[Spider]

I've tinkered with computers for as long as I can remember now, and on the whole I'm pretty confident with them and have been able to fix all the problems I've run into. I have also recently taken to fixing other peoples computers, which is fun, but produces a whole different set of problems.

Basically, my question is if you were going to fix someone elses computer and you didn't know what the problem was, what would you want to take with you?

There are some basics which are fairly obvious, such as a set of screwdrivers, some kind of external hard drive, some variety of recovery disk (a boot from CD linux OS is my weapon of choice here).

So what else would you take? And is there anything other than some screwdrivers that it would be worth actually spending some money on?

[jjsaw5]

I mean outside of what you have suggested just take your brain lol.

May sound stupid but, no tool is more valuable then that. You can have every tool imaginable every boot cd and driver but if you don't know how to diagnose a problem what good is all that?

My suggestion is if you are going to start fixing other people’s pc’s the best tool you can have is knowledge. Once you have the problem diagnosed you can then make a decision of how you are going to fix the issue and which tools you have are best for the job.

Load up on knowledge. Best part it’s FREE (via the net of course)

[josiahb]

jj is right, the more knowledge you have the better armed you are, but there are a couple of things I tend to take along with me on support jobs:

Digital Multimeter
USB - IDE/SATA Storage Converter Kit
Power Supply Tester

and my lappy.

[homemade-jam]

Coffee (and a hell of a lot of patience!)

[mocker]

A sledgehammer. Or sometimes a bat. It fixes everything so well that they never need me to come fix it again.

[no2pencil]

I have a cd rom & a thumdrive with the following on each :

Hijack This
McAfee 7 w/ updates
Avast AntiVirus
Registry clean up tool (I forget the name)
Ad-aware 2008 w/ dat file update
Also our own Anti Adware/Spyware software HostStopper.
Lastly, just in case of an emergency boot option, I have a copy of XP Pro & XP Home (licensed to my business of course) in case I need to use the repair option.

However, most often, I just have the customer bring the computer to our office.

[homemade-jam]

Quote

(licensed to my business of course)

We wouldn't think of anything else from you no2

[carltech]

A multimeter will help if you know what your doing and wanna check power flow.

A laptop, iphone, blackberry, or whatever you choose for mobile internet; in case of stumpage.

A can of compresses air or a minivac, for obvious reasons.

Besides that you seem well equipped.