Essential NirSoft tools that should come pre-installed on Windows

When we install Windows on a new PC, we usually think about the classics: browser, office suite, media player and little elseHowever, in everyday life there are small problems and tasks that those heavyweight applications can't handle, and that's where NirSoft's utilities make all the difference. They're so lightweight and practical that you'll want to keep using them. came pre-installed on any Windows fresh out of the box.

Independent developer Nir Sofer has spent around two decades creating a massive collection of small tools: More than 260 free, portable programs, most of which are less than 1 MB in size.They require no installation, can be carried on a USB drive, and cover all kinds of tasks: from recovering forgotten passwords to analyzing network traffic, monitoring system activity, or diagnosing complex errors. Let's get started with all of them. Essential NirSoft tools that should come pre-installed on Windows.

What is NirSoft and why are its utilities so essential?

The official NirSoft website brings together hundreds of portable tools written primarily in C++These programs are designed to get the most out of Windows and display information that the system normally hides or presents in a very limited way. They are intended for both advanced users and system administrators, but their interface is usually simple and straightforward.

Almost all NirSoft utilities are downloaded as a ZIP file that is unzipped and run directlyNo installer, no resident services, and no bloatware. This allows you to carry them on an emergency USB drive, use them on any computer, and delete them when no longer needed, without leaving any traces on the system.

The collection covers a huge number of areas: Password recovery, network diagnostics, traffic analysis, web browser utilities, hardware management, battery monitoring, logging, USB devices and so on. Many of these tasks would be impossible or very cumbersome using only the tools that come standard with Windows.

In addition to individual applications, NirSoft offers a global package called NirlauncherIt groups most of its utilities into a unified interface with tabs organized by category. It's also portable, working on Windows versions from very old to the most recent, and is regularly updated to include the latest tools and patches.

NirLauncher: everything NirSoft in one place

One of NirSoft's biggest drawbacks is that Keeping track of more than 200 small tools can be a hassle.To solve this, Nir Sofer created NirLauncher, an executable that acts as a launcher and catalog for the entire collection, classifying each program into thematic tabs: network, passwords, system, desktop, command line, etc.

NirLauncher is completely portable and is also distributed in ZIP format, so all you need to do is Extract the folder to a directory or USB drive. and open the launcher. From its window you can search for tools, read a brief description and run them with a double-click, without having to download them one by one from the web.

The size of the complete package, even including all supported utilities, It usually does not exceed a few tens of megabytesThis makes it an ideal candidate to include in your "rescue USB drive" along with other suites like Sysinternals or recovery utilities.

Another interesting advantage is that NirLauncher allows integration of external collections, such as Microsoft's Sysinternals suite or popular third-party tools (for example, those from Piriform, such as CCleaner, Defraggler, Recuva or Speccy and CPU-ZThis allows virtually the entire technician's toolbox to be centralized in a single interface.

For anyone who maintains multiple PCs, or who is involved in diagnostics and repair, NirLauncher greatly reduces search and preparation timeand makes NirSoft's collection manageable even when you don't remember the exact name of each utility.

Recovery of hidden passwords and credentials

One of the areas where NirSoft is best known is in password recovery toolsIt's not about breaking systems, but about reading credentials that are already stored on the computer itself: browsers, email clients, network connections, etc., something very useful before formatting or migrating a system.

The most popular utility in this field is WebBrowser PassView, which shows in a list the passwords saved on the computer It works with installed browsers (Internet Explorer/Edge, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari, among others). It allows you to view usernames, passwords, and associated URLs without the annoying restrictions imposed by each browser's internal managers.

For email, NirSoft offers Mail PassViewIt can recover passwords stored in clients such as Outlook Express, Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, Eudora, and others. It is especially useful when you want to migrate an email profile to another PC and no one remembers the exact server credentials.

If we're talking about classic instant messaging, Messen Pass It recovers passwords from programs like Yahoo Messenger, older MSN/Windows Live Messenger, Trillian, and several similar solutions that can still be found in older installations or corporate environments that were never updated.

In the realm of the network, there are utilities such as DialupassThis tool extracts passwords for dial-up connections, VPNs, and other profiles from the old "dial-up" subsystem. There is also a specific tool for... Recover network passwords stored in Windows XP (based on the credentials file), intended for environments that still maintain that system in production.

