I have provided a link to a shrunken down version for easy web viewing that is only 2mb in size and an extremely high resolution version that weighs in at 24mb.

Images:
You can also get these graphics printed as a poster to hang in your workshop over at DeviantArt via this link.

Low Resolution Web Version (2mb)

Ultra High Resolution Version (24mb)

Source: Technibble.com

I get asked by lots of new techs about the tools and supplies I carry with me to complete the variety of service calls I run each day.

I have decided to post a list of must have tools for any technician wanting to run service calls. Having the right tools for the job makes life much easier and makes you a more efficient technician.

Below is what I carry in my service vehicle.

-Screwdrivers – various sizes and types (phillips, flat, big, small, short, long). A quality set of screwdrivers is a must!

-Nut Drivers – Metric & Standard.

-Security Bit Set – Torx, Slotted, Hex – Metric & Standard.

-Torx & Hex Key Set – Metric & Standard.

-Pliers – Needle Nose, Cutting Pliers & Nippers.

-Socket & Ratchet Set – Metric & Standard.

-Open & Boxed Wrenches – Metric & Standard.

-Digital Volt/Ohm Meter.

-ATX Power Supply Tester.

-USB Flash Drive.

-Antivirus & Spyware removal software.

-CD-R Discs.

-Laptop- XP Pro, Ethernet & Serial Ports.

-RJ45 & RJ11 Crimp Tool.

-Wire Stripper.

-66 / 110 Punchdown Tool.

-Cat5 / Cat6 Cable Tester.

-Fish Tape & Fish Stix.

-Step Ladder – 6″ & 12″.

-Cordless Drill.

-Drill Bits – Various Metal & Wood Spade.

-Rechargeable Mini Vac.

-Toner Vac.

-Electrical & Duct Tape.

-Various Screws – Case Screws, Sheetrock Screws, Etc.

-Cat5 Cable Spool.

-RJ45, RJ11, RJ22 Crimp Terminals.

-RJ45 & RJ11 Keystone Jacks.

-Surface Mount Boxes & Keystone Faceplates

-Waterproof Wire Connectors.

-50″ Extension Cord

-Label Maker

-Sharpie Marker

-Cleaning Wipes

These tools should help you complete almost any IT related service call you can imagine from virus removal to data cabling.

Let’s hear what tools you carry in your tech tool kit?

Source: http://techsouth.mobi/

1.Properly secure a wireless router.
2.Crack the WEP key on a wireless router.
3.Leech Wifi from your neighbor.
4.Screw with Wifi leeches.
5.Setup and use a VPN.
6.Work from home or a coffee shop as effectively as you do at the office.
7.Wire your own home with Ethernet cable.
8.Turn a web camera into security camera.
9.Use your 3G phone as a Wi-Fi access point.
10.Understand what “There’s no Place Like 127.0.0.1” means.

