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For QA workstations preparation (Windows-based PCs) our IT department uses typical batch deployment tools. I'm not at all interested in the details of such process, but IT guys ask me:

What typical set of software you need for everyday manual testing tasks? We could include these in our deployment so that you guys could save more time for testing, not for environment prep & tuning.

Sure thing we do test various range of projects, from web applications to standalone solutions, and each application requires its own set of tools for manual testing, e.g.:

  • Browsers
  • Virtualization utilities
  • DB clients
  • Screens capturing tools
  • FTP clients
  • XML editors
  • etc.

However, and that's for sure - there's a list of tools every QA MUST have installed on its PC, regardless of project types under testing. My area of experience is mostly standalone / complex web apps, that's why my vision on the task is a bit subjective.

So, your suggestions of what are tools / software an average QA specialist can't live without will be highly appreciated. 2 assumptions:

  1. Manual testing is a point of interest.
  2. Let's limit the list to not more than 15 (better 10) items.

Thanks in advance!

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17 Answers 17

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Assuming you exclude the systems used to execute the application-under-test (Operating System, Browser, etc) there are no tools a tester cannot live without. There are many tools that make testing stronger, more thorough, easier, faster, and/or more efficient.

We use bug tracking tools, text reading/editing/printing tools, document storage and retrieval tools for pretty much everything we do.

And we use lots more tools on many of the things we do. Here are some:

WinTask

We use WinTask for most of our website automation tasks, regression tests, etc. It's very easy to use, yet amazingly powerful.

BareTail

Our systems tend to have fairly comprehensive logs which provide a lot of useful information for analyzing the results of tests. BareTail makes it easy to watch several logs simultaneously, and highlight areas of interest.

BareGrep

Our systems tend to have a lot of configuration files. BareGrep makes it easy to search through them and find the desired settings.

PL/SQL Developer

We use this for pretty much all of our analysis of database activity, for creating test data, for testing stored procedures, etc.

WinMerge

Often our testing involves comparing the recent output to baselines. Sometimes the output comes from our system-under-test, sometimes the output is created during our automated tests. WinMerge makes comparison with the baseline, and analysis of the differences, very efficient.

SharePoint

We keep our development and test assets (Requirements, Specs, Test Plans, Schedules, Checklists, etc) in SharePoint.

Bugzilla

Our current bug-tracking tool of choice.

MWSnap

We're currently using MWSnap for screenshots, typically for attaching to bug reports.

And here's another list of good tools we've used at times.

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  • For working on web applications, adding screenshots from within the application saves a lot of time. Usersnap allows you to send screenshots (including meta information like the used browser) directly to your bug tracker.
    – Gregor
    Jul 12, 2013 at 19:20
  • 1
    @Gregor - you are the founder of Usersnap, right?
    – Joe Strazzere
    Jul 12, 2013 at 19:29
  • @JoeStrazzere: Yes, full disclosure.
    – Gregor
    Jul 12, 2013 at 19:34
  • Great list, I installed BareGrep thanks! I would add a text editor (I wish Baretail allowed editing), I like Sublime Text for any text editing with bulk editing. Makes life a lot easier to copy a DB column into a CSV with the multi-cursor feature.
    – Paul Muir
    Oct 17, 2014 at 17:03
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Some additional tools to the others (+1 to Phil and Joe, great suggestions) mentioned:

  • Mind Mapping tool (e.g. XMind)
  • Database Querying/Scripting tool (e.g. SQL Server Management Studio)
  • Screenshot Capturing tool (e.g. PicPick, windows problem step recorder)
  • Data Generation tool (e.g. www.generatedata.com)
  • Notepad++
  • Browser specific dev tool bars (e.g. firebug, IE dev toolbar etc.)
  • Combinatorial testing/pair-wise tools (e.g. AllPairs, PICT)
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  • 2
    +1 for great suggestion, especially Notepad++ and www.generatedata.com!
    – Peter L.
    Jan 31, 2013 at 16:41
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    I agree Notepad++ with XML addin is super useful for XML and configuration files.
    – jtreser
    Feb 5, 2013 at 17:32
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Jing (Screens capturing tools)

Small little tool that let's you record a short video of the screen. I personally use this when taking screenshots or attempting to explain an issue becomes difficult. The next best thing is to record the problem. It also saves the clip on the cloud so you don't have to worry about finding a location to host the video.

