WinBuilder

Protecting your computer and the information stored in it implies more than installing an antivirus, firewall or other malware repellents. First of all, you should protect the data by backing it up and having a recovery solution at hand in case 'digital disaster' strikes.

WinBuilder is designed to serve as an assistant that creates the most important tool you can use if your system refuses to boot: a rescue disk. The great thing you will undoubtedly notice from the get-go is the fact that this utility doesn't need installation. You can run it from an USB memory stick and it will get the job done.

There are a few things you need to fully enjoy this software. Basically, you must have an Internet connection to download new scripts and projects from the download center, administrative rights and the UAC (User Account Control) turned off on Windows Vista and Windows 7.

As soon as you decide which projects you need to download, WinBuilder will fetch all the tools, based on your selection, and store them in the same location as its executable. The downloading speed can only be labeled as decent, as it managed to get the 127 MB of 'Win 7PE SE' in just under 5 minutes during our tests.

With all the necessary files at hand, you can manually select the components that will be included on the recovery disk, select the source folder and then simply press the 'Play' button to have the compilation automatically run. However, there are some advanced options that can be configured via the 'Tools' menu of the application.

WinBuilder enables you to make custom scripts based on the downloaded projects in only 3 steps. Also, an alternative means of creating scripts is by converting files into script language format ( BartPE plugin '.inf' and '.txt' are currently supported).

Another useful function that you can find in the 'Tools' section allows you to create a web server on the go to upload and share files with anyone. Internationalization and localization were not overlooked, so you can select the default language for the rescue disk and even edit or create new ones just as easy.

Given its ease of use and very strong set of features, WinBuilder is definitely a winner when it comes to creating recovery disks and it's highly recommended for every proficient computer user to have it in the utility belt.