• What tools does a real computer master need? How I got a job in a computer repair office. Benefits of our courses

    Over the many years of work, our computer repair service has developed an optimal set of parts and tools that an on-site computer repair technician (the so-called “Emergency Computer Assistance”) needs to have with him in order to resolve the maximum possible number of breakdowns on the spot without burdening himself. extra pounds of equipment.

    1. Netbook

    It is small in size and weight, and has enough computing power to solve many pressing problems:

    • diagnostics and configuration of local networks, the Internet, network devices (switches, modems, routers, network cards), wi-fi
    • information storage
    • Internet access using a 3G modem or client equipment
    • diagnostics of the performance of peripheral equipment (monitors, printers, scanners, external hard drives, memory cards, flash drives, headphones, microphones, etc.).

    2. External USB DVD drive

    It helps in cases where it is needed, but the client’s computer is either not equipped with a DVD drive (for example, a netbook), or for some reason it does not work or only reads CDs, but you need to read/read/write information on a DVD.

    2a. External hard drive with virtual optical drive function Zalman ZM-VE300

    Recently, an external hard drive has appeared with a virtual optical drive function. Helps a lot at work. USB 3.0 copying speed is noticeably faster than conventional CD/DVD. We thought that it would completely replace USB DVDs and flash drives, but a number of features (not all computers see it, some simply do not boot, sometimes there is not enough current/voltage via USB) did not allow this to happen.

    3. USB 3G modem

    Necessary in cases when you need to go online (download a driver, get help on any issue). It is also sometimes necessary to check the client computer to see if it can access the Internet at all. A tariff plan without a monthly subscription fee, but with payment only for used traffic, is very well suited for this case.

    4. USB Flash drive (flash drive)

    Its main purpose is to store information that needs quick access on a daily basis (necessary programs, utilities, instructions, documents, anti-virus databases). It’s very good to make it also bootable. The main drawback is the lack of hardware write protection. Therefore, we need to constantly ensure that it itself does not become a breeding ground for viruses after we insert it into someone else’s computer and think through a set of measures to protect the information on it so that every time after that, instead of working, we don’t have to deal with its healing)). It can also be used to check USB ports for whether it works or not. This item can also be supplemented or replaced with an external hard drive.

    Necessary disks with operating systems, drivers, programs, utilities, boot disks for resuscitation, saving, restoring files, and removing viruses.

    6. USB-IDE-SATA adapter

    Allows you to connect any internal hard drives (computer 3.5″, laptop 2.5″, ATA and SATA) to a computer or laptop via USB port for transferring information, restoring files, treating viruses, diagnosing the condition of these hard drives, as well as CD- DVD drives.

    7. Mini multimeter

    Allows you to carry out basic measurements (is there 220V in the socket, does it reach the power supply), ring circuits, measure battery voltage on the main power lines.

    8. Tools

    • Regular Phillips screwdriver with non-magnetic tip- for opening cases, disassembling and reassembling computers and laptops. (Non-magnetic because hard drives really don’t like it)))
    • Small magnetic Phillips screwdriver- for all sorts of small bolts, such as a fan on a video card or many bolts in laptops.
    • Medium straight screwdriver- sometimes comes in handy.
    • Small pliers- somewhere, pull something or screw or unscrew.
    • Small nippers- snack on zip ties (some particularly fanatical computer assemblers attach them where needed and where not needed, sometimes in unimaginable quantities)).
    • Ticks for crimping RG-45 network cable connectors.
    • Large brush- for wiping dust on boards.
    • Small brush- for wiping dust in small and hard-to-reach places.
    • Flashlight small - without it, crawling under tables, behind cabinets and in other dark and hard-to-reach places is not so interesting and educational)).
    • Rubber for wiping contacts - regular stationery eraser.
    • Knife folding.
    • Little ones headphones with microphone— to check the performance of sound cards.

    9. Spare parts, consumables

    • IDE cable 80 pin - 1 pc.
    • SATA-data cable with latches - 2-3 pcs. (unfortunately, these connections are very unreliable and these cables have to be changed more often than we would like).
    • SATA-PSY cable (power) - 2-3 pcs. (the reason is the same as above).
    • CR2032 batteries - 5 pcs.
    • RG-45 connectors - 5-10 pcs.
    • Silicone grease - 1 tube - for lubricating fans.
    • Thermal paste - 1 tube.
    • Superglue - 1 tube.
    • PVC electrical tape - 1 roll.
    • Bolts. There are two main bolt standards used in computers. It is enough to take 10-20 pieces. everyone.
    • Ties.

