The Ultimate Troubleshooter: Handing Over the Keys to a Trouble-Free PC Looking Under the Hood Joseph Moran
Looking Under the Hood
After running it on a test Windows XP system, TUT uncovered 51 separate running tasks which broke down as follows: 6 tasks were labeled red (bad), 11 were yellow (user's discretion), 9 green (OK), 14 blue (multiple possibilities), and 11 white (unknown).
An examination of the items TUT flagged as red revealed such commonplace stuff as those utilities designed to speed the launch of streaming media programs like Quicktime and RealPlayer. The red list also included automatic update utilities for QuickBooks, Sun's Java Runtime Environment, and even Microsoft's own Windows Update.
In the case of the streaming media "helper" programs, TUT advised disabling them based on the assertion that either they weren't required to use the underlying program (which is often true of most such programs). The update utilities on the other hand were marked red because TUT recommends prima facie against allowing any program or utility to automatically update itself.
This recommendation is harder to justify objectively, particularly in the case of Windows update. Considering how often security flaws are found in Windows and how quickly they can be exploited, you can make the argument that letting Windows update itself serves the collective interest of all users by blunting the impact of these flaws. (Indeed, disabling automatic updates for Windows runs counter to Microsoft's own recommendation.)
The 11 items TUT categorized as yellow consisted of several nonessential OS components and device utilities, plus applications like AOL Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger. Any of the items in this category might be useful or even necessary to a user but could just have easily been automatically installed on the system (perhaps at the factory). TUT's explanations for each were informative enough let you make the decision as to whether a particular task was something useful or superfluous.
The 14 items TUT categorized as blue (multiple possibilities) were files with familiar (to technical types) names like explorer.exe, lsass.exe, and svchost.exe. Each was ostensibly a Windows system file but could also have conceivably been a virus or worm trying to pass itself off as legitimate.
TUT provided information for each entry (usually the full and correct path for the valid file, and likely paths of imposters) useful to deduce whether the file was in fact kosher or not. TUT's information also pointed out when its information or recommendations might differ based on the version of Windows being used.
TUT couldn't identify 11 items, which were labeled as white (unknown). This admittedly amounted to about 20% of the systems running tasks, which seems like a relatively high percentage. To be fair, most were relatively obscure shareware utilities or applications that were somewhat less than ubiquitous, including a desktop search tool and a weather utility.
Extra Stuff
Aside from the detailed information on running tasks, services, and startup items, TUT also offers some additional info along with convenience items and troubleshooting utilities. It includes its own versions of the network diagnostic tools ping, trace route, whois, and nslookup (in GUI rather than command-line form). TUT also offers direct links to areas you're likely to need like the Windows Control Panel, the Add/Remove Programs applet, and the Registry Editor, and provides detailed information about system hardware.
Rounding out the extras is a Housekeeping feature that automates a number of cleanup chores like deleting the contents of various folders that store temp files and document histories for both the browser and the operating system itself.
Interested users can download a trial version of The Ultimate Troubleshooter that offers limited use (a maximum of ten uses) as well as limited functionality. You must register the program for $35 in order to have access to the full database of detailed process information and recommendations, as the unregistered version provides information only for a relatively small number of Windows processes.
Even with the unregistered version, you can access the same process information as contained in the registered version through an exhaustive and alphabetically arranged list at the AnswersThatWork Web site, though it's considerably less convenient than having it built into the program.
Overall, The Ultimate Troubleshooter makes for a valuable addition to your system resources toolkit, although the $35 price tag seems a tad high compared to the competition.
Pros: Provides detailed and specific information and recommendations on countless Windows and third-party processes
Cons: Incomplete information on Windows services, questionable flagging for some well-known processes, trial download is a limited-function/limited-use release, somewhat pricey at $35
