PC Repair toolkit

Having the right tools for the job is essential for a computer technician, and having them stored in an easily accessible place can be invaluable. In this article, we will look at what I like to keep in my CD wallet - from UBCD4Win and Ultimate Boot CD (DOS) to Offline NT Password & Registry Editor and DriverPacks.net CDs; these are the tools that I rely on when it comes to repairing computers.

Here on Technibble we have covered computer repair applications for your USB drive fairly extensively, but what about a technicians CD wallet? Here is a list of disks that I carry around in my onsite CD wallet. UBCD4Win – UBCD4Win is my preferred GUI repair environment because its Windows based and have already been loaded with many repair applications. Of course, you can use a Linux LiveCD flavor if that is more your style. Ultimate Boot CD (dos version) – Ultimate Boot CD is a DOS based menu that allows you to do low level work to a system like testing the RAM for errors, doing a low level format or testing the condition of a hard drive. It contains the DOS versions of some commonly used applications such as Aida, Memtest86+, Dariks Boot and Nuke and more. Offline NT Password & Registry Editor – Offline NT Password & Registry Editor is a freeware utility that allows you to change or blank the password of any user that has a valid account on a local NT/2000/XP/2003/Server 2008/Vista 32 & 64bit system. Offline Update – Offline Update is a freeware tool that downloads all of the existing patches for the operating system you specify (choice of Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003) and creates an ISO file, for which you can later burn to a CD or DVD. The DriverPacks.net CDs – The DriverPacks.net project is an open source project. The goal is to simplify the creation of a “uniform” Windows installation CD, i.e. an installation CD that works on every piece of hardware, without having to go look for other drivers after the installation. Windows Installer CD's - A copy of: Windows XP Home OEM/Retail/Genuine Advantage Windows XP Professional OEM/Retail/VLK 32bit/64bit Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit / 64bit (contains all Vista versions) More...