Mark Pickavance reveals the gadgets and gizmos that help anyone who works in IT to perform at their best
If you work in IT or just take your computing seriously, then having the right tools for the job is rather critical. Trying to bodge something or just running into a brick wall can make a small job take much long than it should, and in a business context, time usually equates to money. However, a few mostly inexpensive items can provide you with the key accessories to help you fix problems and do so efficiently.
Here are some of the items that IT people should own or have access to in the modern computing environment.
1. Magnetic Screwdriver
Probably the best £1 you’ll spend if, like me, you end up taking apart and rebuilding lots of computers. The specific ones I’m talking about are those that have a magnetic element under the interchangeable head that can be extended telescopically. It’s perfect for hunting screws that fall down under desks of underneath the motherboard inside a PC. Unless you like crawling around on the floor or holding desktop computers above your head and shaking them, like you’re the Incredible Hulk, then buy one.
2. USB LAN Adapter
I only got one of these a couple of years ago, and I now regret that I didn’t get one much sooner.
USB 3.0 has enough bandwidth to allow you to connect a gigabit LAN cable through it and provide that sort of network performance even if the machine doesn’t have an alternative Ethernet port.
I’m sure some of you are wondering what’s wrong with wi-fi? Well, wi-fi doesn’t always work, isn’t remotely as quick as the promotional info, and is rapidly degraded by other high-demand users around you.
If you ha2ve lots of updates to do on a PC, like when you’ve just installed a fresh version of Windows, then a wired Ethernet connect is the way to go, trust me.
The bonus feature is that it’s possible that you end up with a driver upgrade for the wi-fi in a laptop that doesn’t work, and suddenly you have a driver fix you need to do that requires networking when you’ve banjaxed that feature.
The StarTech USB 3.0 gigabit adapter costs £20 and can save you tons of time with machines that don’t have a working LAN socket.
3. USB SATA Adapter
Let’s imagine a scenario where you’ve brought a laptop that’s had a unfortunate accident, yet what’s on the hard drive needs recovering. Opening up a desktop PC is a pain to mount a drive on a temporary basis, so what you want to do is something less invasive. There are two approaches to this: either a mounted removable drive tray or a USB SATA adapter. The tray is likely to be a more expensive option, and it assumes a desktop PC, where many IT people these days have a laptop.
The alternative is a simple USB device that allows you to plug any drive into the system to secure the contents or scan for damage. These are very easy to find, can cost less than a tenner and make extracting the contents of old drives much easier.
If you often have to do drive transfers, I’d recommend you either get either a USB 3.0 variant or a SATA swappable tray, because USB 2.0 isn’t quick enough to move 500GB of system in any reasonable time frame.
4. Bootable USB Or CD-based OS
I’ll talk about the more general uses of USB keys later, but what I’m referring to here is a USB key that you’ve made bootable with a working OS on it.
Notice that I didn’t say what OS you should use, because that’s a personal choice, and there are many to choose from. Lots of IT people like Linux, and most distros come in a USB bootable form that you can fire up on any system that will boot from USB.
But why would this be a useful thing to do? Whenever you have a problem with a PC, one of the most useful things to know is if the situation is one where the OS has failed, the hardware or even both.
What a bootable OS can offer you is a simple means to discount the hardware from the equation, because if it works from the USB key, then it’s almost certainly damage or corruption of the installed OS.
They can also be useful to pull the personal files off a system before you blitz a new version of Windows on there, should it stop working.
A quick search around the internet can also find you some very useful boot images, like Hiren’s Boot CD and FalconFour’s Ultimate Boot CD. Having one of these pre-installed on both CD and a USB in your bag can help you quickly move to the remedy stage of any assessment, rather than guessing at what the problem might be.
5. USB And PS/2 Capable Keyboard
This might seem rather obvious to some, but for numerous reasons, some systems don’t work well with USB keyboards when you want to access the BIOS. It might be that at the point they initialise the USB subsystem, things progress so rapidly into booting the OS that you don’t get an opportunity to catch the key presses.