11.Identify key-loggers.
12.Properly connect a TV, Tivo, XBox, Wii, and Apple TV so they all work together with the one remote.
13.Program a universal remote.
14.Swap out the battery on your iPod/iPhone.
15.Benchmark Your Computer
16.Identify all computer components on sight.
17.Know which parts to order from NewEgg.com, and how to assemble them into a working PC.
18.Troubleshoot any computer/gadget problem, over the phone.
19.Use any piece of technology intuitively, without instruction or prior knowledge.
20.How to irrecoverably protect data.
21.Recover data from a dead hard drive.
22.Share a printer between a Mac and a PC on a network.
23.Install a Linux distribution. (Hint: Ubuntu 9.04 is easier than installing Windows)
24.Remove a virus from a computer.
25.Dual (or more) boot a computer.
26.Boot a computer off a thumb drive.
27.Boot a computer off a network drive.
28.Replace or repair a laptop keyboard.
29.Run more than two monitors on a single computer.
30.Successfully disassemble and reassemble a laptop.
31.Know at least 10 software easter eggs off the top of your head.
32.Bypass a computer password on all major operating systems. Windows, Mac, Linux
33.Carrying a computer cleaning arsenal on your USB drive.
34.Bypass content filters on public computers.
35.Protect your privacy when using a public computer.
36.Surf the web anonymously from home.
37.Buy a domain, configure bind, apache, MySQL, php, and WordPress without Googling a how-to.
38.Basic *nix command shell knowledge with the ability to edit and save a file with vi.
39.Create a web site using vi.
40.Transcode a DVD to play on a portable device.
41.Hide a file in an image using steganography.
42.Knowing the answer to life, the universe and everything.
43.Share a single keyboard and mouse between multiple computers without a KVM switch.
44.Google obscure facts in under 3 searches. Bonus point if you can use I Feel Lucky.
45.Build amazing structures with LEGO and invent a compelling back story for the creation.
46.Understand that it is LEGO, not Lego, Legos, or Lego’s.
47.Build a two story house out of LEGO, in monochrome, with a balcony.
48.Construct a costume for you or your kid out of scraps, duct tape, paper mâché, and imagination.
49.Be able to pick a lock.
50.Determine the combination of a Master combination padlock in under 10 minutes.
51.Assemble IKEA furniture without looking at the instructions. Bonus point if you don’t have to backtrack.
52.Use a digital SLR in full manual mode.
53.Do cool things to Altoids tins.
54.Be able to construct paper craft versions of space ships.
55.Origami! Bonus point for duct tape origami. (Ductigami)
56.Fix anything with duct tape, chewing gum and wire.
57.Knowing how to avoid being eaten by a grue.
58.Know what a grue is.
59.Understand where XYZZY came from, and have used it.
60.Play any SNES game on your computer through an emulator.
61.Burn the rope.
62.Know the Konami code, and where to use it.
63.Whistle, hum, or play on an iPhone, the Cantina song.
64.Learning to play the theme songs to the kids favorite TV shows.
65.Solve a Rubik’s Cube.
66.Calculate THAC0.
67.Know the difference between skills and traits.
68.Explain special relativity in terms an eight-year-old can grasp.
69.Recite pi to 10 places or more.
70.Be able to calculate tip and split the check, all in your head.
71.Explain that the colours in a rainbow are roygbiv.
72.Understand the electromagnetic spectrum – xray, uv, visible, infared, microwave, radio.
73.Know the difference between radiation and radioactive contamination.
74.Understand basic electronics components like resistors, capacitors, inductors and transistors.
75.Solder a circuit while bottle feeding an infant. (lead free solder please.)
76.The meaning of technical acronyms.
77.The coffee dash, blindfolded (or blurry eyed). Coffee [cream] [sugar]. In under a minute.
78.Build a fighting robot.
79.Program a fighting robot.
80.Build a failsafe into a fighting robot so it doesn’t kill you.
81.Be able to trace the Fellowship’s journey on a map of Middle Earth.
82.Know all the names of the Dwarves in The Hobbit.
83.Understand the difference between a comic book and a graphic novel.
84.Know where your towel is and why it is important.
85.Re-enact the parrot sketch.
86.Know the words to The Lumberjack Song.
87.Reciting key scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
88.Be able to recite at least one Geek Movie word for word.
89.Know what the 8th Chevron does on a Stargate and how much power is required to get a lock.
90.Be able to explain why it’s important that Han shot first.
91.Know why it is just wrong for Luke and Leia to kiss.
92.Stop talking Star Wars long enough to get laid.
93.The ability to name actors, characters and plotlines from the majority of sci-fi movies produced since 1968.
94.Cite Mythbusters when debunking a myth or urban legend.
95.Sleep with a Cricket bat next to your bed.
96.Have a documented plan on what to do during a zombie or robot uprising.
97.Identify evil alternate universe versions of friends, family, co-workers or self.
98.Be able to convince TSA that the electronic parts you are carrying are really not a threat to passengers.
99.Talk about things that aren’t tech related.

100.Get something on the front page of Digg.

Weinschenk: What did the report look at?
Scherf: It’s really, as I’m thinking back, our third or fourth report we’ve done over the last four or five years. It looks at in-homes IT tech support services from the 50,000-foot perspective. The questions are, What is the opportunity for service providers? What are the opportunities looking ahead for them to expand their [in-home support] businesses? What sort of thing should they be looking at?

