How To: Stock An Emergency PC Fix-It Bag

[englandr753]

If you have a system that you are working on that still runs and want a quick reference of info such as software installed and the key codes to activate them, Belarc Advisor is a great tool:

http://www.belarc.com/

Its a wealth of all types of info at your fingertips that you can print and use as a reference later when you want it.

 

[radiumburn]

Needle nose plyers, Portable soldering kit (fix alot of broken laptop power jacks)

USB to ethernet adapter is nice if your working on some old hardware with no drivers for the pci network card and want to speed up a full reinstall


PSU tester is definatly a must if working on older hardware along with a multimeter.

Don't forget to throw latest ubuntu build on your laptop/netbook not to mention a bootable cd/dvd for throwing on the customers computer if you are in a pinch (they will be willing to run linux off a bootable cd/dvd for a few days/weeks if they have 0 money to replace a HD thats DOA)

 

[gamesmachine]

External DVD Drive is a must! Accept when your friends laptop wont boot from it - requiring windows to be put onto a bootable USB...

Windows CD's...linux cd's...a Password Cracking Disk, I've had to use that a couple of times because people have forgotten the Administrator Password and the other Account is corrupt.

The USB Ethernet is a good one, especially if there is a driver cd. Windows is great at finding drivers 90% of the time, but if it doesn't have Ethernet or wLan drivers at that time it means manually finding them, gotta love Windows Update.

Cool to hear other peoples ideas!