Running Your Business - Tools
& Toolkits
Articles:
Tools of the Trade For a Computer Repair
Technician
I was asked recently what
the tools of the trade were for a computer repair technician. Here is what I
think they are from my years of experience.
10 Tools Every Computer Repair Technician Should
Keep in His Arsenal
If computers are the
lifeline of how the world virtually runs in the recent times, computer repair
technician(s) are the 'doctors' who ensure that the lifeline is fit and running.
Computer Repair Tools
Have you ever found yourself up to your elbows in computer wires
and chips using your wife's toenail clippers to try and nip off an extra wire?
How to Choose Right PC Diagnostic Software
Computer Diagnostics is a need to keep a
healthy operating system and vital for business productivity, where
a failure can be a costly mistake. PC diagnostic software can
determine hardware and software conditions and possible failures, as
well as current settings and connectivity.
Local vs.
Network Diagnostics
Obviously anyone who maintains PCs, whether local or
on a network, is bound to be familiar with the
demands of getting the offending machine back up and
running as quickly as possible!
Computer Diagnostic Tools To Protect Your Computer
Pc
testing software to assist with both hardware and
software problems on your computer.
The Challenges of Recovering Data from RAID Hard
Drives
You
have a Raid data disk system, and of course the time
when you don't back it up is when it crashes, now
it's time to face the challenges that follow.
Tools of the Trade For a Computer Repair
Technician
By
John
Jamerson
I was asked recently what
the tools of the trade were for a computer repair technician. Here is what I
think they are from my years of experience.
Lots of CD's/DVD's. You need
to have all kinds of software in your toolkit. For instance, Windows XP, has
more than one disk in fact there are tons of variations. Do you have Home or
Professional? Are you using a retail version or an OEM version? What OEM version
do you have, is it Dell or HP or Lenovo? Plus all the other tools you need like
virus programs, disk utilities, memory checkers, etc. I carry a 64 pack of
CD/DVD's, and still find myself sometimes wishing I had brought more stuff.
A Laptop with a mobile
internet connection. Many times you're out in the field, and you need to look up
a service manual, or get the drivers for one thing or another, and it really can
be a huge help if you're able to get online no matter where you're at. Also when
it comes to that, you probably need a pretty big battery as well. I usually have
two 12 cell batteries charged up and with me, so that even in an emergency I
still have up to 12 hours of battery life that I can use my computer. Nothing
worse than running out of batteries, when you're running a virus scan on a hard
drive that you've pulled out a client's computer.
You're also going to need a
good set of computer tools, that are equipped especially with precision
screwdrivers. You'll use these quite a bit while working with laptops. Plus of
course the needlenose pliers come in handy more often than you think.
Also there are numerous
miscellaneous tools you'll need like an external USB connector for hard drives
that will allow you to attach IDE and SATA hard drives directly to the USB port
of another computer. Multimeters that let you check the function of electronics
in your computers. Anti-static wrist straps to protect you and your clients
system while you're working on them.
Honestly it takes a period
of time for each technician to get a feel for what they feel will be essential
to their computer repair endeavors. Hopefully this will give you a leg up in
putting your very own toolkit together.
John is a computer repair
technician for Denver
Laptop Repair company Nerds Next Door. If you need reasonably priced and
professional computer service and you live in the Denver area, call Nerds Next
Door. You won't find a better
Denver computer repair
service for any price. Don't call a Geek when what you really need is just
the Nerd Next Door.
Article Source:
EzineArticles.com
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10 Tools Every Computer Repair Technician Should
Keep in His Arsenal
By
Vic
Congionti
If computers are the
lifeline of how the world virtually runs in the recent times, computer repair
technician(s) are the 'doctors' who ensure that the lifeline is fit and running.
Considered to be one of the most 'high precision' jobs, computer repair takes a
lot of responsibility and accuracy in performance. Here are a few 'must-have' PC
repair tools any computer repair technician should keep in his arsenal.
1. Standard Screwdrivers:
(non-magnetic)
Premium-quality screwdrivers
of assorted sizes and also one with various shaft lengths are indispensable
tools in any computer repair technician's arsenal. Screwdrivers with different
sized flat-head are also essential; however, make sure not to use magnetic
screwdrivers inside computers.
2. Multi-tester/voltmeter
The most common use of
multi-tester is testing power supplies, which includes testing voltage,
continuity, resistance, amongst many others; whereas, a voltmeter is used to
measure only voltage.
3. ATX power supply tester
This is one of the most
indispensable tools for computer repair that specifies if the power supply is
outputting power; while providing functional terminals that allow easy testing
of the voltage using a multi-tester/voltmeter.