Weinschenk: What did you find?
Scherf: We leveraged a large consumer study that we did earlier this year, a survey of 2,000 broadband households. We revisited the demands for professional tech support across a number of areas. We focused very heavily on home computers and home networking things and the way it relates to service providers. Four or five years ago, we were told by service providers that a significant percentage of the customer support calls are related to issues that the service provider really has no control over. A computer that is full of spyware and viruses and other types of malware may appear to be running a “slow Internet.” People may call their service provider, but of course the home computer is out of the realm of the service provider beyond the initial activation.

Weinschenk: That’s the gear itself. What about the networks?
Scherf: The other issue is with home networking, which has become very prevalent among broadband households. There is a 50 percent penetration of broadband networks. Service providers do not necessarily have the responsibility for monitoring and maintaining the health of those [networks]. Again, as we started this research several years ago, that was a huge problem. Consumers would go to CompUSA and Circuit City — when they were still in business – and buy a Linksys router. When they had trouble configuring it and setting it up, we found that a quarter of people will call their service provider.

Weinschenk: That sounds like a lot of long days at the provider’s customer service center.
Scherf: The challenge for service providers is how to more quickly diagnose in-scope versus out-of-scope problems. In-scope means it’s the service provider’s problem, when it’s clear that the problem is with the network going to the home or service provider’s modem sitting in the home. Then it’s a problem which the service provider must address.

Out-of-scope is, well, the simplest way to put it is, “It ain’t my problem.” It’s a double whammy on service providers and has been for a couple of years. They are getting a phone call, and the level-one tech has to spend upwards of 25 minutes to resolve the problem. And then they may escalate it up in their own organization. But it winds up being an issue the service provider can’t or won’t address. They have spent money for a level-one agent and in the end have to say to the customer, “It’s not our problem. We are not going to fix it.” So you have a frustrated customer. Of course, that reflects poorly on overall satisfaction. What the report found is that there is a pretty significant opportunity to build a business around premium tech support.

Weinschenk: What has to happen for them to succeed in this area?
Scherf: I think number one, it’s an acknowledgement by the service provider that they can and should have a role in providing premium tech support to customers. There are a lot of questions about how they implement it. Do they build tech support service internally or work with a third-party company who sets up a remote support business? This is especially relevant this week because of some of my conversations with companies involved with smaller telecom companies operating in the U.S. These are tier two and tier three companies. What’s changed is that I would go on stage and speak at conferences geared to smaller operators and talk about premium tech support as an important offering among many value-added services they could offer. It comes down to something as basic as number one, customers need it and number two, they are willing to pay for it.

Weinschenk: What has changed?
Scherf: What has changed is the reaction I used to get was less than enthusiastic. Rarely had someone from the service provider come up to me and said, “This makes sense.” In conversations this week, [I found that] there are many operators that are either actively pursuing a path to internally provide more premium support services or considering buying some IT businesses in their communities so they can provide the personnel to come in and support residential and small business customers.

Weinschenk: Which approach is predominant?
Scherf: I would say that it is unclear at this time. I’ll say service providers are not sharing a whole lot of insight. They consider what they are doing and the way they are doing it pretty proprietary. They don’t want to tip their hand too much. I would say this: I think there are lots of reasons to choose to just outsource. There are companies that have years and years of good experience at building home IT tech support. They have turnkey solutions. They’ve got a good track record of solving problems on the first call. They are continually developing tools and processes to make that more efficient.

Weinschenk: It sounds like it would be tricky, though. What are the challenges?
Scherf: One of the questions is how to do the integration between what the service provider has set up in their back-office system and [the third party]. How do you tie together your core subscriber information and pass it on seamlessly to the third party? There is an interesting story in the integration of subscriber information from level-one tech support to the third party. How does that information find its way back to the core subscriber databases or subscriber management elements and then help the service provider better plan their businesses and the services they are going to offer their customers?

Weinschenk: But succeeding in this will be quite rewarding, it seems.
Scherf: At the simplest level, it’s “knowledge is power.” The more you know about subscribers and the type of equipment they have in their homes — what type of router do they have? Do they have a game console connected? That’s got implications about things like bandwidth usage. It could bring into play new opportunities for the service provider to perhaps offer new value-added services that can be positioned as complementary to the kinds of core digital elements the customer already has in place.

