Zack Rippy

I started my career in IT working for a local computer shop fixing PC’s. I learned one thing very quickly: Once people discover that you happen to know a little bit about “computers,” you all of the sudden become the go-to guy (or gal) for everyone’s computer needs, which is fine with me because I enjoy it. Whether it’s a PC that won’t boot or a program that is “really, really slow,” you never can tell what you will actually encounter. After nine years of tinkering and gathering valuable experience under fire, I’ve assembled my own little toolkit for dealing with common problems. It is comprised of hardware and software that helps me diagnose and repair the issues I see most frequently.

Hardware

This one is easy enough. Carry everything you think you might need and a few that you never do…just in case. Seriously.

I used to carry miscellaneous screwdrivers, brackets, chip removers and basically whatever I had handy. A friend of mine ordered a very nice, small toolkit for himself and ended up with two. He was kind enough to give me his spare and it has proven itself to be absolutely invaluable. It contains an assortment of screwdrivers, soldering material and gun, wire strippers, pliers, chip extractors and a multimeter among other items. This is not the exact one I have, but it is similar. It is easily worth every penny.

I also make sure to have plenty of screws, slot covers, heat sink compound, cables, cable ties and other miscellaneous accessories.

Software

Operating Systems are essential. I can’t count the number of times I have arrived onsite and the PC in question required some sort of system files to reload or repair a critical component and its owner did not have the original CD or the .cab files on the harddrive. That’s why I keep every variation of Windows operating system known to man handy just in case. Sorry, I have never been called to look at somebody’s Linux machine. I have used all of these multiple times and carry them whenever I go out:

• Windows 95
• Windows 95a
• Windows 95b
• Windows 95c
• Windows 98
• Windows 98SE
• Windows Millennium (uggh)
• Windows NT 4.0
• Windows 2000
• Windows XP
• Windows Vista

Trust me, the minute you don’t have one of those with you is precisely when you will need it. I have all of them on CD, plus have a very useful DVD I burned containing all the actual installation files from each operating system.

You also want to have the latest service packs/critical patches for each of them. Autopatcher is a fantastic utility for this. You can use it to burn a disc with all the latest updates for the operating system(s) in question.

Have a system that won’t boot and you need to get into some sort of familiar environment? Well, you are in luck. BartPE to the rescue. BartPE creates a bootable, graphical environment that allows you to access a dead system. You need your original Windows XP CD to create the disc. Once you create it, you have a CD from which you can boot and copy files, access the network and do a myriad of other useful tasks. It is literally a basic Windows system on CD/DVD. You can also get (or create) plugins for running other applications within BartPE. It is a brilliant piece of software. If you don’t think you need BartPE, then you’ve never used BartPE. There are numerous things that can be done from a boot disc (way more than I want to discuss here), but you really need one in your arsenal. Also, if you need bootdisk images (floppy or CD), be sure to check out bootdisk.com.

Antivirus is vital as well. How many times have you gone to look at a PC only to immediately suspect it is infected with who-knows-what? AVG antivirus is a capable, free antivirus option that you can leave installed when you leave. It might not be the best antivirus on the market, but it is free. I keep a copy along with the latest virus defintions with me. There are also several antivirus plugins for BartPE.

Spyware seems to be even a bigger problem these days than viruses. I have three tools in my anti-spyware toolkit that I never leave home without:

• Ad-Aware
• Spybot Search & Destroy
• HijackThis

The combination of these three applications should find and annihilate any spyware infecting a system. Honorable mention goes to Windows Defender.

What about forgotten passwords? In the Windows 9x family, that is no problem. The wonderful Cancel button will get you right to the desktop. For Windows NT/2000/XP, we need another option. That’s where the the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor comes in. It creates a bootdisk or CD that allows you to boot into Linux and reset any password on a system. I cannot tell you how many times this one has saved the day. While the disclaimer says it is possible to destroy your registry with this utility, I have used it dozens of times without incident.

Finally, the latest addition to my the toolkit is logmein.com. While technically not something I can carry onsite somewhere, it is even better. It allows me to remotely control another PC via my web browser. I can send the person in need of assistance an email with a link. They click the link and they are walked through installing the small application. They then give me permission to connect and almost instantly, I am in their computer. Yes, I know I could set up VNC or Hamachi or whatever, but have you ever tried talking a frustrated computer user through setting up a remote access client? And forget about it if you need to do port forwarding and all that through their router. No, thank you. I’ll keep those great applications for my own use, but when it comes to getting access quickly and easily, logmein.com does the trick. When your relative calls you up late one evening and is having a problem that is driving them nuts but they cannot describe it, you can hop online, commandeer their machine and take care of the problem.

This is certainly not a definitive list or guide - merely a reference to the bare minimum that I personally find essential. There are many others. What do you use? What tools do you keep at your side? Let me know!

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 14th, 2007 at 9:04 am and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.