Whatever the logic is, having a PS/2 keyboard, if the PC can use one, can get you into the BIOS whereas a USB-only design would be much more hit and miss. Ideally, you want one that is both, and some of those adapters that convert from one to the other are also rather handy.
It’s also worth noting that on early USB 3.0 implementations, this function is provided by a third-party chip that often only becomes active once the OS has booted and its drivers are installed. Therefore, putting a keyboard into one of these blue ports won’t help or can even make the system hang on boot.
6. Spudger
‘A what?’ you might ask in reaction to the word ‘spudger’, but it’s a real thing and not something I made up. In simpler terms, a spudger is a narrow-edged device that’s often made of plastic (although it can be metal), used to pry tight-fitting components apart. Anyone who works with laptops, phone or tablets will need one, because they’re vital for getting inside should anything go wrong with them.
If you’ve ever tried to fix your phone, you’ll soon realise that these things weren’t made to be disassembled easily, and often a little force is required. What you don’t want to do is destroy the thing that you’re trying to fix when getting inside, so you need to use something that will be kind to the phone and yet apply enough leverage for success.
Those that do this sort of job often usually have a selection of spudgers, supplemented with other thin plastic items like old credit cards and guitar picks.
If you intend to get inside Apple devices, you might need some specially shaped ones, because it really doesn’t want anyone fixing its expensive hardware when buying a new item is so much more profitable.
For general computing use a plastic spudger is also a useful item for separating cable connectors on a motherboard where using something that conducts electricity would be a bad plan.
Unless you need the professional versions, a nice spudger costs pennies, and unless you sacrifice it on a difficult fix, it can last a long time.
7. Unused USB Keys
USB keys were once so special, but these days they practically fall out of breakfast cereal packets. But for anyone who works with computers on a regular basis they’re also remarkably useful, and you don’t need to buy especially big ones either. For general use, 8GB ones are fine, and even smaller ones have their purposes, if you can find them.
Anyone with a computer should have at least one with their recovery on it, as you were encouraged to make when you first ran it. If you don’t have this, go do it now, because at some point you’ll invariably need it, and when you do, it’ll too late to make one.
It’s also a good policy, while the system hasn’t ballooned to a silly size, to use another to make a system image of the installation. With these two drives you should be able to put Windows back on a PC if the drive dies or the OS gets irreparably damaged.
If you want to, you can also get an .iso of the OS and make that a bootable USB key using software tools it’s easy to find on the internet. Microsoft even provides one these days.
Thankfully, some flash drive makers, like Lexar, have realised that IT people use them by the handful, and actually make packs with multiple drives of different colours. A four-pack of Lexar 8GB V20 Jumpdrives can be found for less than a tenner and can make system recovery much less stressful.
8. Video Cable Converters
There isn’t an IT job more annoying than one where you suspect that there’s a problem but you don’t have the right equipment to prove that conclusively. One that I’ve run into numerous times is when a laptop appears to be working but there’s no display.
There are at least three common possibilities: the display is broken, the display driver is disabled in the OS or the user has inadvertently switched to external display mode. What you need to do is attach the computer to an external display so you can see what, if any, messages the machine is showing.
These days that is complicated by the slimmer case designs that have encouraged laptop makers to use mini-DisplayPort instead of HDMI, VGA or DVI.
Statistically, DisplayPort screens aren’t that common, and there’s a good chance that nobody had a mini-DP-to-full-size-DP cable to connect it anyway.
What’s really useful at this point is a collection of video cable converters that get you from mini-DP to HDMI, DVI or big DP. They cost very little from eBay, though they can be expensive if you are crazy enough to shop at certain wellknown retail outlets.
You can also get some multi-port converters that do a range of exchanges all in one device. The conversion you should be very wary about is VGA, because that’s an analogue signal that won’t easily be converted to a digital format. A cable can’t do that, so it will require some sophisticated electronics that probably aren’t worth the expense.
The moral of this tale is that if your IT location has monitors that can only accept VGA inputs, you should be encouraging their retirement ASAP.
