Troubleshooting with the Windows Sysinternals Tools

Optimize Windows system reliability and performance with Sysinternals

IT pros and power users consider the free Windows Sysinternals tools indispensable for diagnosing, troubleshooting, and deeply understanding the Windows platform. In this extensively updated guide, Sysinternals creator Mark Russinovich and Windows expert Aaron Margosis help you use these powerful tools to optimize any Windows system’s reliability, efficiency, performance, and security. The authors first explain Sysinternals’ capabilities and help you get started fast. Next, they offer in-depth coverage of each major tool, from Process Explorer and Process Monitor to Sysinternals’ security and file utilities. Then, building on this knowledge, they show the tools being used to solve real-world cases involving error messages, hangs, sluggishness, malware infections, and much more.

Windows Sysinternals creator Mark Russinovich and Aaron Margosis show you how to:

• Use Process Explorer to display detailed process and system information
• Use Process Monitor to capture low-level system events, and quickly filter the output to narrow down root causes
• List, categorize, and manage software that starts when you start or sign in to your computer, or when you run Microsoft Office or Internet Explorer
• Verify digital signatures of files, of running programs, and of the modules loaded in those programs
• Use Autoruns, Process Explorer, Sigcheck, and Process Monitor features that can identify and clean malware infestations
• Inspect permissions on files, keys, services, shares, and other objects
• Use Sysmon to monitor security-relevant events across your network
• Generate memory dumps when a process meets specified criteria
• Execute processes remotely, and close files that were opened remotely
• Manage Active Directory objects and trace LDAP API calls
• Capture detailed data about processors, memory, and clocks
• Troubleshoot unbootable devices, file-in-use errors, unexplained communication, and many other problems
• Understand Windows core concepts that aren’t well-documented elsewhere

Mark Russinovich is a Technical Fellow in the Windows Azure group at Microsoft. He is coauthor of Windows SysInternals Administrator’s Reference, co-creator of the Sysinternals tools available from Microsoft TechNet, and coauthor of the Windows Internals book series. Aaron Margosis is a Principal Consultant with Microsoft Public Sector Services. He specializes in application development on Windows platforms, with a focus on security, least privilege, and compatibility in locked-down environments.

Part I Getting Started

Chapter 1 Getting Started with the Sysinternals Utilities

Chapter 2 Windows Core Concepts

Part II Usage Guide

Chapter 3 Process Explorer

Chapter 4 Autoruns

Chapter 5 Process Monitor

Chapter 6 ProcDump

Chapter 7 PsTools

Chapter 8 Process and Diagnostic Utilities

Chapter 9 Security Utilities

Chapter 10 Active Directory Utilities

Chapter 11 Desktop Utilities

Chapter 12 File Utilities

Chapter 13 Disk Utilities

Chapter 14 Network and Communication Utilities

Chapter 15 System Information Utilities

Chapter 16 Miscellaneous Utilities

Part III Troubleshooting—“The Case of the Unexplained...”

Chapter 17 Error Messages

Chapter 18 Hangs and Sluggish Performance

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The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.