Steven's Tech Tips: 2010

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Looking at test equipment

Face it as technicians we need test equipment, as an on site technician it is more valuable than ever plus need to be portable. I like my tool kit to be easy to carry, don't want to show up looking like I am carrying a plumbers tool box.

The List:

Power Supply Tester

PCI Card / Post Card

CD lens cleaner also works on DVD drives

VOM Meter (must be digital)

Spare Video Card

Spare Net Card (I even have a usb version the size of a thumb drive)

Spare Net Cable

All of these, my thumb drives, and a cd wallet with 10 commonly used boot cd's all fit in the same laptop case as my cleaning kit. I also have a usb hard drive and a usb floppy in the case, a rollup usb keyboard, a mini usb mouse, and a usb to IDE / SATA / PATA converter for drive diagnostics.

Some of these things can be gotten on ebay for a reasonable cost. You just need to be careful of the sellers to make sure you get quality equipment that works. You can also get other gear as well based on your needs. There is nothing wrong with having more than one tool kit for different types of work.

Other Tool kits I have:

Networking Tools (Very Extensive including cabling tools)

I also do Audio Visual setups and instalations so have tools for drilling into concrete even.

Just because you work on computers does not mean you cant have many skills.

Steven Young
Technician Supervisor
S.a.A. Computer Repair
steven@saacomputer.com
Cell 503-851-6977
Field Solutions Tech #44922
Field Nation Tech #17515

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Wednesday, February 10, 2010

A look at your boot disks

A vital part of your tool kit is your boot disks.

I carry in mine:

MS-DOS 6.22

Win95

Windows NT 3.51

Windows NT 4 Workstation

Windows NT 4 Server

Win98

Win98SE (Yes there is a difference it is in the fdisk Utility for large hard drives)

WinME (With the Fixed fdisk for drives over 32 gig)

Yes there are floppy versions for these 4 as well as CD’s.

Windows 2000 Workstation

Windows 2000 Server

Windows XP Home

Windows XP Professional

I also carry CD’s that are bootable for:

Windows XP

Windows Vista

I also have PC-DOS 6 and DR-DOS 5 both are basically MS-DOS but by IBM.

I also have disks for several Macintosh operating systems.

Now one thing to remember is floppy disks wear out and many systems now don’t even have floppies. So I use WinImage 7.0 to make images of the disks and have those images backed up to CD. This also allows me to on the fly recreate or make the boot disk I need while on site.

Also I have loaded on my laptop a copy of BartPE with all the common SATA / RAID and Network drivers. It allows me to make a standalone bootable Windows MiniXP installation on a Live Run CD. In that I have Anti-Vir by Avast and Avira. I have Norton Utilities, ERD Commander, Microsoft Crash Analyzer and several tools for rolling back Windows to previous settings as well as password and key recovery tools.

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Avira also makes standalone bootable virus scanner cd images for free download as well as several other Antivirus manufacturers

http://www.avira.com/en/support/support_downloads.html

Microsoft has released Vista Boot CD’s and Windows 7 boot CD’s for access the recovery console tools that are like Windows XP but not included on the Windows CD’s.

http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/

There are also several Linux distributions that are available for download that are Live CD and for system crashes and forensic recovery one I carry and works fairly well is RIP (Recover Is Possible) and is fairly good. I am sue there are other versions as well as instructions for making your own. I have also dabbled in making USB Flash drives bootable and incorporated into Live Run CD’s for holding up to date virus definitions for secure boot and recovery scenarios

Steven Young
Technician Supervisor
S.a.A. Computer Repair
steven@saacomputer.com
Cell 503-851-6977
Field Solutions Tech #44922

http://www.saacomputer.com

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Monday, February 8, 2010

A Look at your Tool Box / Tool Kit - Part 1

Look at your Tool Box / Tool Kit - Part 1

Besides the Usual no brainer of various screwdrivers, if your going to do computer repair you need Diagnostics Tools, and Software to do various tasks. AntiVirus, AntiSpyware, Analisys Tools, Recovery Disks, Boot Disks, Common Drivers, and Various other goodies.

My Toolkit Includes but is not limited to:
PS/2 Keyboard
USB Keyboard
USB Wired Network Adapter
USB Wireless Network Adapter
USB Flash Drive with AVG, Avast, Avira, Spybot Search & Destroy, HiJackThis, RegClean, CCCleaner
Bootable CD's By Avira, BartPE (I make those), ERD 2005 by Winternals (worth the investment), Hiren's, Hawk, I also have the Windows Vista Recovery CD's, and now the Windows 7.
A Norton's System Works CD (Never Install it Just Run From CD)
I also carry a GUI Partitioning software to resize and rebuild partitions, a Ghosting Type Utility

USB Floppy Drive and Diskettes
USB Attachable HD.