    10. Accessories

    There may be, or there may not be. Things that sometimes come in handy, take up little space and, if necessary, can always be sold to a client (with a small margin))):

    • Memory modules of different standards (Dimm, DDR, DDR-2, DDR3) - one or two of each standard.
    • PS/2 - USB adapter - when you need to check the functionality of PS/2 mice and keyboards.
    • VGA cable - connect the client monitor to the laptop to check its functionality (clients do not always have this if their monitor is connected via a DVI cable)
    • USB cable for printer, scanner
    • USB extension cable
    • Network cable

    Total

    Of course, nuances are possible. Perhaps it would not hurt to have a working power supply with you, as well as, just in case, one video card of the most popular standards (AGP and PCI-Express), a spare network card, a keyboard and mouse, a set of fans would also not hurt, and a vacuum cleaner in In some cases it is simply irreplaceable)). Carrying such things with you all the time is already becoming somewhat expensive, and the decision about the need to have them in your bag is best made in each case separately during preliminary communication with the client by phone. Those who like to solder would also take a soldering iron with them (+ solder, + flux, + a set of the most popular capacitors), but we don’t have such a task - all such work is carried out in a workshop.

    Computer equipment has become an integral part of our lives. Without it, many processes occurring in the modern world would simply stop. There are computer devices in almost every home. They greatly facilitate production processes, processes related to trade, medicine, education, etc. Therefore, the profession related to repairing and configuring computers is and will probably continue to be very popular.
    This specialty can be obtained at a professional level in specialized educational institutions. You can also master this profession on your own. Naturally, you must have certain abilities for this activity. Otherwise, you will not be able to become a good IT specialist. In our difficult times, many have to change their profession. Therefore, we advise you to consider the option of obtaining a specialty in computer equipment repair.

    Believe me, not all users immediately turn to specialized workshops when their equipment breaks down. Many, probably in the old fashioned way, are looking for a private master. If this specialist is worthwhile, then word of mouth will very quickly spread rumors about his skill. Therefore, if you are well versed in computer repair, make this business a source of profit: become a computer technician at home in Moscow. In this case, you have several options. You can troubleshoot problems at home, go to clients' homes, and you can also get a job as an employee for a company that does similar things. The advantage of becoming a full-time specialist of the company is the availability of a permanent job and a benefits package.

    If you still decide to make a living by repairing computer equipment, do not forget that you are just a beginning master. In order to carry out high-quality repairs, first of all, purchase a sufficient number of the necessary tools. Its presence will allow you to perform many operations.

    First of all, you must have a spare power supply. Statistical studies show that it is he who breaks down most often. Having accepted a computer device for repair, specialists first of all subject it to testing. Unfortunately, this part of the computer fails, just like our electrical networks, they are subject to frequent voltage surges.

    IT specialists must also have a special universal wire for connection (connector). It will allow you to connect the power supply to any motherboard.

    In order to quickly and successfully test a video card that has failed, you must have your own, albeit not very expensive, video card.

    To work, you will also need a spare monitor, as well as various adapters.

    If you start doing this kind of work, all the necessary spare parts should be on hand. This will reduce the time required to repair computer equipment. We advise you to store the necessary drivers and programs on a separate flash device.

    Note that you, as a novice master, will have to turn to the Internet for help quite often. Therefore, you need to provide yourself with constant and high-quality access to it.

    We must not forget that specialists of this kind must, in addition to repairs, perform many additional computer maintenance services (OS setup, installation of various programs, etc.).

    And one more piece of advice. At the beginning of your career, you should not take on a lot of orders, especially those that are not easy in complexity. Remember, if you drive more quietly, you will wake up further. Good luck to you.

    Good day to everyone, my dear friends. As usual, Dmitry Kostin is with you, and today I will not tell you about any tricks with computers. Today I want to talk a little about something else. Namely, computer maintenance and calling computer technicians. Just really sick of it.

    You have probably already noticed that advertisements like “Computer technician. I live nearby. I'll come quickly." Please tell me, have you ever used the services from these advertisements? If not, then don't even start. Now I'll tell you why.

    Ad analysis

    Let's probably start with the fact that this is not some private master, but an organization that has a lot of such masters and more. And I want to tell you that if you call and call a craftsman, then anyone will come, but not the guy from the photo (in the photo below is the American actor Zac Efron).

