A 20-Piece Tool Kit for the Practical (and Frugal) PC
Let's face it: When it comes to upkeep, a PC is no toaster. Making sure your PC stays happy and healthy requires work: periodic maintenance, timely upgrades, and the occasional bout of troubleshooting. Unless you're lucky enough to have an army of highly trained IT professionals (or maybe just an engineer brother-in-law) at your disposal, you'll be the person performing at least some of these tasks.
Fortunately, with a little effort and the right tools, PC maintenance and repair are easy for most people. And getting the right tools doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg; some you already have, and others are inexpensive. Here are the tools I recommend you keep on hand.
Kirk Steers is a PC World contributing editor. You can reach him at kirk_steers@pcworld.com. Hardware Tips welcomes your tips and questions and pays $50 for published items.
Tools You Can Touch
Unless you maintain many PCs, you don't need one of those fancy PC tool kits that cost over $50 (although Belkin's $15 Standard Computer Tool Kit is a good low-price alternative). In fact, the list of hardware you really must have isn't long.
>>TIP Screwdrivers: You only need two small screwdrivers: one with a standard slotted head, and one with a Phillips head. They should be less than 6 inches long--and make sure they're not magnetized.
>>TIP Tweezers: A small pair of tweezers with a good grip is invaluable for placing and removing jumpers and for retrieving lost screws. Tweezers with flat tips are more useful than those with pointed tips.
>>TIP Flashlight: Even in a well-lit room, it can be tough to see small cables and connectors inside your PC's case.
>>TIP Parts container: A small container--preferably with a lid--is essential for holding screws and jumpers. A plastic cup or old prescription bottle works well.
>>TIP Needle-nose pliers: A small pair of needle-nose pliers is useful for grasping parts and bending wire and bits of metal.
>>TIP A can of compressed air: Keep your PC's interior and ventilation ducts free of dust to prevent overheating. A quick blast of air is by far the easiest way to do this. Canned air is available at most computer and electronics stores for less than $10.
>>TIP Antistatic wrist band:One jolt of static electricity moving between your body and your PC can fry the machine's circuitry. When you add or remove hardware, or perform any work inside your PC's case, wear an antistatic wrist band. One end attaches to your wrist, and the other attaches to a ground. They, too, are available at computer and electronics stores for less than $10. See Avoid Static Damage to Your PC for an antistatic guide.
>>TIP Nut drivers and other special tools: Many computer tool kits include nut drivers, chip removers, and other specialized tools. I consider these to be overkill for the average user because screwdrivers and pliers should suffice for most jobs.
| Buying Information |
Standard Computer Tool Kit $15 Belkin |
Tools You Already Have
Windows provides many useful wizards and utilities for troubleshooting and maintaining your PC. Most of these can be accessed from the System Tools menu: Click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools (the exact wording and path vary depending on your version of Windows).
>>TIP ScanDisk: As its name implies, ScanDisk examines your hard disk for misplaced file fragments and areas of physical damage. Check your hard drives regularly with ScanDisk. A sudden increase in the number of errors the program finds may mean a failing hard disk.
Windows XP lacks the ScanDisk utility. To check a drive in XP, right-click it in Explorer, select Properties, choose the Tools tab, and click Check Now under 'Error-checking.' You may be told that the utility needs exclusive rights to some Windows files on the disk. When Windows asks if you want to perform the check when it next restarts, click Yes and then OK.
>>TIP Disk Defragmenter: Defragment your hard drive regularly to keep it running faster and to increase your chances of recovering data if the drive crashes.
>>TIP System Monitor: This excellent little program helps you keep your finger on the pulse of your PC by tracking many different performance parameters. You can watch real-time graphs showing your available RAM, virtual memory, CPU usage, and other statistics (see FIGURE 1). System Monitor is especially good at tracking down the source of a memory problem and identifying which programs put the most stress on your system. (In Windows XP, you can find System Monitor by choosing Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Performance, System Monitor.)
>>TIP System Information: This utility is the gateway to some of the most powerful troubleshooting tools in Windows. In Windows 9 x, you'll find the System File Checker, Registry Checker, and System Configuration Utility on System Information's Tools menu. In XP, System Information's tools include Network Diagnostics and System Restore.
>>TIP Manuals, drivers, and software: Save everything! You may be able to solve your PC's problem by knowing one key setting or model number, or by reinstalling a program. Printed manuals may be your only source of tech-support phone numbers. Don't think you can just download any files you might need anytime from the Internet: A file in the hand is worth two on the Web.
>>TIP Windows Resource Kit: You don't need to spend $50 or more for a phonebook-size Windows reference book. You just need to consult your Windows 9 x CD. In the tools\reskit\setup folder, you'll find an online copy of Microsoft's Windows Resource Kit (the printed version costs $70). Go to Microsoft TechNet for the Windows XP Professional Resource Kit.
Tools You Can Use For Free
Here are a few of my favorite diagnostic and maintenance freebies. Jump to Downloads from PC World's June Issue to download them.
>>TIP #1-TuffTest-Lite: This program confirms that all of your PC's hardware components are functioning properly. Since it boots and runs from its own floppy, it bypasses the testing limitations of diagnostic programs that run from within a complex operating system such as Windows. The free version of the program has fewer functions than the $10 #1-TuffTest (it tests only 8MB of RAM, for example).
>>TIP DisplayMate: Fine-tune your monitor's image with the demo version of this utility. The full version costs $79, but the demo has six test patterns and instructions on how to use them (see FIGURE 2).
>>TIP Useful Web sites: Drivers HeadQuarters at www.drivershq.com is a good place to track down lost or updated device drivers. And visit www.utilitygeek.com to locate other free and shareware utilities for maintaining and diagnosing your PC.
| Buying Information |
#1-TuffTest #1-PC Diagnostics $10 |
Tools Worth Buying
>>TIP Norton SystemWorks 2002:At $70, this utility bundle isn't cheap, but it's loaded with good stuff. The most important component is Norton Utilities, the classic collection of hard-disk and Windows programs (see FIGURE 3). While many of Norton Utilities' functions can be replicated with free or low-cost utilities such as those listed above, the convenience of an all-in-one package and such extras as automatic scheduling make Norton SystemWorks well worth the price.
>>TIP PartitionMagic 7: There are many easy and difficult ways to create, delete, and resize hard-drive partitions. PowerQuest's $70 program is the easiest. Windows' FDISK is one of several viable partitioning alternatives if you have lots of time and little money. But if you need to get the job completed quickly and simply, PartitionMagic's smooth interface and fast operation make it a wise purchase.
>>TIP Drive Image 5: This PowerQuest tool will rescue you from the mistakes you make while using other PC diagnostic tools. Drive Image 5 copies and compresses whole drives--or more accurately, whole partitions--into a single file that you can restore easily. Park its backup file on another partition, on another hard disk, or (in this latest version) to CD-R/RW discs. Drive Image copies regular files, hidden files, system files, and the boot sector so you can restore a working copy of an entire partition, including a bootable OS, applications, and data.
| Buying Information |
Drive Image 5 $70 PowerQuest |
| Buying Information |
Norton SystemWorks 2002 $70 Symantec |
| Buying Information |
PartitionMagic 7 $70 PowerQuest |
Bad Board?
You sit down and turn on your PC, and nothing happens: no lights, no sound, no action. Do you need to spend hundreds of dollars on a new motherboard, or much less on a new power supply? The ATX Power Supply Tester from PC Power and Cooling may provide you with a quick, accurate answer. This handy $10 tool attaches to the motherboard cable of any ATX 2. x-compatible power supply and will light up if the power supply is working properly. You can check it out at www.pcpowerandcooling.com.