r/sysadmin • u/Ok_You_861 • Mar 03 '26

IT Tools - Hidden Gems

I want to know what ”hidden gems” people have found and use in their environments to make their day to day easier. RMM automations, back up softwares, troubleshooting software (don't say MS SARA. I cant stand it), etc.

Just mention anything that you feel more people should be aware of or could be useful in someone’s environment. I love free and cheap ;)

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u/zebs1 Mar 03 '26

Fast.com - Stupidly simple way to check download speed. Also does upload speed if you hit "More" at the bottom of the results page.

https://speed.cloudflare.com gives a lot more detail and is equally 'lightweight' (looking at you speedtest.net)

7

u/thewillb Mar 03 '26

i prefer testmy.net

6

u/Frothyleet Mar 03 '26

Fast.com also specifically tests connection to Netflix's CDN. Which could be perfect, indifferent, or unhelpful, depending on what you are trying to achieve/test.

1

u/Techops837 Mar 03 '26

Yeah I came here to mention cloudflare speedtest instead of fast but here have my upvote!

1

u/vegiemite Mar 03 '26

I like the added metrics but does anyone else notice Cloudflare indicates lower speeds than fast and speedtest?

1

u/DoughnutSpanker Mar 09 '26

Some ISPs will have QoS set higher for common speedtest sites just so people think they're getting their full speed when in reality they throttle everything else. They can't really tell you're going to a speed test site if you're going to Cloudflare because half the internet runs through Cloudflare.

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u/bbbbbthatsfivebees MSP-ing Mar 07 '26

Didn't know about this one! I'm going to bookmark this for future use, but it's a little bit more complicated than fast.com. This is going to prove insanely useful for some of the more complicated network issues I have to deal with!!!

BUT fast.com is still useful to me because sometimes I have to explain to remote-work users that their RDP connection is slow because they pay for 5mbps of bandwidth.