VirtualBox (Virtual Machine):

Definitely the most important tool that I use on a daily basis. Installed every single OS that we currently support and created several snapshots of the OS's in different states. Example, every OS has a snapshot when its first installed, so I can go back to a "brand new OS". Each OS also has a snapshot of the different SP's in case we need to go back and check if something changed in between SP releases. This way, I can test something and then revert it back whenever needed.

Evernote (Notes):

Another tool that I use on a daily basis. Keeps all my notes, none private customer information, to-do lists, etc.. Its really great as it syncs with all your devices. This way, I have access to my information on any device when I need it. Example, if I get an email asking about a particular issue that needs urgent attention, I can always take a look at my notes even if I am not in front of a machine.

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  • Kamil, are these free apps? If they are I'm definitely getting the first 2, and maybe the notes one too.
    – corsiKa ♦
    Jun 27, 2013 at 15:42
  • corsiKa, Yup! VirtualBox is created by Oracle and is completely free. Jing and Evernote are also free but you can buy premium packages to add more space etc.. Been using the free versions for over 2 years and didn't need to update to premium yet.
    – Kamil
    Jun 27, 2013 at 15:49
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I'll try not to repeat any of the tools already listed. Some that I use extensively that I don't see in other answers are:

  • Fiddler - http debugging proxy
  • Beyond Compare - diffing tool for files or folders
  • Perfmon, Filemon, Processmon - monitoring different parts of the SUT.
  • Snipping Tool - screenshots
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  • 1
    +1 for the 'mons. I added the entire sysinternal suite, because there's so much more there valuable for testers.
    – Alan
    Feb 2, 2013 at 0:22
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You might think my answer is snarky but my brain, notebook and pen is pretty much all I need I do use other tools but none I consider 'essential'

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  • 6
    I've seen some shops that don't appear to consider 'brain' as essential... ;-)
    – Joe Strazzere
    Jan 31, 2013 at 15:48
  • 4
    My brain can't look inside a process and see which handles it has open :}
    – Alan
    Feb 2, 2013 at 0:18
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One more important thing people forget communication tools, a tester should always ask questions, so we need some communication tools like Hipchat, Skype, slack, whatsapp...etc or any client email tool.

+

Clipboard Manager is very useful tool for multiple copy history.

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One of the most important tools I use all the time is virtual machines. I have a library of different test environments saved and if I need to test something in any one of those environments I just fire up that VM. The ability to snapshot the virtual machine means that I can corrupt the environment and very easily come back to a pristine state.

I would hate to be a (manual) tester in a world without virtual machine capabilities...

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  • Hi Ron, thanks for the answer!.. What's the virtual platform you use most - VMware, VirtualBox or smth else?
    – Peter L.
    Apr 19, 2013 at 5:45
  • Welcome to SQA, Ron! I have to agree, when I was writing enterprise software, we had a VM for almost every combination we could think of. Different OS's, memory configurations, CPU configurations, security settings (an underpatched system is almost like a totally different OS from the same one patched!), etc. It helped flesh out a significant amount of bugs during automated testing, and its shining moment is helping respond to client support issues much faster.
    – corsiKa ♦
    Apr 19, 2013 at 15:19
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I'd add the sysinternals suite to the mix - especially Process Explorer. Knowing how to use even a handful of the tools in the suite can help diagnose and discover a huge number of quality issues.

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3

below is my addition to the list - tools I use very often during testing and preparations:

  1. Firebug addon for Firefox - for me it's a true *must-have* for web testing
  2. CRC/MD5 checksum creation / verification utility (I use QuickSFV, it's free and really quick)
  3. DB Clients:
    • SQLDeveloper (for Oracle)
    • SQL Server Management Studio (for MSSQL, was mentioned above)

Other tools I use are the same or similar to already listed.

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Peter, great topic. I'd list some other new apps, not mentioned eariler:

  1. Altova XML Spy - great in working / processing XML files
  2. Filezilla - good FTP client with SSH support
  3. Kitty - a small SSH client, we use in viewing server logs in real-time
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Remote access tools - Putty, WinSCP.