4. Cable testers
Cable testers, used with a
computer saves time and are easily manageable. Although there are alternative
methods like substituting cables (for testing) with good 'acknowledged' cables,
cable testers is a must-have for any computer repair technician's arsenal.
5. POST card
One of the most important
tools for PC repair, a post card when plugged into an expansion slot, shows a
problem code on a small display; which can be used to identify a problem. They
are not only trusted tools to ensure accuracy and specific diagnosis, but are
also excellent timesavers.
6. Diagnostic software
A must-have computer repair
tool, this software is used to diagnose any computer problems in minimum
downtime. This diagnostic software is easily available either as disk drive
installation software utilities, which are downloadable or are provided by the
drive software manufacturers - at zero cost.
7. USB network adapter
A computer repair technician
should have a USB network adapter in his took kit to facilitate easy network
access on a computer that has USB ports, but is devoid of any internal network
adapter.
8. Data transfer cables
A computer repair technician
is most often faced with the problem of corrupted OS during PC repair. And the
best solution is data transfer, where the hard drive is formatted and OS and
other software are reinstalled. This is done by data transfer cables available
in varieties such as USB, parallel and serial (null-modem).
9. Port-testing software &
Loopback adapters
While port-testing software
is used to determine proper functioning of the various ports; loopback adapters
works in conjunction with the port-testing software. Available for serial and
parallel ports, loopback adapters replicate signals that are input into a
computer.
10. Data-recovery software
A must-have for any computer
repair technician's toolkit; data recovery software can help recover data from
damaged hard drives.
Victor Congionti owns a
computer repair and
service company in Hartford CT. His PC repair business website also offers
free PC advice.
He also runs a
Connecticut SEO company
which provides high end SEO services to small-large companies throughout the
United States.
His passion lies in his
desire to build his business through hard work, dedication, and creativity.
Article Source:
EzineArticles.com
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Computer Repair Tools
By Thomas
Morva
Have you ever found yourself up to your elbows in computer wires and
chips using your wife's toenail clippers to try and nip off an extra
wire? You think you might be able to get your project complete
before midnight, when you suddenly realize those clippers aren't
going to work without taking out half your motherboard. Substituting
computer tools with household things never ensures that your
computer is repaired. Still, most people will try almost anything to
save money. However, in the case of good computer repair tools, you
should never skimp on quality or specialty.
There are millions of computer repair service provider companies who
render great support providing all the necessary computer repair
tools. Most computer repair tools are available in economical tool
kits. They are durable, precision-engineered, demagnetized, and
ideal for routine maintenance, upgrades and general repair. There
are a number of computer repair tool kits companies offering their
kits at remarkably low prices. These durable, precision-engineered,
demagnetized tools are ideal for routine maintenance, upgrades and
general repair.
An outstanding selection of superior Ultra tools comes in a
handsome, rugged carrying case for easy portability. There are tools
made of some rare and unusual elements to meet your needs in the
most convenient of ways. For instance, Obsidian, also known as
volcanic glass was used by primitive people to make tools. All tools
are fully demagnetized to protect your computer's hard drive or
magnetic media from damage, and each tool is conveniently stored in
a custom designed case.
Computer Repair provides detailed information on Computer
Network Repair, Computer Repair, Computer Repair Services, Computer
Repair Software and more. Computer Repair is affiliated with
Computer Part Supplies.
Article Source:
EzineArticles.com
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How to Choose Right PC Diagnostic Software
By
Natalie
Aranda
Computer Diagnostics is a need to keep a
healthy operating system and vital for business productivity, where
a failure can be a costly mistake. PC diagnostic software can
determine hardware and software conditions and possible failures, as
well as current settings and connectivity.
A PC diagnostic program can also suggest the
best performance settings in order to get the most of your system
according to your hardware specifications. In addition, a PC
diagnostic tool can help you to identify potential problems that can
damage your hard drive or any other piece of hardware.
Some companies provide troubleshooting tools to
test your PC’s electronic circuits, in the form of system plug-ins
or stand-alone applications. Computer Diagnostics should also be
able to check other computer components such as the BIOS, serial and
parallel ports, USB and Ethernet ports, etc.
Choosing the best PC diagnostic software
depends on your computer related knowledge. You may find a PC
diagnostic program worthless if you do not understand what a
benchmark diagnosis means, or cannot make changes in the settings
that the PC diagnostic tool may suggest.
Computer Diagnostics provide end user with
intuitive diagnostics tools for troubleshooting while improving
performance. However, some of them can be risky if you do not
understand what they can do, like those including the ability to
reformat any type of hard drive.