Other gems in this category are BulletsPassView, which reveals passwords hidden behind asterisks or bullets in standard text boxes, and SniffPass, a small password sniffer capable of capturing credentials used in protocols such as POP3, IMAP4, SMTP, FTP or basic HTTP as they travel over the local network.

For more specific data, NirSoft also offers PstPassword, which focuses on recovering the password for Outlook PST files, something critical when trying to open an old protected file and the original key is not preserved.

Product keys and Windows and Office licenses: ProduKey

Another common concern before formatting a PC is Do not lose your product keys for Windows, Office, and other Microsoft productsThis is where ProduKey comes in, one of NirSoft's best-known tools and almost mandatory for support technicians.

ProduKey analyzes the system and displays all the stored license keys for Windows, Microsoft Office, Exchange Server, and SQL Serveramong other supported products. The information is presented in a table that can be exported to a text, HTML, or XML file for safekeeping.

One very powerful advantage is that ProduKey can run from the command line and target Windows installations that fail to startFor example, by installing the hard drive from a broken PC in another working machine. This makes it possible to recover product keys from machines that no longer boot, something critical for many businesses.

For any user who wants to reinstall Windows or Office without relying on old emails or physical boxes, Having ProduKey on hand prevents a lot of headaches and makes it easier to recover the Windows Product Key when reactivating the system.

Advanced clipboard: Clipboardic

The native Windows clipboard is very basic: only remembers the last copied item (except for additional features in recent versions or cloud integrations). Clipboardic solves this limitation by saving a complete history of everything we copy: texts, paths, etc.

With this tool we can later review what we have copied. retrieve fragments of text that we no longer remember or reuse elements without having to go back to the original source. Each entry is saved independently in the interface and can be copied again with a click.

In addition, Clipboardic allows share clipboard data between multiple computers on the same networkThis can greatly speed up work in certain office environments or in a small laboratory when moving fragments of text or small pieces of information between machines.

DNS and network: QuickSetDNS, NetworkTrafficView, WifiInfoView and more

Windows offers menus for configuring the network, but the process is often slow and unclear. QuickSetDNS does the exact opposite: allows you to change DNS servers with a single click., alternating between saved configurations (e.g., provider DNS, public DNS such as Google or Cloudflare, etc.).

To monitor network traffic at a low level, NirSoft has NetworkTrafficViewThis utility captures packets passing through the network adapter and displays aggregated statistics. The data is grouped by Ethernet type, IP protocol, source/destination addresses, and involved ports, allowing you to quickly see what type of traffic is consuming the most resources.

If the goal is to study the available wireless networks, WifiInfoView It scans all Wi-Fi networks within range of the adapter and provides a wealth of information: signal strength, router model and manufacturer, channel, frequency, encryption type, maximum theoretical speed, and other advanced fields. It's especially useful when there are several nearby networks and you want to... choose the best available option.

For situations where the WiFi network is suspected to be slow due to saturation or interference, tools such as WirelessNetView NirSoft's data complements the analysis very well, showing SSID, signal quality, encryption type, channel frequency, access point MAC address, and maximum supported speed, all in real time.

In addition, NirSoft offers small utilities such as DownTester, which allows you to measure the actual download speed of the connection by configuring several large URLs (for example, ISO images of Linux distributions) and letting the tool measure the effective performance of the line.

Audit who connects to your WiFi: WirelessNetworkWatcher and WirelessKeyView

Home network security has become key, and often we don't know for sure. which devices are connected to our routerWirelessNetworkWatcher (also called Wireless Network Watcher) resolves that doubt by showing all the devices connected to the same network: computers, mobiles, tablets, televisions, etc.

This tool lists IP address, MAC address, device name (if available), network adapter manufacturer, and the time the connection was detected. It can even Notify when a new device connectswhich helps detect intruders or unknown devices on the WiFi network.

As for the WiFi password, it is often written on a sticker on the bottom of the router, which over time fades or gets dirty. WirelessKeyView This allows you to extract and display all the Wi-Fi passwords that Windows has stored on the system, associating them with their corresponding SSIDs. This way, you can recover the password of a known network without having to reset the router or access its administration panel.

Both tools, used wisely, are perfect for Check the status of your home network, strengthen security, and document passwords. that would otherwise be lost over time.

Tools to view passwords and browser data

Beyond WebBrowserPassView for credentials, NirSoft offers utilities focused on the content handled by browsers. One of the most interesting is VideoCacheView, which is responsible for locating videos that have been temporarily stored in the browser cache while we were watching them online.