Weinschenk: It seems change is accelerating in this area.
Scherf: I believe that. It is pretty amazing to me because it seems just a couple of years ago, the question was “Why should I bother doing this?” That’s changed to “How should I do this?” It’s nice to hear that. Again, we put out several reports and have done a number of studies on issues like the desire for value-added services. Very consistently these support-type elements have filtered to the top in terms of consumer demand. We found that there is statistically higher customer satisfaction among broadband subscribers who have access to a premium technical support services.

SOURCE: http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/community/features/interviews/blog/revenue-opportunities-abound-in-home-network-it-support/?cs=34030

Here are 33 ways to use LinkedIn more effectively.

1. Fill out your profile completely to earn trust.
2. Use widgets to integrate other tools, such as importing your blog entries or Twitter stream into your profile.
3. Do market research and gain knowledge with Polls.
4. Share survey and poll results with your contacts.
5. Answer questions in Questions and Answers: show expertise without a hint of self-promotion.
6. Ask questions in Questions and Answers to get a feel for what customers and prospects want or think.
7. Publish your LinkedIn URL on all your marketing collateral, including business cards, email signature, email newsletters, web sites and brochures, so prospects learn more about you.
8. Grow your network by joining industry and alumni groups related to your business.
9. Update your status examples of recent work.
10. Link your status updates with your other social media accounts.
11. Combine your social media approach: when someone asks a question in Twitter, respond in detail on LinkedIn and link to it from Twitter.
12. Use the search feature to find people by company, industry and city.
13. Start and manage a group or fan page for your product, brand or business.
14. Research your prospects before meeting or contacting them.
15. Share useful articles and resources that will be of interest to customers and prospects.
16. Don’t turn off your contacts: avoid hard-sell tactics.
17. Write honest and valuable recommendations for your contacts.
18. Request LinkedIn recommendation from happy customers willing to provide testimonials.
19. Post your presentations on your profile using a presentation application.
20. Check connections’ locations before traveling so you can meet with those in the city where you’re heading.
21. Ask your first-level contacts for introductions to their first-level contacts.
22. Interact with LinkedIn on a regular basis to reach those who may not see you on other social media sites.
23. Set up to receive LinkedIn messages in your inbox so you can respond right away.
24. Link to articles and content posted elsewhere, with a summary of why it’s valuable to add to your credibility.
25. List your newsletter subscription information and archives.
26. Find experts in your field and invite them as a guest blogger on your blog  or speaker at your event.
27. Post discounts and package deals.
28. Import vCards and contacts from other applications to find more connections.
29. Export your contacts into other applications.
30. Buy a LinkedIn direct ad that only your target market will see.
31. Post job listings to find qualified talent.
32. Look for connections related to a job you want.
33. Find vendors and contractors through connections.

SOURCE: http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/07/13/33-ways-to-use-linkedin-for-business/

Field Solutions’ new ACS suite supports every step of the work order management process, from announcement through paperwork completion. Now Field Solutions’ automatic technician notifications and reminders, technician remote confirmation and status updates, and real-time service “alerts” for variation from performance expectations allows real-time quality monitoring, assurance, and action.

READ MORE HERE:  http://www.fieldsolutions.com/content/Field%20Solutions%20Speed%20and%20Cost%20Savings%20Tools%20-%20ACS.pdf

Microsoft is revamping its partner program with a new system of membership designation that officials characterize as less hierarchical and better suited for the wide diversity of partner types the company now supports, including such partner types as web programmers and designers.

In her keynote opening the annual Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans Monday, Microsoft channel chief Allison Watson is expected to unveil the updated program, which will go by a new moniker, the Microsoft Partner Network.  Over the next year to 18 months, the company will phase out the well-worn “Gold Certified,” certified and registered membership categories in favor of four new classifications assigned to partners at different levels of relationship and commitment with the Redmond, Wash., software provider, according to Microsoft.