Most software developers state, "use it at your
own risk" because of the lack of knowledge that can lead also to
massive data loss. Although data can be recovered, it is a painful
process because of the required proper software or you may have to
take the hard drive to a service center that can restore and
reformat your hard drive.
Even then, there are no guarantees of getting
100% of your data back, so be careful choosing software intended for
Computer Diagnostics, and always read before clicking any "OK"
message that may pop up.
If a PC diagnostic tool returns the parameters
of the hard drive, and allows toggling the IRQ directly to determine
which I/O port is at which IRQ, make sure you understand what all
this means before proceeding, because the software can read, write,
overwrite and edit most values.
Perhaps the best PC diagnostic software is that
which can only read, generating log files or an overall detailed
report of your computer including all its components.
If the PC diagnostic program cannot write, the
possibilities to damage your hardware or destroy your content are
very low, although other problems such as a buggy, unstable version
can ruin your operating system.
Natalie Aranda writes about information
technology, computer and
computer training. NETg training is one of the most
effective way to master computer skills. Computer Diagnostics is a
need to keep a healthy operating system and vital for business
productivity, where a failure can be a costly mistake. PC
diagnostic software can determine hardware and software conditions
and possible failures, as well as current settings and connectivity.
Article Source:
EzineArticles.com
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Local vs.
Network Diagnostics
by
Micro 2000
Obviously anyone who maintains PCs,
whether local or on a network, is bound to be
familiar with the demands of getting the offending
machine back up and running as quickly as possible!
Most have experienced the
frustration of trying to pin point the problem,
which could even boil down to being simply a faulty
component.
Some of you may even have used
diagnostic software to help locate the problem,
saving in some cases hours of time.
Of course the accuracy of the many
diagnostics software and tools available on the
market varies, depending on just how in depth their
tests are, and just how thoroughly they interrogate
the system.
Sometimes people ask us why they
can’t run our diagnostic software, MicroScope, over
a network. Most of the reasons for this are related
to OS independence, so this article should be read
after finishing The Importance of OS Independence -
available at
http://www.micro2000.co.uk
One reason though is that hardware
problems of any consequence will normally interfere
with network communications. If you can even talk to
another system over the network, you have just
checked out about 95% of what you can check out over
a network. Any testing more thorough than that will
require local access.
Not being able to do in-depth
hardware testing over a network is just an extreme
case of the truism that you can’t do accurate
hardware testing under a general-purpose OS such as
Windows, DOS or Linux, because these programs are
designed to run the hardware in the background,
insulated from the user and applications.
The bootable operating system that
comes with MicroScope bypasses all of that OS
interference, but it also bypasses the network
configuration, protocols, NIC drivers and other
parameters that are unique to each networked system.
It’s easy to forget that Windows or Linux on that
system originally had to be configured for proper
network operation, and that had to be done at the
system itself.
It is technically possible to make
the MicroScope operating system network-capable, but
it would have to be set up on each machine being
diagnosed, just as the resident OS had to be set up.
Then, the system would have to be re-configured for
the resident OS after MicroScope had done its job in
pin pointing the hardware error. As a practical
matter, nobody is going to do that when they can
just boot up MicroScope and find the problem in a
minute or two.
Of course, many competing products
avoid the reconfiguration problem by running under
Windows, and these diagnostics can theoretically be
executed over a network using Windows’ own network
configuration. The price they pay is that they
cannot directly access the hardware and get the same
accurate information available to MicroScope, and if
used over a network they are even further removed
from every piece of hardware, with the possible
exception of the network card.
The short answer is that it is not
possible to get accurate hardware diagnostic results
over a network. There is just no substitute for
sitting down at the ailing machine, and running the
best diagnostic program available.
Disclaimer - The Micro 2000 Tech Tip
is a free service providing information only. While
we use reasonable care to see that this information
is correct, we do not guarantee it for accuracy,
completeness or fitness for a particular purpose.
Micro 2000, Inc. shall not be liable for damages of
any kind in connection with the use or misuse of
this information.
Micro 2000 Inc has been helping to
solve the day-to-day challenges that IT departments
face in order to keep their businesses operational
as well as profitable for over 14 years. The
company's primary goal is to put the customer first
- through feature-rich, simple-to-use IT tools that
can help IT administrators manage their jobs more
effectively.
For more advice and free articles be
sure to visit:
http://www.micro2000.co.uk
Article Source:
Amazines.com
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Computer Diagnostic Tools To Protect Your Computer
By
Dean Forster
At its most basic
form, a computer diagnostic tool outputs a message
indicating an error with a computer program, system
or device. Error reporting in Windows is a built in
computer diagnostic tool that runs automatically
whenever there is a problem with an application.
