Genre | Software development |
---|---|
Founded | 1996 |
Founder | Bryce Cogswell and Mark Russinovich |
Headquarters | Austin, Texas, United States |
Parent | Microsoft |
Website | www.sysinternals.com |
Windows Sysinternals is a part of the Microsoft TechNet website which offers technical resources and utilities to manage, diagnose, troubleshoot, and monitor a Microsoft Windows environment. Originally, the Sysinternals website (formerly known as ntinternals) was created in 1996 and was operated by the company Winternals Software LP, which was located in Austin, Texas. It was started by software developers Bryce Cogswell and Mark Russinovich.Microsoft acquired Winternals and its assets on July 18, 2006.
The website featured several freeware tools to administer and monitor computers running Microsoft Windows. The software can now be found at Microsoft. The company also sold data recovery utilities and professional editions of their freeware tools.
Winternals Software LP was founded by Bryce Cogswell and Mark Russinovich, who sparked the 2005 Sony BMG CD copy protection scandal in an October 2005 posting to the Sysinternals blog.
On July 18, 2006, Microsoft Corporation acquired the company and its assets. Russinovich explained that Sysinternals will remain active until Microsoft agrees on a method of distributing the tools provided there. However, NT Locksmith, a Windows password recovery utility, was immediately removed. Currently, the Sysinternals website is moved to the Windows Sysinternals website and is a part of Microsoft TechNet.
In late 2010, Bryce Cogswell retired from Sysinternals.
Most of the utilities that were developed were usually accompanied with the source code written in C, C++, or assembly language. The code was compatible with Visual C++ v. 6.0 and could be compiled with little effort by a Windows developer. Some of the more interesting utilities did not come with source code, or a lesser version would be available with the source. In later releases, there were 64-bit versions of the utilities and even Linux versions as well.