Home Office and ToolKit

[allstarit]

Hello all,

Just sharing how i setup my home office and toolkit. Also how im running everything at the moment. May not be the best solution but its working well for me at the moment whilst im in my early years of business.

So in my home office i have 2 areas. I have a L shaped computer desk which has printer, home Pc and area to keep invoices, forms ect
I then have a workbench where i work on clients computers i bring back for repair. I have a test monitor and keyboard and mouse which has a 2 port KVM. This also has a 8 port gigabit network switch (which you cant see in the pic)

http://www.allstarit.com.au/images/technibble/pic3.jpg

Underneath are some computers im working on and also any PC's im working on that are waiting on a replacement part ect. Also stores my onsite toolbox.

On the back wall of the workbench i have room to store all my screwdrives and other tools but mostly keep these in my onsite toolbox and just open the box as i need the item (keeps it tidy that way and no complaints from the wife)

Above the backboard there is a small shelf which i keep my screws, cables and hard drive caddy, 3.5 External USB for saving clients data.

What i carry onsite with me:

http://www.allstarit.com.au/images/technibble/pic1.jpg
http://www.allstarit.com.au/images/technibble/pic2.jpg

1X powersupply

1X Coolermaster PSU tester (Ebay: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-Cool...4?pt=AU_Components&hash=item2a34334168&_uhb=1)
1X ADSL 2 Modem
1X ADLS 2 Filter

1X Phone Butt for testing phone sockets for line issues.
This came from Ebay. here is the one i purchased (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Chino-E-...ester-Lineman-Tool-Cable-Set-CM-/261286075651)

1X box of cable ties with various lengths

1X Motherboard tester (ebay: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Desktop-...0?pt=AU_Components&hash=item2330c19b72&_uhb=1)

1X Cable Tester and Finder (ebay: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-Netw...H_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item4169c35826&_uhb=1)

I also carry some Network Cables, phone cables, USB cables ect.

Various Screw drivers - Standard types, smaller ones for laptops, and torq screws for some brands.

1X Hard Drive Docking for IDE and SATA (IDE is very handy for older Pc's)

1X spare 3.5 Sata drive
1X spare 2.5 Sata drive
1X 3TB drive to backup users data to when formatting the PC.
1X 1TB USB drive which has all my tools and downloads in it.
1X graphics card
1X USB to HDMI graphics adaptor
1X USB Floppy drive (rarely used but you never know)

1X Mobile Phone/Table Screw driver kit and tools to open cases up.

I also carry around with me my laptop and for quick access i have a samsung tablet with 3G sim in it which give me quick access to internet and my google drive docs.

CD Wallet:
Various disks in here which include

Hirens Boot CD
UBCD disk
Windows 7 disks
Windows XP disks
Windows 8 disks
Windows Server 2008
Office 2007, 2010,2013 disks (have these on USB too)

Office Setup:
For my office setup i have everything on a VPS and also have a Google Drive to sync docs i need on regular basis. This syncs to my laptop, tablet and phone.

On the VPS i have Screenconnect installed and use this for my remote support.
I also have Crashplan installed on here to backup my files but i have also just recently started using this as a destination server. I have signed up a couple of clients and they are backing up some folders to my server at a monthly charge. This has been working really well and being a VPS i can just ring them and request more data as i get more backups online.

I have quick books on here as well for all my accounting side of things.

I have my website hosted Netregistry and have a WHMCS portal which i use for domain purchases, online backups, customers can log tickets on here and i can convert them into invoices and it links to Paymate or paypal.
I also store the clients network info under a special notes tab only the admin can see so i can easily look up their router IP or password ect.

Taking payment onsite:
I have signed up with Paymate OnTheGo which is a small device you plug into your phone audio jack and it allows you to swipe cards and take payments.
This works ok but i also offer to clients bank deposit or pay by my website through paypal.

Phone:
The phone i use at the moment and absolutely love is the Galaxy Note3. This phone is really suited to a technician. You have the big screen which you can use 2X to remote into workstations. Or if your like me and have screen connect you can use the App.
I also use Evernote on my phone and sync it with my PC,tablet and VPS

Home Phone:
I also have a Voip Line with a local provider and i have setup 3CX on my VPS which allows me to have a landline number. I find having your mobile number displayed on a website makes you look smaller to the customer and a landline looks like your not a 1 man shop. So the 3CX is installed on the VPS and i have a phone in my home office connected to 3CX. IF this phone doesnt answer the call it then diverts to my mobile.


Emails:
Emails i have going through outlook.com or hotmail. This is just to start with but it gives me the ability to sync my calendar. Contacts i sync via Google because im on android. Eventually ill go onto a hosted exchange plan but this seems to work well at the moment.

Anyway thats about it for my setup and hope this is helpful to some new people in my position trying to find better ways to do things. Im not telling you this is how you should set things up but its just a suggestion and if anyone has any extra tips or ideas please add to this.

thanks:

Peter
All Star IT
www.allstarit.com.au

 

[SpaceSquad]

Thanks for posting...a thing or two I may add to my toolkit as well.

How often do you use the motherboard tester? And what does it actually do?

 

[cypress]

Man I really need to get a Mobo tester. Also, can you take a pic of your personal desk? Curious to see how that setup is pictured.

Great thread!

 

[allstarit]

Hi SpaceSquad, with the mobo tester i only got it last week so haven't really tested it all that much. However ive played around with it and basically you just put the card into the motherboard and power on the PC.

On the LCD screen there is 2 buttons to select what bios your plugging into - Phoenix, Award, AMI ect..

Its supposed to show problems with CPU, Memory and graphics but ill have to play around with it more on various boards before i trust it over manually checking.

At the same time i purchased the coolermaster PSU tester and thats a really good PSU tester it lights up when good and no lights when bad. I have seen other testers but this one is really good. not that expensive either.

No problems cypress ill take a photo of the desk. Ill upload it tonight when im home from work

 

[cypress]

Many thanks

 

[allstarit]

here is the other desk in office

http://www.allstarit.com.au/images/technibble/pic4.jpg

Just a L shaped desk from local furniture shop. the Shelves up top are handy to put all your small cables, screws and i put forms that i fill out when working on PC.

 

[Markverhyden]

Nice setup you have there Peter. I'm mentioning labeler but it appears you have one in one of the pictures you posted.

Couple of comments/observations.

On the motherboard tester cards. There have been versions of those around for many years. I tested one back in 2000 or so and really found it to not be that useful. But the price you paid is much less than what they used to cost.

The cable tester, not sure what else you looked at and you said you are starting out. If you plan on working in a business environment you will want to get something much more sophisticated. Those blinky light things are basically sophisticated continuity testers. They can do a basic test just fine but sometimes will pass a cable when there are other issues that will impact network performance.

You don't necessarily have to buy one of those $10k Fluke devices. But still plan on spend 1-2k depending on what you get. I eventually bought a JDSU ValidatorPRO 1150 and it has been well worth the investment.

 

[allstarit]

thanks for the feedback. Yeah i looked at a couple of testers and this one is a starting out one .will eventually progress to a better model.