jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

I am finding myself building pcs quite often for people at work and friends etc and quite often I look at peoples machines to sort out problems they are having.

I am now thinking of advertising in the local rag for an extra bit of income so it will involve me going to peoples premises. Is there any kind of diagnostic software (similar to memtest) so that the customers can actually see that something is wrong?

Cheers
James

Sonic'

Sisoft Sandra ?

Don't be nicking my business

BlkKnight

google: Ultimate boot CD

bob269

Just be careful when designing a company logo

stevem2k

BartPE is always useful to have in the folder .

As is UBCD

As is knoppix

As is an NT password 'management' tool

and a freeware antivirus

mike1210

as Steve2k above

let me add another

WinBuilder - Boot Land

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

thanks guys, will check them out when I get home

Never thought about Sisoft as a diagnostic before, only as a performance tool.

Sonic, dont worry I dont plan branching out to St Helens (just yet )

It wil just be local to me, as the few computer shops that there is, dont seem to be very bright!

Software wise, can you buy a version of windows that then allows the user to purchase the licence? I know you can buy multi licence versions but they are with the same licence key arent they?
I know with office you can install a trial and then if they continue to use it they need to pay the licence fee for it (I know open office is out there but people seem to want microsoft office)

boxst

Hello

I have done it as a sideline business and had a few clients. It was okay and I made some money. The only downside is I saw WAY too many naked pictures of the people whose computer I was repairing.

Website isn't live anymore, but you can have a look here: Sad And Lonely Computer Solutions

Steve

Steve

Sonic'

AFAIK SiSoft does burn in tests, if you want to thrash some hardware

Its ok, there is already some guy in my street that does 'computer services' but tbh I do enough of it during the day to be bothered doing it all night too,

IIRC if you install Windows without a licence key, or an invalid one, you do have the option of purchasing genuine windows license online

They do Volume Licence Kits, which is I think what you referred to, there are OEM ones too, but IIRC you need to be an OEM specialist or buy them from elsewhere and resell them on

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Do you have any suggestions for this? I need one that can handle a Win XP Pro environment for users who have made use of EFS.

All the tools I have so far come across cannot handle EFS, apart from one. They want £500

ScoTTyB

If you do this as a job 99% of your work will be removing virus and adaware from peoples crappy old machines that the 1yr virus subscription ran out several years ago on.

This will involve you sitting there staring at a screen for an hour watching spybot and the like count up. Very irritating and the only reason they called you is cos the viruses have fuffed the machines up so bad you cannot get on the internet anymore.

You will do other things but I can assure you this will be the main call.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Yup In my experience home users don't want to do anything preventative. Any time you spend trying to prevent things is generally time they don't want to pay for.

They basically wait till a) it breaks b) their son has fiddled with it breaking it even more c) his mate has had a crack at it too Then you get the call to sort the total mess out, with helpful comments like "xxx said they can do this in only 20 mins"

Still, it can be nice pocket money.

Sonic'

Have the machines we get coming in work are exactly like that ScottyB, glad its one area I dont deal in

Sonic'

Loomy

ELCOMSOFT: Advanced EFS Data Recovery

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Thanks

I was looking at that, but it looked to me that I needed more than just what was on that link. The job (which I had to turn down for other reasons) involved going to a machine where the sys admin had been fired. Unfortunately he knew before they told him so he changed passwords and locked users out.

I needed to be able to boot the server, gain access and then decrypt the EFS files.

I thought I was going to need this:
ELCOMSOFT: Elcomsoft System Recovery

Then something to crack the passwords. I remember the total coming to circa £500

Sonic'

I had to do something similar, only it was in New York, the customer went over to New York, and I talked him through everything he needed to do, plus logmein over the phone

3 hours I think the phone call was

I did get paid quite a reasonable some of money for that job and they phoned me

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Nice