If you’re regularly fixing other people’s PCs then you could spend an age researching the best problem-solving freeware, building up your own portable troubleshooting toolkit, and then keeping it up-to-date.

Or you could avoid all that time and effort and download a copy of Windows Repair Toolbox, instead.

Launch the program and its Tools tab lists troubleshooting essentials like Autoruns, Process Explorer, Geek Uninstaller, Ninite, PatchMyPC and many more.

Windows Repair Toolbox doesn’t come bundled with any of these, fortunately. Instead, when you click something like Recuva, the program goes online, downloads the latest portable edition for your operating system, then launches it for you.

A Malware Removal tab offers one-click access to many popular malware hunters – Emsisoft, Malwarebytes, Kaspersky, Microsoft, RKill, RogueKiller, AdwCleaner, Hitman Pro, more – and can run unattended scans using your favourite engines.

Choose a troubleshooting tool and the program downloads and launches it in seconds

Other malware-related options include a selection of update links (Windows, Java, Flash, Adobe Reader), and a few cleanup and repair tools (CCleaner, WinRepairAIO).

A “Final Tests” tab provides speedy to some common system checks. Is Flash installed, or Java? Does your system open various common file types: Office, MP3, PDF, more? What’s in your HOSTS file? Are your webcam and microphone working? The answers may be just a click or two away.

While none of this is difficult to use, Windows Repair Toolbox relies on you understanding exactly what each option can do, and that’s not always obvious.

Is your current problem best solved by running Complete Internet Repair, or Windows Repair All-In-One, for instance? Dial-A-Fix, or FixWin? Zoek, or Farbar Recovery Scan Tool? If you’re not extremely familiar with the many different tools then you won’t have the faintest idea.

If you’re an experienced troubleshooter then the program could make your PC-fixing life a little easier, though, and as Windows Repair Toolbox is portable it’s entirely safe to try. Apart from the usual troubleshooting risks of applying the wrong fix, anyway.

Windows Repair Toolbox is a free application for Windows XP and later.