
    Exact Audio Copy
    F-Prot For Dos
    KillCMOS
    OpenOffice
    RamBooster
    3DMark 05
    7Zip
    AdAware SE
    Adobe Reader
    AntiVir XP
    Cdex
    Daemon Tools
    DC++
    Debug instructions for debug.exe
    EditPad Lite
    FFDShow
    FileAlyzer
    FireFox
    Flash Player
    IrFanView
    Java 2 RE
    Java 2 SDK
    Kyodai Mahjongg (;))
    Logitech iTouch
    Logitech MouseWare
    nForece drivers
    nVidia Omega drivers Win 9x
    nVidia Omega drivers Win 2K/XP
    Radeon Omega Win 9x
    Radeon Omega Win 2K/XP
    Quicktime & iTunes (if someone knows how to get the smalles possible working QT player, please do tell. ;))
    RadLinker
    RealPlaer Alternative
    RegAlyzer
    RegCleaner
    ShockWave Player
    SimAquarium 2 (screensaver)
    SiSoft Sandra
    Sonique 2 Beta
    SpyBot Includes
    SpyBot
    The All Seeing Eye
    Trillian
    Visual IRC
    ZoneAlarm


    Oh, and the problem is that I'm using the Finnish versions on most of the software. This is meant for other people here too, not only me. ;) So unfortunately the cd-image wouldn't be a good idea. ;) I can provide you with my DL links section list later anyway. :)
  • MundaneMundane Elite Ranger
    Too bad most software get outdated really fast....
  • SanfamSanfam I like clocks.
    I'd suggest locating a copy of "ACDSee Classic" and putting it on there, if you can.

    It's one of the best image viewers around, and it's miniscule. Always good to have on hand.
  • Data CrystalData Crystal Pencil Artist
    In your dreams, Pedro!

    ACDSee Classic is 30-day trial version shareware and comes in 4.3 megs installer.

    [URL=http://www.irfanview.com/]IrFanView[/URL] is complete freeware, comes in a nifty 850kb pack and supports as many image formats as ACDSee or even more.

    Otherwise a good idea. ;)
  • SanfamSanfam I like clocks.
    Wow...it's grown.

    The version I was thinking of was small enough to fit on a floppy, and had no limit. Damn ACDSystems for obsoleting it!


    Edit: So I checked out IRFanView. Interestingly enough, it's practically the EXACT SAME THING that the ACDSee version I was thinking of was. Hell, even the interface is a near perfect copy.
  • Data CrystalData Crystal Pencil Artist
    That's software for you. If you get something for free for a while and like it, you get another program like the one you use when the one you used starts to cost money

    Confused? You should be.

    :D
Sign In or Register to comment.