As computer geeks we must all have a bunch of CDs/DVDs/USB media in our toolkit. Among these are Windows install media, Linux install media, and Windows utilities.

Windows

Windows 10 – To install to and repair Windows 10 PCs. To get a Windows 10 ISO you must download the Media Creation Tool. Click ‘Download tool now.” After download start the tool and at the prompt make sure you select “Create installation media”, next select “ISO file.”

Windows 11 – If you are a Windows early adopter you must have a copy of Windows 11. Go to the download page and towards the bottom find “Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO)”. Select Windows 11 and click “Download”.

HBCD – Stands for “Hiren’s BootCD”. It is not actually a CD anymore. It is a bootable USB stick based on Windows PE that has a bunch of handy Windows utilities including:

• CheckDisk
• Defraggler
• Acronis TrueImage
• Lazesoft Windows Recovery
• 7 Zip
• Rufus
• Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
• Multiple anti-viruses
• Password recovery and PC unlock tools

and many, many others.

Linux

Regardless of your desire to become a Linux user or not you will want to download an Ubuntu based Linux of some kind. Good choices are Linux Mint Cinnamon Edition or Pop_OS. You can use these bootable operating systems to check your systems hardware status or use the portioning tool GParted. You can use its file browser to retrieve files from a broken Windows system.