How To Startup Your Own Home Computer Support Company [Part 2 - The Tools]
Thursday, October 16, 2008 at 11:13PM
In my first post on how to startup your own computer support company I talked all about the skills and personality traits that are needed. In this post I will assume that you have most, or all, of those things. I am also assuming you have created a business plan, it is important!
If you are going to start up a computer support company by yourself, there is a fair amount of work that you will have to do. You are going to need to market yourself, actually deliver on that marketing by fixing the problems you say you can fix and of course collect the bills. In larger companies, these three things are covered by three different departments, but all you have for this company is you! That means you are going to need some tools that can help you do these things more quickly and easily. In this post I will be focusing on the tools that will allow you to quickly fix your customers computer issues.
Fixing The Problem(s)
The computer support business is all about fixing your customers problem, whether that is a blue screen of death, a virus or a network issue, they expect "the computer person" to fix it. Like I said in my earlier post you should know how to support Windows XP and Vista as well as be able to troubleshoot basic networking issues. There are numerous programs and tools out there that make doing this work possible, and there is no way I can cover all of them. If you are the type of person that is ready to actually go into this business, you should already know what anti-virus and anti-spyware software you like, so I am not going to go into a lot of detail on those types of programs. I AM going to cover in more detail the software and services that I think you may not have heard of before but that I have found to be a great help.
Anti-virus/anti-spyware software
For anti-virus I use AVG 8 due to its decent detection rates, minimal resource usage and the "safe search" technology that I have found really helps customers to stay off malicious sites.
Most of the time I only install anti-spyware software temporarily to get rid of something that AVG may have missed. In these cases I generally use Spybot Search & Destroy because... I like it.
Firewall
Comodo FirewallNormally I just ensure that the built in firewall that comes with Windows XP SP 2 and up is turned on. In cases where I think the machine may still be compromised after running my normal scans, I use Comodo Firewall. I do this because Comodo (and most third party firewalls) allow me to see what programs are sending traffic out from the machine. Yes, this can also be done with the netstat command, but Comodo has one more trick up its sleave that I like: UAC like control for Windows XP. When you install it you can tell it to tell you of anything remotely suspicious any program is doing, and either allow or deny it. This lets you see if any programs are running that shouldn't be, or if a normal looking application isn't what it seems.
Remote Support
LogMeIn Rescue Remote SupportBeing able to provide support remotely is quickly becoming not just a cool service to have, but one that can really differentiate your business from other local companies. I personally use LogMeIn Rescue because the process for the customer is so dead simple. Have them go to logmein123.com (or a domain of your choice) and enter in a pin code you provide them, they then run a small file and within 30 seconds you are looking at their desktop. LMI Rescue also allows for you to reboot the PC and be logged back in automatically when it is back up and running, a very nice feature if installing service packs or going into safe mode. The downside to all of this? It is expensive, $90 bucks a month expensive.
If you are just starting out, you may want to consider a free alternative. UltraVNC SingleClick is free and can go over your customers firewall no problem (no router to configure on the client side). The downside is that you need to configure your firewall to accept traffic over a certain port, such as 5900. This means that if you are in a coffee shop or hotel with restricted internet access, you won't be able to provide remote support.
There are a lot more remote support utilities out there, so if you don't like the options I gave you then feel free to do some Google searches, you will find oodles of options.
Boot CD
Ultimate Boot CD for WindowsWhen the computer is blue screening or if the machine is just hosed in general, having a good boot CD is essential. A boot CD allows you to bypass the messed up operating system and run a variety of programs to diagnose and fix most software issues. My boot CD of choice is Ultimate Boot CD for Windows. It has a wide variety of utilities and is dead simple to use (at least to me, maybe I have been using it for to long).