The new categorization will span a range of partner types, including:

1. Community: This designation is being described as entry level and is intended for any channel organization that is considering launching a Microsoft practice, but is not yet at the level of selling.
2. Subscriber: Partners who have moved beyond the exploratory phase and committed to building a Microsoft practice or capability in a particular area.
3. Competency: Partners that have earned a solutions specialization in the Microsoft Program. Microsoft will be reducing the number of official competencies from 46 to 30 over the next year, as well as changing some of the specialization names to be more relevant to the end customer.
4. Advanced Competency: Microsoft’s Best-in-Class space; partners that are most committed to Microsoft and operate a full-scale, sophisticated practice.

A couple of drivers are behind the membership adjustments, according to Julie Bennani, general manager of the Microsoft Partner Network. Most notably, she said, the partner ecosystem has evolved dramatically over the past five years with the number of different business models in the channel more than doubling from about five types to upwards of 10 or 12 – everything from traditional reselling to managed services to ISVs to Web developers.

Bennani said Microsoft is looking to better support market differentiation for its partners, many of whom had complained that achieving Gold Certified status has been “too easy” and therefore failed to be of any significant value-add in the eyes of end customers.

“We have heard that Gold Certified is not a differentiator so we wanted to change the way we qualify partners,” she said. “One of the key things is that of the 640,000 partners worldwide, not all can, should or would be in Advanced. And that’s OK.”

Different partner requirements will come with each of the four landing spots, with the Community designation requiring little more than some company registration information. The key requirement in the new Advanced category will be participation in regular, formal customer satisfaction surveys. Ultimately however, Bennani said Microsoft is trying to create a program that provides for partners more than it requires of them.

“This vision has been in development for two years. It’s not a hard right,” Bennani said. “We want these partners with us and we have a strong system today and want to keep it that way so we are giving them 18 months to meet the new requirements and giving them a year to brand their business without having to do a lot.”

SOURCE: http://www.channelinsider.com/c/a/Microsoft/Microsoft-Tosses-Gold-Certified-Partner-Designation-599653/

BOSTON – July 13, 2009 – OnForce, the trusted online marketplace and national network of thousands of technology service technicians, today released the OnForce Services Marketplace Index (OSMI) for the second quarter of 2009. Based on more than 70,000 service events this quarter across North America, the OSMI provides a comprehensive analysis of key spending trends in information technology (IT) and consumer electronic (CE) services. Key findings this quarter show that spending in the break-fix sector from diagnose and repair to parts swap remained at a consistent high with Q1 2009, accounting for 63 percent of all work orders. In addition, OnForce saw enterprises utilize the platform more extensively to handle longer term projects in order to maximize efficiency.

In terms of highest volume categories, PC Desktop ranked first for highest work order volume for the fourth straight quarter in a row (accounting for nearly one third of all jobs.) Of this, three quarters were break-fix related work. Other high volume work categories for the quarter included TV/Video and Network, which accounted for 19 percent and 13 percent of all work orders respectively.

Check out the entire report here: http://www.onforce.com/OSMI/Q209

Say you’re a web worker doing tech support off the beaten Google map. You work in a cubicle answering the phone all day (or night), maybe teaching newbies how to handle calls because you’ve been on the team the longest. But you dream of something different — a chance to leave that cube, to travel, work on new things every day, be your own boss. How do you get from here to there?

Shane Bell figured out how, and he thinks there’s plenty of room for others to use his secret weapon too. It’s OnForce, a service like Best Buy’s Geek Squad, that matches buyers of on-site technical support with the technical pros who can do the work. As ZDNet described it, “Not only is it very Priceline-esque in the way it operates (I have this job that needs to be done and here’s what I’ll pay for it), it also serves the market of buyers that need IT services and need them now (like, within the next few to 24 hours).”

Three years ago, Bell, who lives in Midland, Texas (yes, the home of President George W. Bush), was teaching DSL to other tech support people from a cube. He signed up as a provider with OnForce, focusing on break-fix work. Now his company, iTechWest, handles desktop repairs, server work, TV installation, point-of-sale, “a little of everything.”

In 2006, he generated $54,000 through OnForce. This year, by mid-June, he was sitting at $64,500. That doesn’t count the 10 percent paid to OnForce for each job. (The buyer pays $11 on each job posted.) Nor does it count the billings generated by the other five people he’s added to his company. Bell estimates that OnForce generates between 80 and 90 percent of iTechWest’s business. A yellow pages ad generates additional job leads.