With VideoCacheView it is possible to detect video files (for example, in FLV format or other containers used by websites) and save them in another folder on your PC to keep them safeThis is always within the legal limits of each country and the content being played. It's very convenient when you want to save a video that you've already played and a direct download isn't available.

For Facebook users there was a specific utility called FBCacheViewThis was designed to locate Facebook images stored in the browser cache, including profile pictures and other images viewed on the platform. In this way, it was possible to easily list and download images without having to navigate through all the pages again.

In the history and open files section, RecentFilesView It displays a list of documents recently accessed from Windows Explorer or standard open/save dialog boxes, using both the Recent Items folder and the Registry itself. It's ideal for finding out if anyone has been using the PC and what files they opened.

For cleanliness and privacy, RecentFilesView allows you to delete these entries from the list, so that you can remove traces of activity without needing to use heavier tools or manually search through scattered system menus.

Special folders, directory reports, and USB devices

Windows is full of "special" directories that are not always obvious: application settings folders, fonts, temporary locations, downloads, desktop, history, etc. SpecialFoldersView collects all these paths and displays them in detail, indicating whether they are hidden and what their full path is.

With a double-click on any entry, the tool opens the folder in Explorer, making tasks like clean temporary files, review settings, copy user profiles, or make selective backups of elements that would otherwise be difficult to locate.

When a complete report of how space is allocated within a drive or folder is needed, FoldersReport It analyzes the selected directory and displays data for each subfolder, such as total file size, number of files, how many are compressed, how many are hidden, etc. It is very useful for locating Which folders are taking up the most disk space?.

On the other hand, USB device management is covered by tools such as USBDeviewThis list includes both currently connected devices and all devices that have ever connected to the computer. For each device, it displays device type, name, manufacturer, serial number (on storage drives), connection dates, vendor and product IDs, and other advanced information.

From USBDeview you can uninstall old devices, disconnect active USBs, or disable/enable specific hardwareThis is very practical when you want to clean up traces of devices, resolve driver conflicts, or prevent a particular device from being used again on that PC.

System diagnosis and analysis: blue screens, registry and drivers

In the field of diagnosis, NirSoft It provides a good number of utilities that complement and even surpass the options offered by Windows. One of the best known is BlueScreenView, designed to analyze the famous blue screens of death (BSOD).

When Windows crashes with a blue screen and the option is enabled, the system creates minidump files with information about the failureBlueScreenView reads these minidumps and presents data such as the date of the incident, the error check code, the drivers involved, and the files that may be behind the problem.

This information can be exported and shared to request help or document incidents. For technicians and administrators, it's a very quick way to pinpoint which component or driver is causing the instability without having to manually navigate through obscure paths or event viewers.

Another very useful diagnostic tool is RegistryChangesViewThis allows you to take a snapshot of the Windows Registry at a given moment and compare it with a later snapshot. This way, you can see exactly what's happening in the Registry. What keys and values ​​have changed after installing a program, updating a driver, or modifying some configuration?.

Combined with other utilities, RegistryChangesView is essential for detecting software that makes aggressive or undocumented changes, or for investigating suspicious system behavior that may be related to malware or misconfigurations.

Regarding drivers, NirSoft offers Driverviewwhich lists all drivers loaded on the system with details such as memory address, version, vendor, file path, and status. It is complemented by DevManView, an advanced alternative to Windows Device Manager, which displays more information about each device and even the paths to the registry keys and associated INF files.

These tools integrate very well into a broader diagnostic strategy, which may also include third-party suites such as those from Sysinternals (Autoruns, Process Explorer) and other monitoring and benchmark programs for CPU, GPU, RAM and disks, helping to locate bottlenecks, overheating or hardware failures.

Battery, disk, and hardware monitoring with small utilities

Laptops particularly benefit from utilities such as BatteryInfoView, designed to display detailed battery information: manufacturer, serial number, date of manufacture, current capacity, maximum recorded capacity, charge/discharge rate and current power status.

Thanks to this data it is possible assess the actual health of the batteryCheck if it's severely degraded, see how many charge cycles it has, and decide if it's worth replacing. It also helps diagnose unexpected shutdowns or abnormally short battery life.