Also Carry Spare Memory (Various Amounts and Different Types)
A Spare Monitor if you can (Can be old School CRT)
A Power Supply Tester

A Digital Vohm Meter

I have a PCI Diagnostics Card

This is just the basic stuff, we will look into more advanced items to carry and why / how they work as time goes on.

Steven Young
Technician Supervisor
S.a.A. Computer Repair
steven@saacomputer.com
Cell 503-851-6977
Field Solutions Tech #44922

http://www.saacomputer.com

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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Flat Rate Pricing, Don't Let It Scare You.

Flat Rate Pricing, Don't Let It Scare You.

Yes it does lower how much your making per job, but it helps bring in more work over all. In a shop you can also work on more than one system at a time thus getting more systems through the door allows you higher sales. Now out in the field it is not as advantageous other than customer loyalty and the fact one sale is better than no sale.

The way I do it is I take my hourly rate and I know a job will take 3 hours possibly or normally, even though I can get it done in 2. I then will take that end price and take some off (usually $20.00) and then I know even if I fix it in an hour, I get paid that amount. Really good for virus removals and Windows Restore. Something else to look at is up sell services. Your there to remove a virus, sell them on upgrading their system security. Sell them on cleaning the dust out. I am sure there is more to do.

If you keep your tool kit properly stocked most jobs won't take an hour anyways so charging an hour and a half as a flat rate is not bad. Most shops when you qute by time will qoute for 4 hours, that is a turn off to the customer, even if you know it won't take that much time.

Next we will start to look at your tool kit.

Steven Young
Technician Supervisor
S.a.A. Computer Repair
steven@saacomputer . com
Cell 503-851-6977
Field Sollutions Tech #44922

http://www.saacomputer.com

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Friday, January 22, 2010

Tech Tip Number 2:

Written Quotes. Don't be afraid to list your prices and give a written quote. I have listed prices for labor, including flat rates for jobs. Windows OS re-installs I know even on a fast machine will take at least 2 to 3 hours because I don't just stop at installing windows, I install security patches, drivers and restore My Documents and certain other software. Though I will list a price of 2 hours worth my time. My quotes usually are for labor only, parts are always differently, I will research and call the customer to tell them what that cost is as an update. Quotes are just a guideline, not set in stone. Customers like them as they can be prepared, no 'sticker shock'. I have found it keeps the customer calm and even if not happy about the bill, they don't usually yell at you. 

Next Tip, Flat Rate Pricing.

Steven Young
Technician Supervisor
S.a.A. Computer Repair
steven@saacomputer . com
Cell 503-851-6977
Field Sollutions Tech #44922

http://www.saacomputer.com

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Sunday, January 17, 2010

Tech Tip Number 1:

Create a documentation process that involves the end user. It does not have to be fancy, but functional. I have many documented procedures, a series of checklists, for backing up data, for restoring the system, even for diagnostics. Then I have documentation for reporting to the customer.   

This means each customer will see I follow the same procedures no matter what, at least to a point. It also means that I also know within certain limits I also know how long it will take to figure out and repair their computer.

I made my first ones in Excel and just wrote down what softwares I used and made a check list. It took several revisions to get it correct and stream lined and then I made it pretty. I even carry copies on my PDA for the 'paperless' times. Just because I made it does not mean I have it memorized enough to always follow it without help.

My Process Checklist

I also have one for doing backups (just to make sure I get everything common), I have one for the restore process. Next I will talk about written diagnostic quotes.

Steven Young

Technician Supervisor
S.a.A. Computer Repair
steven@saacomputer . com
Cell 503-851-6977
OnForce Tech ID #46721
Field Sollutions Tech #44922

http://www.saacomputer.com

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Friday, January 15, 2010

Hello There

Well here it is, Where I give away secrets of my trade. I hope to educate some on becoming better tech's, Give ideas on how to do things different to other tech's, and give the public a little insight into how we work. I hope to not give so much away that people no longer need us, but to build a stronger understanding and promote confidence in us as technicians. Let the end user see it is not all smoke and mirrors even though we may make it look easy. The end user thinks just cause we fixed an issue in no time flat we did not really do it or we caused it. Let them see we just have the experience to know how to fix it fast. So on with to posts.

Steven Young
Technician Supervisor
S.a.A. Computer Repair
steven@saacomputer . com
Cell 503-851-6977
OnForce Tech ID #46721
Field Sollutions Tech #44922

http://www.saacomputer.com

Follow us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/saacomputer

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Author Of
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Steven's Tech Tips