IT Tools that help you diagnose problems, troubleshoot, and repair your
computer. From bringing a dead system back to life to keeping that computer in
tip top condition.
These are some of the things I use when I am working on a computer from a
dead system to optimizing the OS to make it faster. Each link will open in a new
window so you can stay on this page as you gather your tools for your IT Tool
Box.
BartPE can be installed on a cd, USB flash drive, or an external bootable
hard drive. This is a Preinstall Environment (PE), this allows you to: Fix a
boot problem, extract data files from a failed OS before reloading it, diagnose
hardware problems. Replace or remove drivers that has caused a 'Blue Screen'.
Run anti virus, anti spyware, and anti Trojan programs to clean a highly
infected system. Create or restore a ghost image of a partition.
ERD Commander is also a PE bootable OS, although no longer supported or sold
by Microsoft it is still available for purchase on some web sites. It will allow
you to fix boot problems, registry problems, extract data files from a hard
drive the os has failed on, and diagnose hardware problems. All the things that
BartPE will do. In addition the last version will repair boot/registry/driver
files automatically if you direct it to on startup.
Windows 7 ERD. Using Windows 7 backup program to create a boot Emergency Repair
Disc. I made a boot ERD with Vista but the darn thing wouldn't work. Where as
with Windows 7 I have repaired Windows 7 and Vista. I also have reimaged a
couple of computers with XP installed. If you have access or have a Windows 7
Operating System installed it would be a great idea to create the boot CD (it
could be a DVD but that would be a waste of space, you can not add any files to
the CD/DVD or it will not boot).
Ghost is a program that will make an image of your hard drive volumes. This
is very useful as a backup for recovery purposes. Suppose you needed a special
program, you go out to the internet and find some programs that are 30 day
trial. You install the program but it isn't what you expected. Then when you go
to uninstall the program it trashes your OS so bad it won't start. You can
reinstall the OS and all your programs to get the system back where it was
before installing the trial program or you can just put your backup image back
on the hard drive. Thus saving you countless hours and trying to find all those
cd keys. You can run this program from DOS, BartPE, ERD, or for a non OS
partition from Windows.
Bootable device, a separate bootable device is required now days because DOS
will not do you any good if you want to access your data on a Windows Operating
System. You need a device that will hold a OS that will access the Windows OS,
these PE Operating Systems are to large for a floppy, you will need at least 250
meg of space to install them. So you need to make a bootable CD, USB Flash
drive, or bootable external hard drive.
Anti Virus, Spyware, and Trojan programs are needed to keep
hackers/crackers/thieves from gaining access to your data. You should have them
installed on the computer and also have a version that will run from your
bootable device. If you run these programs from a bootable device you stand a
better chance of cleaning out all infections than you would if your computer was
running normally.
A How to guides & manuals are handy if you are not familiar with all the tasks you need to
do when repairing a computer from cleaning out infections to upgrading your
system.
This site contains a lot of information. As
with any publication not all information is available due to space, time, or
subject constraints.
If you have a question that you did not find the answer
on this web site you a can
ask your question here and we will endeavor to get you the most up to date
answer possible!
