SysInternals and Nirsoft make a lot of really, really useful applications, but they're all standalone. Keeping them organized for easy access can get to be a bit of a pain, and that's when Windows System Control Center comes to the rescue.

WSCC is a free, portable application designed to centralize and simplify access to these utilities. Think of it as the Swiss Army shell for your "knife blades."

Launch the program and enter the location for your apps. Relative paths are supported, so don't forget to adjust the directories accordingly if you plan on running it from your flash drive. On my drive, I created a WSCC folder in the root placed the other applications in two subfolders (NS and SI). I find it helpful to check the "hide missing items" box since I don't use every app WSCC supports.

The group buttons on the left side of the main program window make finding specific utilties fast and easy. At the top of the window, there's a search box - which is also a great help in quickly locating an app.

Keep in mind, the download is only the WSCC - you'll need to fetch the actual programs from Nirsoft and SysInternals yourself. Save some time, and grab the SI apps in a single file and Nir's from the Web Panel.

It's free for both private and commercial us, and should be a welcome addition to any Window's admin's flash drive.

[ via Freeware Files ]

Consumer advocate blog The Consumerist (who's tagline reads "Shoppers who bite back") rigged up a computer with automatic video screen capture software to see just what computer technicians are actually doing to their computer when they bring it in for routine work. The predictable, though unfortunate truth is that not all computer technicians are upstanding citizens.

The video that The Consumerist posts is of a technician who browses the user's files looking for saucy photos, and copies them to a USB thumbdrive. He doesn't have to look too far, since the computer has been set up to be as provocative as possible with obviously labeled folders right on the desktop.

Seriously, is anyone actually surprised by how this played out? This is the generation that feels that information should be free, and so should music, television, movies and software, based on the popularity of file sharing networks and bittorent; heck, it's a victimless crime, right? Is it any wonder that people who are put in a position to perform a "victimless" crime like stealing data that the owner can never possibly know was taken actually go ahead and do so?

Yes, it's a clever sting operation, and it's certainly something that more computer users should be aware of. It would have been a far scarier scenario if the sting had involved proving identity theft or financial fraud, both of which are certainly a big risk when handing over your computer to someone you don't know. So of course, take heed and protect your data, but at the same time don't be terrified by the sensationalist hype. That same computer was taken to a dozen computer shops before The Consumerist was able to find a technician unscrupulous enough to actually take files from it. Considering the demographic of big box store computer technicians and the way way the honey pot computer was presented, that's actually a pretty good batting average.