[MUST HAVE TOOLS & UTILITIES for a PC Tech] - Computers



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MUST HAVE TOOLS & UTILITIES for a PC Tech

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Posted by: qbbraveheart

so in your opinion,

whats the MUST have tools & utilities that a PC Tech must have(software and hardware related)

TIA :D



Posted by: hillbillybob

What ever you need

Good tool set, I haven't needed to solder....recovery software, and a good understanding of customer relations



Posted by: qbbraveheart

yea besides a tool set

antivirus
spyware/adaware
boot disks
emergency startup disks

what else guys

im sure im missing some things

lets put together a comprehensive list :D



Posted by: COCOCOOKIE

P.O.S.T. card

Antivirus Rescue Disk (AVG home edition has that feature)

Anti-ESD kit, and...I can't remember anything else right now...

Anyone...????



Posted by: qbbraveheart

whats a P.O.S.T. card?

a list of the processes that goes on during POST?

keep it coming guys

maybe we can get this stickied :cool:



Posted by: starkmann

I bought my LAN admin one of those ratcheting (ap?) screw drivers. He seems prettyhappy with it. Even for people who aren't supposed to do hardware work, there are a lot of times you need to open something, maybe work a couple drives around.



Posted by: TheMajor

[color=darkred]A Windows XP disc. How else do you want to enter recovery console?[/color]



Posted by: qbbraveheart

^^^haha this is true



Posted by: COCOCOOKIE

POST is the "Power-on Self Test". It takes place right after you start the PC and it tests hardware devices. If some piece fails that test you'll get a serie of beeps. With the POST card (which you insert in a PCI slot) you can locate the piece of hardware by interpreting the beep code (the card comes with a manual with the most common beep codes for different BIOS)



Posted by: TheMajor

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by COCOCOOKIE [/i]
[B]POST is the "Power-on Self Test". It takes place right after you start the PC and it tests hardware devices. If some piece fails that test you'll get a serie of beeps. With the POST card (which you insert in a PCI slot) you can locate the piece of hardware by interpreting the beep code (the card comes with a manual with the most common beep codes for different BIOS) [/B][/QUOTE]

[color=darkred]Sounds useless. You can find a description of Award/Phoenix and Ami beep codes on the internet, write them down, and you'll have the same thing + it saves time and money.[/color]



Posted by: COCOCOOKIE

It's not useless. I didn't put what it does in detail; it's not just to interpret beep codes. Just Google "POST card" or go to [url]www.microcenter.com[/url] to find out what it does. If you don't know what it is for don't make assumptions...give me a break!



Posted by: COCOCOOKIE

Here you go,rookie....

[url]www.unicore.com/products/postcards/pcipost.htm[/url]



Posted by: swishchix

i usually have these tools w/ me...

1. bootdisk or startup disk for different types of OS (if incase of emg & u forgort it @ home, just download a quick startup disk @ [url]http://www.bootdisk.com/[/url])
2. antivirus (norton corporate) if you want a quick free anti-virus apps just download 2 free av apps (avg antivirus and personal avira)
- avg antivirus can be downloaded from download.com
- avira can be downloaded from free-av.com
3. usb thumb drive (maybe 1GB or minimum 256MB would be fine)
4. a small pen screw driver
5. retractable ethernet cable (rj45)
6. i also have a burned cd/dvd disk of all other drivers that i might use when i'm fixing computers like...
- ace ftp
- network monitoring tools
- putty.exe
- and other stuff.

these are only suggestions as long as you can fit them in your back pack just put them on the side to get ready so incase your client/s need a tech in a hurry it's all setup for you.

i hope this helps!



Posted by: MrCoffee

Belkin 36 peice tool kit + PSU tester, Small torch, Spare molex splitter, volt meter.

Linux live CD
XP CD
XP SP2 CD
memtest86 floppy


USB flashdrive with:
CCleaner
Adobe reader
ATI Tool
AVG & definitions
Blacklight
CDex
CPU-Z
Debug Tools WinXP
DebugWiz
O&O Defrag
DosBox
DrTCP
Everest Home
Ewido & Definitions
Firefox
Foxit reader
hijackthis
image Shrinker
JAP
John the ripper
Kaspersky AV 6
Leaktest
tooleaky
firehole
MD5sum
memtest86
outpost
Prime95
quickzip460
regCleaner (jv)
reshack
rootkitrevealer
SAMinside
HDD diagnostic tools for all main manufacturers
Security taskmanager
SP2 Support tools
Spywareblaster & definitions
Spybot search & destroy & definitions
Super PI
TrueCrypt
Acronis trueimage
ultraMon
Win98 boot disk creator
winimage
WinRAR
winzip81

List is always being revised and I'm currently looking for a decent Bootable utilities CD



Posted by: The_likely_lad

Ah crikey

A JCB 28 set screwdriver
Soldering iron (for laptop board/socket repair)
Test Meter (volt meter)
Psu tester
Xp home/Pro/server/2000......etc
Hirems Boot CD
Bart PE
Can Of compressed Air
About a hundred various CD's scattered around the shop and probably on there way out inside customers machines (the amount of xp cd's i have lost is truly upsetting)

Ah bollocks it......Basically quite a bit of stuff. But hey the mans only as good as his tools (or something like that)



Posted by: Elbatrop1

[quote]List is always being revised and I'm currently looking for a decent Bootable utilities CD[/quote]
Have you tried Super Win PE? I've used it a few times, and found it to be pretty useful.



Posted by: MrCoffee

what sort of things can it do?


I also forgot an item from the list and thats a disk management tool e.g. acronis disk director or partition magic. I have vcom system commander here and its pretty cool because it can do everything that the server version of disk director can do and thats like $500.



Posted by: qbbraveheart

great guys....lets keep it going!!!!! :D

this'll be great for the newly certified A+ tech or anyone else for that matter

I have to get me one of those USB thumb drives



Posted by: The_likely_lad

Also make sure you have a lovely brick wall......



Posted by: qbbraveheart

haha yea not for the PC either sometimes lol



Posted by: IBMan

various boot disks, copies of all windows versions(you never know which version you'll run into)

various linux distros including live versions.

laptop.





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