Computer diagnostic tools benefit computer users
because it helps to pinpoint problems with your
computer.
Many times,
computers will get slow for seemingly no reason at
all. Devices often malfunction and system problems
can arise out of nowhere. For people who rely on
their computer for business or personal use, these
computer errors can be frustrating and problematic.
So often with computers, people try to cure the
problem by focusing on the symptoms. This is poor
treatment for any kind of problem, whether computer
or medical. The right computer diagnostic tool can
help identify the source of the problem rather than
focusing on the symptoms.
Using a computer
diagnostic tool to find the root cause of a computer
error or dysfunction will save you time, money and
stress. When you focus on getting rid of the
symptoms, the problem will eventually return. This
causes unnecessary stress and takes up your valuable
time to take care of the same problem repeatedly.
When you go straight to the root cause of the
problem, you can quickly replace or repair that
component and be rid of the problem for good.
Computer
diagnostic tools come in a couple of different
forms. Software is one of the forms. Computer
diagnostic software scans the registry of your
computer to find incomplete, inactive and incorrect
registry entries. Many computer diagnostic software
programs can also repair or remove problematic
registry entries. This helps to increase the speed
of your computer and can help take care of system
errors, as well.
If you are having
problems with hardware components on your computer,
diagnostic software may not be able to identify the
problem. Some software is more versatile and geared
towards detecting hardware problems, while others
focus more on internal system and application
issues. To solve hardware problems, you can invest
in computer diagnostic tools that hook up to your
computer hardware. You can find out more about using
diagnostic tools for pc protection and performance
at
http://www.pctestingsoftware.com
Computer
diagnostic tools for hardware components hook up to
the different components and test them for proper
functioning capabilities and activities. These tools
can be more of an investment than their software
counterparts, but they provide a quick and effective
method for locating faulty hardware or hardware
running at a limited capacity. This allows you to
easily repair or replace the disabled hardware
component, saving you the time and money it would
cost to send your computer to a professional
computer technician.
Investing in one
or more computer diagnostic tools is a great way to
protect the investment you put into your computer.
The proper diagnostic tools can help keep your
computer running quickly and efficiently for many
years without having to pay for costly computer
repairs and overhauls. Computer diagnostic tools are
also the perfect solution for a computer
do-it-yourself individual.
Article by Dean
Forster at
http://www.pctestingsoftware.com . Find out how
to protect your pc and test security and performance
at Pc Testing Software
Article Source:
EzineArticles.com
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A “Redundant
Array of Independent Drives” is a popular technique
today for people working with several hard drives at
once. RAID is a data storage scheme which divides or
replicates data among the hard drives used, and is
thus capable of offering higher data reliability and
shorter response times than other schemes. This
system has been in use for some time in applications
that are considered non-critical.
The reason for
the use of the scheme within non-critical elements
of a business is that unfortunately, when one drive
in a RAID system fails all of the data stored on the
entire array may also be corrupted, or simply
rendered inaccessible. For a business without
knowledgeable support, this can be devastating. The
first challenge to any recovery effort will be the
reinstatement of data on not just one, but all of
the drives involved in the system. The higher the
level, the more complex the data recovery process
becomes. Each piece of data on each drive is
important, and a recovery system that ensures
complete recovery is key.
When it comes
to the actual recovery process, the person using a
RAID scheme has a few options. Someone trained in
the implementation of RAID and its applications
could recover the data from the drive, as long as
the data required is on the drive involved at the
time of the failure. Odds are the user will have to
call for help; that means two choices.
First of all,
you could contact the manufacturer’s support
department. It is likely that they will be able to
get your system up and running again, but like many
support systems the recovery of your data is only a
secondary objective. Basically, the manufacturer
will assume that you have backed up your important
data in a suitable fashion and the support staff are
trained to operate under this assumption. The
manufacturer cannot be expected to take
responsibility for your data stored on its product.
The second
option, and the best one open to the user, is to
call in the services of a company that is trained in
all manner of data recovery methods, and
specifically one that has experience with all the
levels of RAID storage. This service can be hard to
find, since recovery issues and systems requirements
are quite specific, but there are times when it pays
to seek out the experts.
RAID schemes
may be more reliable when it comes to data
management, but in the event of a failure the
challenges loom large. Getting the data from each
system involved and ensuring that data recovery are
at the heart of a support system are two of the most
critical issues that a user of a RAID system will
face in a failure, and it’s important to find
individuals who can handle the challenge.
RAID data recovery services cover problems like
RAID controller failure, RAID hardware failure, RAID
rebuild failure and corrupted RAID.
Article Source:
BylamoArticles.com
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