A lot of that work is done on the road — requested by clients doing rollouts in multiple locations. (This interview took place while he was working on a Cisco wireless installation in Round Rock, outside of Austin, for a company that expects to continue using his services for many months to come.)

When he or a member of his crew doesn’t know how to tackle a particular kind of work, the larger clients will oftentimes provide training.

Which leads to Bell’s first piece of advice for others who want to go this route: “The relationships you build are how you get further and more profitable work orders. The project I’m on here, they found us on OnForce. Got to know us. Asked us about doing other stuff.” He estimates that nine out of 10 work orders are routed directly to somebody on his team through OnForce because the buyers already know them.

That leads to the second bit of advice: Whenever he travels for a job, he updates his location in the OnForce system to monitor for new work he can pick up in his spare hours. That also lets existing clients know he’s in a given area and can handle additional work for them.

Third, Bell said, make sure you have tech experience and “great people skills.”

Fourth, be willing to go after lower-paying work. “Not every work order is going to be $150 or $200,” he said. “Be willing to do those $40 work orders. In the long run it pays off.”

“We didn’t do POSs. We didn’t mess with credit card reading machines or wireless systems,” said Bell. “This is a great way to keep up to date on technology…[Great for] those guys thinking about starting a side business — to do something to keep them scintillated.”

What’s your success story for generating work through the web?

Comment:

Source: http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/06/25/web-worker-payoff-building-a-tech-support-business-using-onforce/

First of all, lets talk about the advantages to you of providing a warranty on your computer repair work. One of the biggest advantages of offering a warranty is that it builds almost instant trust with the client. The client wants the problem to be fixed right the first time and not have to spend any more money fixing something that should have already been fixed. A work warranty shows that you are confident in your skills and that you will look after your client.

Most other computer technicians don’t advertise that they warranty their work and by doing so, it differentiates you from your competition. Think about it from a clients perspective, you open up the Yellow Pages book and see 2 pages full of computer repair services. Most of them can do the service the client wants, all of them look fairly professional and most of them are fairly close to where the client lives. The client doesn’t want the cheapest price because they believe you get what you pay for but they don’t want to get ripped off either, so what makes the difference? a computer repair warranty can.

Long before I ever advertised that I warranty my own work I pretty much had an unspoken warranty anyway. If you are paid to fix something and you didn’t fix it right the first time, charging for it again just isn’t right. When an issue returns that I was supposed to have fixed properly returns, my reputation and abilities takes a hit in the customers eyes so returning to fix the problem is a good chance to patch this damage and make things right.

Also, since I don’t like having to go back to a clients place and without getting paid, it makes me a better technician because I am much more thorough. Since it takes more time being thorough (doing everything you should do as a technician, but not “padding out” the call) and educating the client on how to avoid the problem from occurring again, you can also charge more.

I have seen hundreds of clients so far this year and so far I have only had to go back to the clients about four times in total, all of the times it was caused by something I overlooked.

I am sure some of you are thinking that the client will probably blame every single future computer problem on you whether it was related to the work you did or not and expect you to fix it for free. This is where you have a work order outlining your warranty terms.

First of all you must put a time limit on your work warranty. Most issues, if they are going to return will return in a few days after the service date so you might want to make it a week or two after the service date. You don’t want to make it too long because this gives too much time for the client to get themselves in trouble with a new problem.

You should specify warranty voiding conditions such as the accessing of porn sites and the use of Peer-to-Peer applications since as there is a high chance of the client getting a virus when using these. If you find any these on the clients system then the warranty is voided and the problem it is considered a new issue. You should also mention that if you find the computer has been tampered with outside the normal use of the computer then your warranty is also voided.

Of course, whether the client has done any of these warranty voiding conditions, it often comes down to opinion so it might we wise to write that you or your technicians make the final decision. To make sure the client doesn’t get upset about this and think you are trying to get out of honoring your warranty, be sure to educate the client on why the virus is a new virus or show the evidence that the computer has been tampered with.

Do you warranty your computer repair work?