9. Voltage/Amperes Metre
There are generally two types of IT people: those who just accept something is broken and those who’d actually like to know what’s wrong and if it’s potentially fixable. For the latter, a voltage tester is a critical tool, because it allows you to probe inside the power distribution of the PC for potential faults or dodgy connectors.
What I need to stress, though, is that if you have no idea about electronics, then you shouldn’t be going anywhere near a live computer with any probe, because touching the wrong part could kill both the PC and you.
These devices come in two basic types, one of which is really meant for testing mains amperes and wiring and another that is designed to give you the values of current and voltage running in solid-state electronics.
Depending on how sophisticated they are, some can also test resistance and even check if individual components are working. Having one of each can be useful, and you can buy them relatively inexpensively from a wide range of outlets. Just don’t be tempted to get one if you have no idea what you are doing with it, because that can end very badly.
10. Network Cable Tester
I bought one of these about ten years ago, when I was cabling my own home for Ethernet, and they’re very useful indeed. Costing less than £10, they use a small battery to send voltage over a CAT5e or CAT6 cable, providing LED feedback about which line is being tested.
If the cable is good, then the LEDs on both parts should run in parallel, unless there’s a crossed cable or a line break. Because the left and right parts can be pulled apart, you can use it to test sockets at the end of a very big cable run by using previously tested patch cables.
Anyone who’s doing networking should have one of these, because they can save you many hours of problem hunting.
11. Thermal Compound
I’ve seen people take the heat sink off a CPU and then just plonk it back on when they’re done, and that’s a very poor plan at best.
When thermal compound is applied, it usually has the consistency of butter or cream cheese, so that when pressure is applied to the cooler, it spreads out to the ideal thickness. That’s because the purpose of the compound is to eliminate potential air gaps between the CPU and the cooler, providing a thermal bridge for heat to flow. However, once it’s been in the system for a few days, it will solidify as it’s dried by repeated heating.
Therefore, when you remove a cooler from any chip, you should clean it off and then reapply the thermal compound for proper efficiency. Failure to do this can easily lead to overheating, reducing the lifespan of components.
Unless you use it by the gallon, thermal compound (or grease as it’s sometimes referred to) doesn’t cost much, so you should always have some handy.
12. Watchmaker’s Screwdriver Set
If you haven’t noticed, some of the screws that are used in systems these days are incredibly small – too tiny to be easily removed with a conventionally sized screwdriver. What you need is a set of screwdrivers that are made for watchmakers or jewellers, because these are perfect for removing tiny screws without damaging them.
For the dismantling expert, you should also consider getting a set of Hex keys and ones for removing Torx/TRX/Star security screws also.
The use of those last designs, and some specialist designs that Apple and others have use, can make fixing some equipment close to impossible without the right tools.
Where a watchmaker set and a Torx collection can easily costs you less than £20 combined, some of the very specialist head removal tools can be expensive. Because of this, it’s worth doing some research before you start taking things apart, so you don’t get stuck at any point during the procedure.
Every IT person should own a decent set of screwdrivers, if only for fixing their own home equipment.
13. Tripod Torch
I’m not sure why, but many times an IT person will find themselves in poor lighting conditions, trying to find something implausibly small. For those jobs, I generally carry a small hand torch, but there are times when you find what you’re looking for, and then you need illumination and simultaneously your hands free to work.
The best gizmo for this job is a torch that either has its own adjustable tripod or flexible ‘fingers’ that allow it to throw the light in a specific direction while you carry out the fix.
I’ve been through a few of these, because some aren’t well made or especially reliable. They’re also completely useless if you’ve forgotten to put charged batteries in them since you used it previously.
How much you spend on one of these is up to you; some can be quite expensive, but in a tight space with little natural light, they can be a godsend.
14. Dual-band Wi-fi Adapter
This is a bit of an odd one, because it addresses a problem I ran into only recently. Since Microsoft made Windows 10 much more aggressive at installing updates,= and the users have less control over them, I’ve seen a number of situations where internal wi-fi drivers get updated on a portable machine and then don’t work, as I mentioned earlier with the USB LAN adapter.