    Oh, that's a joke with the photos. These people simply take images of left-wing people from the Internet without even checking who the person is. In my city (and not only in my own city) I came across such advertisements, where Jensen Ackles (the leading actor in the TV series “Supernatural”) was depicted, Chris Evans (who played the role of Captian America), and just photos downloaded from the Internet (by Google search for similar images finds many similar ones).

    So it turns out that you wanted to see Captain America, who would come to install Windows for you, but in reality it’s unclear who will come. The psychology here is that this is a simple guy who will install Windows, Office, drivers, etc. for you for a little money. Moreover, there is a photo, and often the ad appears to be written by hand and copied on a photocopier. This is your boyfriend. But no matter how it is)

    Now about the famous “I live nearby, I’ll come quickly.” Well, well. My friend told me that he saw the same advertisement in our city and in the city of Pushkino, only it was written even better - “I live in your area.” The distance between my city and Pushkino is 10 kilometers (from edge to edge). And if you consider that you can live at the other end of the city, then it will be all 20 km. It’s interesting then, in which “our area” does he live? In the Moscow region or what?

    In general, it turns out that judging by the content, the ad is already a lie. Have you seen the movie "Route 60"? If not, then take a look. A very good film. So there was one character who could not stand lies. Whenever someone lied to him, he activated a charge of dynamite on his chest. In general, what am I talking about? This kind of guy needs to be brought into this office.)

    Call

    Such advertisements are most often aimed at pensioners who have no one to help, and who, whenever they freeze, think that their computer has been killed by a virus. Although there are other categories of citizens. But the point is that they perform, I’m not afraid of this word, sucker types of work for good remuneration. If I were paid that much for such work, I would receive at least a million a month.

    One employee at my work called such a specialist. It turned out that he was coming from the Capital itself (this is the word “I live nearby”). She said that she had some problems with her laptop and it started to slow down a lot. Well, he immediately told her that she needed to reinstall Windows. Well, the woman is not very good at this, that’s why she agreed abruptly.

    In the end, what he did to her:

    • Windows installation - 1000 rubles
    • Driver installation - 1000 rubles
    • Installation of an antivirus (according to him, a licensed one with a license for 1 year) - 500 rubles
    • Well, and how much (I don’t remember) for installing Skype, the Opera browser and some other little things.

    In the end, all this cost her 5,000 rubles (I don’t remember the price for the specialist’s visit). 5000 rubles for what??? For this crap? She then brought me her laptop and asked me to set it up. Eventually I noticed that He left the usual non-activated windows without office, the antivirus turned out to be 360 ​​Total Security, which is free.

    I’m generally silent about drivers. I don’t know what he installed there, but they are standard ones, which after installing Windows stood up on their own. But the very fact that he immediately and indiscriminately decided to demolish the operating system makes him a lousy specialist. What's there? Of course, the easiest way is to install everything again and not waste a lot of time).

    But I want to say that the woman got off easy, because I heard and read a lot about cases where they ended up with larger sums, 15, 20 and 30 thousand wooden ones.

    I just read about a case where a woman called a technician and she needed to transfer some 1C databases according to the instructions provided. This pretzel came, did something for an hour and counted 10,000 rubles. As it turned out, he carried out the following work:

    • Engineer visit - 1000 rubles
    • Checking the surface of the hard drive - 950 rubles
    • Checking the hard drive and eliminating errors - 990
    • Registry cleaning - 900 rubles
    • Defragmentation - 2600 rubles (Holy shit!)
    • netframework update package - 1990 rubles (WHAT FOR???)

    I doubt that he carried out this work at all. Most likely, I just saw a woman of retirement age and the fact that she doesn’t know much about this matter, so I wrote about the registry, defragmentation, hard drive, etc. And he didn’t do what he was called for at all. As the author of the article said, he came to the moment of reckoning and threatened the police, having previously taken a photo of the foreman on his phone. He ran away in a hurry. I don’t know if this is true or not, but a photo of this man is circulating on the Internet.

    There are even worse cases. They come to you and perhaps do some diagnostics. After that they say that you will need to take it to a service center. since that is where all the necessary equipment is located. A day or two later they call and say that the problem was found out and fixed, after which they say that their services cost 30,000 rubles.

    If you tell them that this is a lot, they may begin to threaten that in this case they will sell, break or format the laptop. In general, it looks like an ordinary fraud.