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2018

In the 5 years since it was asked I also seen the following useful tools gain prominence:

Docker Even for manual testing, using docker, aws and containerization generally is a great way to set up and test other systems.

CloudApp On a mac* and windows this is my go to share tool. I copy my screenshot or video to it and bam I get a cloud link to use. * I see there is now a Windows download!

Slack Mentioned by others I have seen this application go through the industry, largely from a grass-roots effort of people liking it so much. It is now a critical part of every tech company I know. For QA folks the ability to easily upload and share documents is very handy for working with the rest of the business.

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  • much appreciated!.. Slack ius definitely now a game changer, though not exactly a qa tool per se
    – Peter L.
    Jan 10, 2020 at 15:16
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  1. Notepad++ is certainly the No.1 tool I need all the time :-)
  2. WMHelp XMLPad/Foxe/IE to read XML files.
  3. Lightshot as a printscreen utility.
  4. Webex recorder/Camstudio for screen record.
  5. Oracle SQL Developer to query database.
  6. Oh I need Wordweb also :-)
  7. HP Quality Center (Licensed)
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  • Selenium+*Firefox* for recording/playback of web sessions
  • Cygwin for access to useful Unix-style tools (file, stat, lsof, bash, vim, nc)
  • JetBrains dotPeek to disassemble DLLs (I use this so that I can call methods from IronPython)
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Here's my current toolset for manual testing:

Browsers

For web apps, I can easily test on my main PC using the newest IE (currently IE10), Chrome, Firefox and Opera.

Virtual PC

For testing web apps on older versions of IE, the Virtual PC instances downloaded from microsoft do the job better than anything else.

Excel

For quickly making lists and grids of manual testcases.

Notepad++

For all kinds of text file manipulation; from drafting fault reports to examining XML outputs.

Microsoft SQL Management Studio

For creating test data, and verifying data changes.

Greenshot

For taking screenshots.

Paint.NET

For editing screenshots, highlighting and annotating relevant areas.

PFrank

For bulk renaming files; for example numbering a motley selection of files so I can clearly attach them to a fault report and refer to them precisely.

Team Foundation Server

For fault tracking.

CutePDF

For checking printouts without using paper.

Sizer

For changing windows to different precise sizes, to check app rendering.

Pencil

For drafting application mockups. That one's mostly relevant when discussing design changes with dev/pm.

Fiddler

For testing traffic to web sites.

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So many tools are used in Quality Assurance daily process. Some tools are open source and some are paid. Tools list are varied based on projects purpose and scope. List stated below is used mostly.

  1. Notepad++ -- a life saving tool for manipulating test data, sample input/output data and many much more.
  2. Screenshot -- Snipping tool, faststone capture, lightshot
  3. Screen capture -- camtasia, faststone capture
  4. Virtualization - VirtualBox, Hyper-V, VMware, Docker
  5. SSH terminal tools -- WinSCP, Mobaxterm, WinSSHTerm
  6. DB client -- SQL Developer, DBeaver, Toad, SQL Server Management Studio
  7. API Testing -- Postman
  8. Excel -- another life saving tool for testcases management, test reports etc.
  9. File comparing tool -- File Merge, DiffChecker
  10. Browser -- Chrome, Firefox, IE
  11. Bug Tracking tools -- Bugzilla, Redmine, JIRA
  12. Paint -- for edit screenshots, images
  13. Automation tools -- based on projects
  • Appium, Robot Framework for Mobile application
  • Selenium for web automation
  • Jmeter for performance test and so on.
  1. FTP Clients -- WinSCP, Filezilla
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These are the tiny little tools yet effective for testing :

  • Perl Clip - To generate characters by providing the length, etc.,
  • Log watch
  • All pairs - Used to generate datas for pairwise testing
  • FreeMind - For creating mindmaps

See this site for more detais.

Credits to James Bach

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  • welcome to SQA. The answer would be more useful if you provided specifics examples of the tools and how you have used them in the past.
    – Dan Snell
    Jun 23, 2013 at 18:09
  • The tools i specified has lots of benefits, as you asked i used perlclip for boundary testing, character validation purpose, etc. and you can view the website which i specified in the answer to get more details about it. The usage of the tools depends on your requirement.
    – Vignesh
    Jun 24, 2013 at 5:26

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