Backups
Mozy Online Backup SerivceI recommend that all of my clients utilize online backups. I do this because I really don't trust them to keep their external hard drives plugged in, and in case of fire or theft their data will still be safe. Recently I have been recommending Mozy, mostly because of the price (unlimited storage for $5 a month for home users) and because it is backed up by a really big company, EMC. I don't think that this company will be going away anytime soon. I personally use JungleDisk because I like the geekiness of utilizing Amazon S3 : )
Conclusion
While I certainly didn't cover every single tool that you can use to fix PC's, I hope that I imparted some of the knowledge and experience that I have gained over the past couple of years to you. I am going to continue this series of posts, my next one will focus on how to market your business to your community. Please consider subscribing to the RSS feed if you want to see it as soon as it is published.
If you haven't read it yet, you might want to go back and read my first post on this subject, Part 1 - The Basics.
Oh come on StumbleUpon'ers, I know your here and reading the article. Let me know what you think in the comments!
Reader Comments (13)
Seriously, I've gotten like 2-3k hits from you Stumbleupon people over the past week or two, but not a single comment!
You must like the article somewhat, or I'd stop getting the traffic if you were giving it thumbs down. I'd like to know what you think!
Interesting- for remote access, what do you feel about crossloop.com?
Crossloop is nice, especially being able to take credit card payments online. I don't think it can reboot a customer PC into safe mode, or remote onto Mac's.
It is certainly a valid option, and one that is worth looking into if going into the computer support business.
Hi - Stumbled on in here - as you will see from my website I took the plunge many years ago and business is ticking along nicely.
I pick up a lot of word of mouth recomendations and have also offered my networking admin services to 2 local stores which get the enquiries but don't have the know how to deal with SBS and Exchange (top tip there), 2nd top tip is business cards have plenty and leave 5 with every satisfied customer - it pay dividends.
Oh and have just decided to try out the Comodo firewall to see if it's worth recommending - it seems to be doing it's job and oddly enough my connection speeds have gone through the roof! Nice one.
Finally on the free AV front - check out NOD32 free 30 day trial - it really is the daddy and well worth the £23uk they charge per year - tiny file size and powerful logic. I have made a mental note to blogroll you and will be back.
Kind regards
Dave aka The Computer Whisperer
Me again - just occurred another superb program is Malwarebytes Anti Malware - does a better job than spybot some of the time
Drop me an e-mail
Dave,
Thanks for stopping by, I love hearing from readers and getting to learn about other products out in the market place. I have heard great things about Nod32 from a lot of people, but have never used it myself. Now that it has been recommended once again I suppose I'll have to try it out!
As for Malwarebytes Anti Malware, yes, that is a great product. Whenever I come across a computer with the so called "Anti Virus 2009" virus/trojan I use Malwarebytes to remove it. So definitely a good recommendation there.
I'm using SU and I wanted to make sure somebody commented :)
Great article! Even if I never start a business using any of these it still showed some useful programs. Thanks!!
Nathan,
Sorry for the late response, but thanks a lot for the kind words! And yes, some of these programs are useful whether you are going in the PC support business or are just going to remain a PC user.
My anti-virus/malware combo is Avast and MalwareBytes. Great stuff.
Also, different version Windows install disks are never a bad idea to bring along.
If you have to do a re-install of XP, make sure you have a decent library of Ethernet drivers.
Just another tip, always set a new restore point before you do anything else on a client's computer.
Working badly is better than not working at all. Mainly, this will create a backup of the registry. This is very important. System restore is a very powerful tool.
If you can get one built, the bartPE method is my favorite way of making a boot disk. I have a disk that will load a virtual instance of XP. All I have to do is boot from it, and I'm staring at winXP. It is a little complicated, and does require a copy of the windows install disk. This will not help you in a case of needing a dos environment, but it is helpful when all you need to do is read an NTFS hard drive for backups or w/e. The UBCD is the easiest way to get a dos prompt. A better way would be to build a dos environment boot disk from scratch. These days, this is very complicated. Why is it so hard to get to a temporary dos prompt??
I haven't tried any remote solutions yet. My business is normally local though. I really do not have to worry about it.
Anyway, have fun fixing computers!
A Handsome Stumbler