    Bottom line

    From all this I would like to draw several conclusions and tell you:

    • Everything that is written in the ad is not true. Neither the photo, nor the price, nor the fact that this is a private owner corresponds to reality.
    • Experts come up with types of work that you don’t really need. They called you for one, and in the end you have a list of 15 works worth 15,000 rubles.
    • Before contacting such a specialist, ask for help from friends, acquaintances, children, children of acquaintances. Nowadays it is no longer considered something cool to understand computers, and many schoolchildren will be able to understand such problems.
    • When calling such a master from a street advertisement, you have no guarantee that the right person will come, so remember that you are letting a completely unknown person into your house.
    • If there is no other way out, then call specialists from official services. Now every computer store has its own service.
    • Always draw up an estimate before starting work so that you don’t include registry cleaning and unnecessary BIOS settings for 1000 rubles later.
    • Please note that installation of Windows, Office, each program and each driver requires additional payment, so do not think that you will have All Inclusive. And if you need all this, then you definitely need to clarify the entire cost, otherwise these people do not consider it necessary to mention it. And users think that everything is included in the Windows installation.

    I don’t argue that there are good craftsmen who will take adequate money and do their job with an A plus. I have a friend who does this himself, I periodically do some hacking myself, and in general there are a lot of examples. But unfortunately, there are so many such fraudulent specialists from advertisements that you already doubt that adequate people can exist. In any case, be careful.

    In conclusion, I would like to show you a video of my friend blogger Evgeniy Kryzhanovsky. He himself was once engaged in such activities a long time ago, deceiving people by attributing unnecessary services, but he corrected himself)). And you can listen to how this whole kitchen works from the inside using his example.

    Well, this is where I end my article. I hope you liked it. Don’t forget to subscribe to my blog updates and of course share with your friends on social networks. And I say goodbye to you for today, but I am always glad to see you on my blog. Good luck to you. Bye bye!

    Best regards, Dmitry Kostin.

      Explore your computer hardware. Hardware is what makes up the physical foundation of a computer, as well as the means by which data is transferred between computers.

      Learn your computer software. Software is what makes the computer work. The term "software" includes applications, protocols and operating system.

      Review your computer's configuration. There are special programs for determining the computer configuration in case you cannot determine them offhand, for example, CPU-Z.

      Learn to use the command line, but only use it when necessary. Learning to use the command line in Windows or the terminal in Linux is very important to at least increase the efficiency of using your computer. In Windows, the command line is not very necessary, but it is still a good idea to learn how to use it. However, on Linux or UNIX, Mac or BSD, and other UNIX-based operating systems, it is important to know how to use the command line in order to work more efficiently using bash scripts.

      Learn to touch type. This is not a particularly important point, but it will definitely improve the practicality and productivity of your work on the computer.

      Ask. If someone is doing something interesting on the computer that you want to know about, ask them about it.

      Learn a programming language. This is one of the most important things to do. Don't confuse different types of languages. Interpreted languages ​​like BASIC aren't very good for real programming, but if all you want to do is write simple computer games, then it'll do. HTML or CSS are used in web pages, learning them is a good idea, but they are not very useful for actual programming. It is recommended to learn a shell scripting language (such as bash) as it will give power and efficiency to the novice programmer or administrator. However, you can learn any language you want.

      Learn the basics of computer repair. This will help you fix problems with your or someone else's computer, and will also increase your reputation as a computer specialist. You can learn advanced techniques, but this may require lessons from a real expert.

      Collaborate with others to solve computer problems. By interacting with other users, you can learn from them what you didn’t know before, and vice versa. However, since you want to become a computer specialist, you should always want to know more about computers than your friends.

      Help others solve their computer problems. This will not only make a name for you, but it will also be good practice and will also help you become aware of situations and problems that you have not encountered so far.

      Learn to install and update drivers for various types of equipment. This knowledge will come in handy when you reinstall your operating system.

      Learn to recognize unwanted software (computer viruses, spyware and other nasties) before starting your daily antivirus scans.

      Use a good firewall. Ordinary people cry because they don't understand how to use it. But of course you know how to use it!

      Use open source operating systems. Most computer professionals use open source operating systems such as *BSD or Linux because they are usually free and allow you to do cool things like program, run servers, and use the command line (CLI).

      Use keyboard shortcuts. It's important to know keyboard shortcuts because they save you valuable time, second by second.

      Find out how the Internet works.

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