Having an alternative wi-fi adapter handy is another way to solve this problem, but it also has some other bonus advantages. Many NAS boxes now support wi-fi dongles, and it it’s one way to connect to them in the event of a wired LAN failure, and the same is true of servers.
It’s also useful if a machine with an existing wi-fi adapter doesn’t function and you want to work out if the problem is hardware or software based.
Even the ‘ac’ class ones these days don’t cost much, and they give you an alternative network connection for any machine with a USB port. Just remember to put the drivers on a USB flash drive in case you need them.
15. Labelling Machine
Labels are very helpful, because although you know what you did, there’s no guarantee that anyone else will understand if you’re unavailable.
Depending how seriously you take labels, you can choose from a range of handheld devices to ones that are meant to be operated from a computer. What’s great about these things is they make ad hoc clear and adhesive strips that you can apply quickly to most items with a flat clean surface.
If you have cable labelling problems, then you can buy special lockable tags for those, and they cost only pennies for bags of 50 or 100. The one I use is a LetraTag, and it comes with a number of paper types designed for specific jobs. The manufacturer also makes a range of colours, if you also like colour coding stuff.
Starting at about £20, these gadgets are ideal for adding clarity to any network room and also for providing identification codes to computers.
For those who really like these sorts of things, some of the larger format PC printers can be used to print QR codes that can contain lots of information when accessed with a phone.
16. NFC Stickers
The trouble with labels I previously covered is that they can get easily removed, damaged or intentionally swapped by people up to mischief.
A potentially better idea is NFC stickers that you can buy for less than 50p each, which can be accessed by any phone or tablet with a NFC capability.
These can be programmed with information by a phone or an NFC programming tool and then stuck in a location that isn’t visible on the outside of the machine. For a laptop, this could be under the keyboard or under the service hatch. In both locations, you should still be able to read the data using a smartphone.
Precisely how much data you can include is dependent on the chip used in the sticker, but even a small amount can point to a database where much more is associated.
17. RJ45 Crimp
Network cables going wrong isn’t unusual, and I’ve thrown away plenty. But what do you do if the cable that has a problem is a very long one that snakes through a building? The answer is you need to reterminate it, and see if it’s just the RJ45 receptacle where the problem lies.
To do this you’ll need a crimp and a fresh connector, neither of which costs much to buy. A decent crimp can be had for less than £10, and a bag of 100 less than a fiver.
Being able to replace a damaged cable end is a skill all IT people should have, though you’ll need a crimp to achieve it.
18. Krone Tool
I first got one of these to do some telephone wiring, but they’re also very useful for anyone who needs to wire (or rewire) a network socket. What this does is help you insert wires into the blocks you find either in patch panels or network sockets. When you press down, a blade forces the wire down into the block and at the same time a scissor action cuts off the excess wire. It can only go wrong if you have it the wrong way around, and it cuts the cable off on the run side.
These cost very little, and depending on how much you’re likely to use it, you might want to consider buying a higher-quality version.
19. Small Vacuum
Dust is your greatest foe, as this insidious stuff sticks to computers through the infinite powers of static electricity. As a result, whenever you open up a computer, desktop or laptop, you’re inevitably confronted with it.
In reality, any vacuum will do, and even a compressed air canister at a pinch, but dust needs removing, and some control over the process is helpful.
I use an old Dyson DC16, but you could use any ‘dust buster’ design that can deliver pinpoint suction inside the computer.
Whatever it costs, I can assure you that it will be less than the expense of letting the dust collect to the point that it fries something.
20. Google Chromecast
Most people think the Chromecast is just about a neat way to put streaming TV services on your screen, but it has wider applications for the technically minded. The obvious one is to cast presentations quickly and efficiently from a laptop, phone or tablet without any messing around with cables.
So while that annoying person from human resources is still looking for the output redirection on their laptop, you’ve thrown your PowerPoint presentation up on the boardroom TV in a blink.
At just £30, the Chromecast is something every IT person should have, if only for their own use.