In the area of ​​storage, NirSoft offers utilities such as DiskSmartViewThis tool extracts SMART data from connected hard drives and SSDs. These values ​​include operating hours, temperature, read error rates, number of power cycles, and other metrics that help determine if a drive is still usable. It's starting to fail or if it is still in good condition.

Alongside these tools, other general diagnostic applications are traditionally used in the Windows ecosystem, such as SIV (System Information Viewer), HWiNFO, Open Hardware Monitor or OCCTThese tools offer detailed hardware information, stress tests, and sensor monitoring. While not from NirSoft, they integrate seamlessly with their philosophy of "small, specialized utilities."

Benchmarks such as Prime95, FurMark, or full PC benchmark suitesThese tests push the CPU and GPU to their limits to verify the system's stability and cooling capacity. Tools like NirSoft complete this scenario by providing software, registry, network, and configuration diagnostics.

Audio and monitor control: SoundVolumeView, Volumouse and ControlMyMonitor

The sound and display aspects are also represented at NirSoft. On the one hand, Sound Volume View It displays all active sound devices and mixes in the system, allowing you to quickly mute or unmute inputs and outputs, as well as create custom volume profiles that can be loaded depending on the situation (for example, night profile, work, games, etc.).

For even more convenient volume control, Volumouse It allows you to assign rules to the mouse wheel: for example, raising and lowering the volume when a certain key is held down, or when the cursor is over the taskbar or a specific media player. This transforms the mouse into precise and accessible volume control without the need for dedicated multimedia keys.

Regarding the monitor, Control My Monitor It provides access to screen parameters using DDC/CI commands. This allows you to adjust brightness, contrast, sharpness, color balance, position, and other values ​​directly from Windows, without struggling with the monitor's physical buttons, which are often awkward or broken.

The tool allows you to save monitor configuration profiles to load them later (for example, a very bright profile for working during the day and a warmer and darker one for the night) and also accepts commands from the command line, which opens the door to automating configuration changes based on scripts or scheduled tasks.

User activity, windows, and automation

For those who need to monitor what has happened on a team, LastActivityView It gathers information from various internal Windows sources (registry, logs, recent file lists, etc.) and displays a timeline of actions: programs opened, files executed, installations, shutdowns, crashes, and more events.

The great advantage is that LastActivityView It does not need to have been previously installed. To generate this history: it simply reads the information that Windows has already saved, so that it can be used "afterwards" to audit the machine's activity.

In the field of window management, GUIPropView It lists all open windows (parent and child) and allows you to interact with them: minimize, maximize, close, or modify them without having to see them in the foreground. It's very useful when You have many applications open and you want to act on several windows as a single unit..

Another striking tool is WebCamImageSaveThis allows you to use your PC's webcam as a kind of basic security camera. The utility can be configured to capture a photo every few seconds and save it in a specific folder, running discreetly from the system tray.

This can be used to detect if someone is using the computer in the owner's absence, or even to have a visual record of a room without the need for complex video surveillance software. As always, it is essential to respect privacy and the law in every environment where it is used.

Advanced networking tools: domains, IPs, and ports

When working with system administrators, hosting, or security, NirSoft also has very relevant utilities. DomainHostingView It aggregates DNS and WHOIS queries about a given domain and presents data such as hosting company, registrar, creation and expiration dates, contact details (if not private), associated web and mail servers, etc.

This information helps to Understanding the infrastructure behind a website, check for supplier changes, identify technical contacts, or analyze potential name and email resolution problems.

If you want to investigate an IP address, the tool IP Net Info It shows the country of origin, network name, organization contacts, abuse emails, phone numbers, and physical address associated with the IP range. It doesn't identify a specific user, but it does identify the owner of the IP block, which is crucial for escalate complaints or incident analysis.

For analyzing open ports on your PC, there are tools such as CurrPortsThis lists all active TCP and UDP connections, along with their associated processes, local and remote ports, status, and other data. It helps detect unexpected services or programs that maintain unwanted connections.

In addition, network audits often use external port scanners (such as Advanced Port Scanner) and other third-party applications to check remote devices, but CurrPorts and the rest of NirSoft's tools are irreplaceable for seeing exactly what is happening on the local system.

All these features make NirSoft a true Swiss Army knife for WindowsLightweight, free, and incredibly effective. For users who only need to solve minor, one-off problems, they provide quick and easy help; for administrators and technicians, they are an indispensable complement to other, more complex suites, and a key component of any well-equipped diagnostic USB drive.