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USB Drive PC Tools

PC Repair System from Daily Cup of Tech

USB drives can hold a lot of tools needed for PC repair, recovery, and diagnostics. The folks at Daily Cup of Tech put together a PC Repair System that fits on a tiny 32MB flash drive.

What to do

All you have to do is download the files and extract them onto a flash drive. If you put all the files in the root directory of the drive, you will have the option to auto launch the application menu when you insert the USB drive. The menu will appear in the system tray (bottom right). Right click on the system tray application and you will see the menu shown here.

As you can see, there are lots of useful applications for computer help tasks. See the PC Repair System page for more info on the applications, or just run them to see what they do.

It works

I recently used the included Restoration software to recover deleted files from someone’s computer in Alexandria, Virginia.

With a PC Repair System USB drive, you have an easy to use and powerful set of tools.

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When to buy Apple Products

You don’t want to buy a product just before it is replaced by a faster version at the same price. That’s why MacRumor’s Buyer’s Guide is useful for Apple products. It currently shows that there are many iPods and computers that are due for revisions soon based on the time since the last revision. This coincides with recent rumors of a September 9th event to announce new products.

This does not predict exactly when a new version will arrive.  Apple could come out with a small bump in the middle of a cycle. But if a revision is long overdue, you should consider waiting unless you need something immediately.

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Boot into “Live CDs”

While Linux can be scary for most users, there is a simple way to get into it. It is the Live CD.

A Live CD is a CD that the computer loads or boots on. It does not modify your hard drive or computer in any way. So you can boot into Linux, another copy of Windows, or another operating system.

Helix for Forensics

Live CDs can be a great forensics tool. One of my favorites is Helix, based off of the Knoppix Linux distribution. Helix can read your Windows NTFS-formatted hard drive, allowing you to transfer files if you can’t boot into Windows. Helix also includes ClamAV and F-Prot virus scanners and tools to recover deleted files.

Ubuntu for trying Linux

Ubuntu also has a Linux Live CD, which is great for people who are just considering using Ubuntu but don’t want to install it yet. Ubuntu Linux is a free operating system that will be faster than Windows. It is currently the most popular distribution of Linux for desktop use and in many ways it is easier to use than Windows.

Ubuntu also includes Memtest86+ which thoroughly tests all your RAM, great for determining if your computer problems are caused by faulty memory.

Ultimate Boot CD

Unlike Helix and Ubuntu above that use Linux, the Ultimate Boot CD boots into Windows from the CD. Like Helix, it includes diagnostic, repair, and recovery tools. Unfortunately, the Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) is not a simple iso file that you burn to disk. Because it uses Windows, you must provide a copy of Windows during the build process of the UBCD.

Try a Live CD

There are many other bootable CDs out there, as shown on this Live CD list. Most just require you to burn an iso (CD image file) to a disk. Make sure that your computer is set in the BIOS (which you access by clicking setup during the starting boot) to use the CD as the first boot device. Then you can try out these diagnostic tools and other operating systems.

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Find WiFi networks with iStumbler for Mac OS X

iStumbler allows you to find and determine the strength of WiFi networks. It works only with Macs.

iStumbler is useful when you need access to the internet and need free WiFi. iStumbler will tell you if the network is secure or open. Although connecting to an open WiFi point is of questionable legality, there are some networks from coffee shops and other locations that welcome you.

iStumbler is also useful in setting up wireless networks to see where best to place your access point.

While you can just use the built-in AirPort connection information, iStumbler provides you the signal strength information that might help you.

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iMac 24″ Opened and Upgraded

A Fairfax, Virginia customer recently had an iMac 24″ Intel Core 2 Duo 2.16 GHz (the two year old white acrylic plastic model) that had a malfunctioning video card (random lines, ghost windows, static). Otherwise it worked great, so we decided to fix it.

Bad Video Card

Because the iMac was not under AppleCare warranty, we decided not to have Apple fix it for what would probably be $700-$1000.

I ordered a new NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT video card. The GeForce video card for this iMac has a special MXM PCI Express connector. So you can’t just pick up any GeForce 7600 GT or 7300 GT. Only WeLoveMacs.com appears to sell the correct video card.

Screws Galore

The iMac has lots of philips and hex screws of different sizes. I used these baggies and labels so that I could reassemble the iMac. I do the same thing when taking apart a laptop.

Hard Drive Upgrade

While I had the iMac opened, we upgraded from a 500GB to a 1TB hard drive. This required prying off the hard drive’s heat sensor and reapplying it to the new drive with rubber cement.

Not an Easy Job

The video card unfortunately is underneath the motherboard, which Apple refers to as the “logic board”. It is much easier to bring an iMac or MacBook to Apple for repair than attempting it yourself. Even if you are somewhat skilled, the process takes hours. But if you have an out-of-warranty computer, this could save you some money.

Because there are no other photos of the internals of this iMac online, I’m posting a bunch here: