A techy's toolkit :)

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Hi all been ages since I last posted, but now after being at college for almost 2 years and doing alot of self-taught studying, I have decided to setup a small pc repair business to help fund myself through uni next year nothing major just on a small local scale for some beer tokens I was just wondering if there any others doing this and what all tools and programmes do they keep in there "toolbox" while doing jobs???

Currently I carry :
cat5 utp cable
rj45's
crimp
cable stripper
screw drivers
air in a can

Os's (xp,vista etc)
Knoppix for data recovery
avg

usb caddy with 100gb drive in it.
usb pen 8gb

cany anyone advise on any other items i should have on me or any better choices there is out there? I dont know what software or diagnostic tool to choose from either.

All help would be very much appreciated

kind regards leo

 

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Anti static equipment such as Wristbands and mats and spare anti static bags for taking sensitive parts away.

 

a PSU tester and or a spare ATX PSU.

 

cool guys thanks for the input
any other software programmes you think I should be carrying with me?

 

They used to use two bricks, down the bottom of the garden. Keyhole surgery is the prefered method these days.......

In all honesty....
Your head will tell you what 99% of all the problems you encounter are. All I carry is a "NON" magnetic screwdriver, an anti static wrist strap and a bag of bits, screws, thermal paste, bits of plugs, lense cleaner etc etc......
Although a very long pair of tweezers come in handy from time to time......

 

Hi

A small torch is also useful. A multi-bit screwdriver helps, a set of precision screwdrivers, as well as long nose pliers or tweezers. Cable ties, spare IDE and SATA cables, spare mouse, power cables etc. Strange though it sounds, a 2 pence piece comes in really useful for removing some laptop batteries.

As for software, I try and carry a memory stick preloaded with installers for AV (Avast usually), Open Office, Windows Defender and the latest service pack. Some portable apps are also useful, such as Open Office, Notepad++, and some sort of file recovery program.

Maria

 

You can get a Netbook for under £150 now. And mobile broadband from £10 a month........

Bargain....

Seriously. The best tool you can have is your own knowlege, and the knowlege of others.....

 

Tea bags. In case you end up in an office of Philistines who only drink coffee.

 

Network cable tester is always nice...
I like to carry around a BartPE cd with me just in case..

 

an Imaging software ap like Nortons etc

 

Energy bar and perhaps a map with local pubs.

 

rs232 cable for configuring switches (you never know), plus a tatty old laptop with DSLinux installed for said switch config.

Ripped bits of teabag box (great for clearing dried paste from cpus)!

Couple of blank dvd-r's and cd-r's just in case.

Paperclip but that may be superceeded by the psu tester.

Umm and always overestimate how long you think it will take so that they (a) dont pester you and (b) think your brill when its completed before you said!

edit:

Oh yes and an MP3 player to while away the progress bar watching!

 

Things that you've not included in your list that I'd be at a loss without:
A workshop PC with a SATA controller that's recognised in both HDClone and Ghost. HDClone and Ghost for HDD cloning. Ultimate Boot CD for testing hardware (Mainly hard drives). The same workshop PC as before running XP Pro, for recovering data from customer's drives. XP Pro for taking ownership of files that are protected. PSU Tester, Precision screwdrivers, Long nose pliers, Cable ties. PCI graphics card.
Also, you'll soon find that your lonely copy of AVG is woefully inadequate for real world virus and malware removals. I currently use any or all of the following, generally in this order:
Avira (With manual update), MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, Spyware Doctor (Free version offered with Google Pack), a-squared Anti-Malware, Spybot S&D, SuperAntiSpyware, HijackThis (Not necessarily this far down the line), Xoftspy portable (Available for U3 USB Flash drives). Then I might run a few other bits including AVG for getting rid of any other bits and pieces.

Ontrack offer a good recovery piece of software, but you'll need to run it on a 3rd party (i.e. workshop) PC, and attach the customer's HDD by USB or directly to the board. I'd advise board for speed. And that's another point: USB - IDE/SATA (3.5" and 2.5") converter, with a HDD PSU.

Hopefully that'll help.

 

as always guys thanks for the info
I was thinking of chargeing in region of 15-20 pounds per hour with no call out fee
does this sound reasonable?

 

Depends how good you are. Ha. We're up against the little guys who just go around in their cars, fixing computers at people's houses. So we've got people calling us asking if we'll match the terms of these blokes, who very often are nothing more than an idiot with a dodgy XP disk. No fix no fee? Rubbish. Everything can be fixed, but sometimes it'd cost ridiculous money. For example, we charge £40 for the first hour, and £32 for every hour thereafter.

Charge them proper money, and hopefully it'll project that you're decent at what you do. I wouldn't take on any work for businesses at your level though, too much responsibility and liability for someone starting off.

 

I agree, try and stay away from business until you get a bit more under your belt. I'm in the same situation, I do PC repair on the side.

Only business stuff I touch is PCs. I also provide 24 7 cover, should you be willing to pay

 

Sounds very reasonable to me, most people will charge more than that, the big test though is when you goto some older persons house (cough trip), can you be ruthless enough to charge the full amount for 3 or more hours work.

Also you may want to look into public liability insurance I think its called. If someone says to you, you fixed my computer and then the house exploded you'r gonna need monetry backup!

 

yeah my dad suggested getting PL insurance aswell, I think the minimum cover you get now is a million pounds and costs about 200 hundred a year. Yeah was going to stay away from larger jobs as I dont have the time or the experience.I did install a switched network for an office the other night with little problem but dont think im ready for large scale work just yet im in Scotland in dumfriesshire after doing a bit of research it seems the next large pc repair service near me is twenty odd miles up the road in Ayr and there charging £55 an hour. So I think I might be able to poach some work if im considerably cheaper

 

hi there

a laptop
spare hardware everything - mobos of all socket types, cpus, mem, hdd's
usb drives for moving data
cat5 cables

ubcd4win on cd and usb (covers just about any scenario)
other boot cd's
vista recovery disks
a spare floppy (comes in handy)
oem cd's of windows versions

plus my own knowledge / experience

hope it goes well as it can be a saturated market

regards