Resources for savvy computer technicians and developers

A career as a computer technician typically means lots of time out of the office at client sites.This can make your job more interesting, but can also make it a little more difficult to have everything with you that you need and to stay on top of all your tasks when you’re out of the office. Therefore, people who frequently work away from their offices can use all the applications they can get their hands on to make life easier and more organized. Here are 17 web applications we think every computer technician needs.

For Your iPhone

It’s really quite amazing how useful an iPhone can be for helping you keep up with business when you’re away from the office. Not only can your iPhone help you stay more organized, but it can also help you to troubleshoot at your client locations. Check out some of the best iPhone apps we found for those people who spend a lot of time out of the office.

1. Jobs: Creates timesheets with ease. This application is very simple to use. Create a job, track your hours and then bill your client quickly and easily from one simple iPhone application. This application will really come in handy for keeping track of time to bill clients without having to always go back to the office to catch up.
2. FTP on the Go: Allows you to log into an FTP server, edit and modify files. You’ll use this application both at client sites and from home to reduce trips to the office.
3. PHP Cheat Sheet: This is a dictionary of PHP syntax. This one comes in handy for everybody sometimes.
4. OmniFocus: This task management application allows you to create to do lists, as well as sync with documents on your desktop. This application can really help you stay organized, which is especially important if you bounce between office, home office and being on the road at client sites.
5. Google Calendar: Check your Google calendar from anywhere. You never have to worry about being out of touch just because you’re spending a few days on the road for business or personal reasons.
6. AirSharing: A great way to share files: AirSharing allows you to mount your iPhone or iPod Touch as a wireless drive on any computer, drag and drop files and then view them on your device.
7. Full Screen Web Browser: Does just what it says: lets you browse in full screen.

For Your USB Drive

When you’re working on client computers in their office setting, you can take many tools with you on a portable USB drive. These applications will help you when you’re working on a remote computer.

8. CodySafe: CodySafe is a mini-launcher for a USB drive. It allows you to install and run apps so you can launch them on another PC while leaving no footprint behind.
9. Restoration: Restoration is a free file recovery software. It allows you to retrieve files that were recently deleted and removed from the recycle bin.
10. Defraggler: Defraggler is a lightweight and portable file defragging alternative to the default option in Windows.
11. FileZilla Portable: FileZilla is an FTP program. This is their portable version.
12. SIW: This is a system analysis tool that gathers information about a computer’s hardware and software. Use it to help diagnose issues.
13. Portable Mozilla: A portable version of Mozilla’s Firefox.
14. Foxit Reader: This portable PDF reader is a lifesaver.
15. Open Office: Open Office is a portable version of Microsoft Office. It includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, drawing package and database.
16. Infra Portable Recorder: This is great portable CD/DVD burning software.
17. Hijack This: Hijack This is a portable spyware detector and remover. It puts its findings into a log file to allow you to share the results with clients.

Portable applications are, indeed, a lifesaver for people who perform much of their work outside a typical office setting. These applications can certainly make your job, and your personal life just a little easier.

While the days of living on a farm and relying on your own hands rather a factory are gone, you can still find the joy of building a complicated tool from the comfort of your own home.  Before you think to yourself that building a computer is a prohibitively complex, expensive task, consider these six reasons you should learn how to build a PC:

1.  Design your computer your way: When you build your own computer, you avoid the manufactures suggested components are able to customize it in every possible way.  Want to add multiple fans to increase CPU speed?  Want to build a see-thru plastic tower to show off your handiwork?  The only limit to building your computer is your imagination.

2.  Easy upgrades: Because you built it, through trial and error you have a pretty good idea of how your components interact, allowing for easier upgrades.  The working knowledge you gain will enable you to service you computer often, and discover minor problems before they become major ones.

3. Save money: unless you are building the next supercomputer the size of a refrigerator, building your own computer will save you money.  By buying components from various suppliers, you avoid the high margins imposed on the masses that buy their PC’s at retail stores.  You also are able to spot problems with your PC before they erupt into major issues, and fix them yourself.  Becoming your own computer repairman can save you up to $80/hour.

4. An educational, inspiring experience: Ask anyone who has built their own computer if they had a positive experience, and many would respond in the affirmative.  Building a computer gives you a tremendous sense of satisfaction every time you power it on.  You are connected to your creation, you know each and every wire, and have the satisfaction of bringing to life such a complex piece of technology.

5. Start a business: if your good at it, building computers can become a business opportunity.  Much like automobiles, the general public is severely lacking in the educational knowledge required to build and fix computers.  Leverage your knowledge by building custom computers for clients, and when they break (hopefully not soon after you build them) offer your repair services.

6. Impress the ladies: Men, for those of you in college, you will be very popular among the females in the dorm if you can swoop in and fix their computer!

Computer-related blogs abound and some of them are really good, offering great insight and practicable “how-to’s” for both novices and experts. Here we bring for you a list of 9 blogs that have attracted a faithful following and gained authority status because of the high standard content they produce. Bookmarking these blogs or following them will not only answer all your computer-related questions but also inform, educate, and entertain you. The selection of blogs has been made keeping in mind the interests and queries of home PC users, small business owners, certified geeks, IT professionals…in short anyone that puts fingers to a computer keyboard.

1. Online Tech Tips – The blogger, Aseem Kishore, provides almost daily tutorials and personal computing tips. The “how-to’s” on this blog are novel, interesting, useful, and fun to practice. For instance, learning how to make your own handwriting a font on a Windows Tablet PC or finding out how to detect computer and email monitoring spyware on your PC.

2. How-to Geek – An exhaustive portal neatly categorizing posts into categories including Windows 7, Microsoft Office, and Linux. The blog has more than 100,000 subscribers and you can see why when you browse through their huge database of awesome computer-related information.

3. Lifehacker – Probably the most established portal out there covering tips and downloads on everything computing related. From simple how-to’s such as one on securing your passwords to ultra-tech jargon that stimulates geek fantasies, the site is the place to be if your ambition is to be at the bleeding edge of computing technology.

4. Code Brothers – These guys cover a neat niche in the domain of computer tricks and how-to’s. The blog covers coding-related stuff that includes handy guides for non-geeks as well as heavy-duty programming how-to’s. For instance – “How to Uninstall Any Program From Your Computer” is a relevant article that lay computer users can read and learn from.

5. Free Fixit – A simple no-frills blog that covers some really cool how-to’s that can come in handy when you’re looking for answers on how to create a keyboard shortcut for a program in Vista or how to use your RAM as a graphic card. Regularly updated with step-by-step instructions and helpful screenshots.

6. Top Bits – An exhaustive and authority site to help non-techies with their queries. Probably, the blog with the most exhaustive and well-thought of categories to cover all things IT. When you have questions on cryptology, passwords, web publishing, Vulnerabilities, Macintosh, and Unix sharing space you know that bookmarking this blog will be a good idea.

7. Linux Poison – As the name suggests, this one is for Linux lovers, the true soldiers of the open source brigade. Linux Poison has been doing yeoman service in making the Linux tribe grow. The blog has been around for a three years and is one of the best resources for how-to’s on Linux apart from the Linux website.

8. PC Training 24 – A thorough computer training guide for the DIY computer enthusiast as well as the computer technician. Interesting how to’s here including such as this – “How to bypass a PDF password”

9. Home Network Help – A nice blog with articles focusing largely on home networking and wireless networking. A very good reference source for those running a home-based business and SMBs with a few PCs on a network.

We’d like to conclude by mentioning that computing technology is forever forging forward, the internet gives us a great opportunity to stay abreast of the latest. Do let us know what you feel about this list.