Computer Diagnostics
Most computer diagnostics cover both the hardware and software tools and techniques needed to keep your computer running at its optimum. Hardware has proven to be very reliable over the years, which leaves about 99% of the problems you encounter with the software.
Computer Hardware
The computer hardware has generally been very reliable for the last 20 years. Connections being the biggest problems encountered until gold plating became the norm. Today the problems center on power supplies and hard drives. The power supply has come down in price but the quality has suffered. We have experienced a greater than 10 percent power supply failure in the first 30 days on new computers. I would recommend going with a good name brand power supply that provides 50% more power than needed. This will help to keep from stressing the components and provide ample power for feature needs. The hard drives being mechanical are still prone to early failure. However, we are seeing a failure rate of less than 2% in the first year and almost a 50% after 5 years. Since all hard drives will fail in time you have to develop the discipline to regularly backup your important data. There are services that will retrieve data off non-functioning hard drives but the cost can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand plus the inconvenience you suffer.
Computer Software
Computer software has always been the major area of concern and you need to develop a plan to deal with a non-functioning computer. Since the cost of computers has dropped so much over the years the safeguarding of data has become the top concern. Off line storage is a must for valuable data. Tape drives are still proving to be the best and most convenient for large automatic daily backups. Internet or network storage is becoming very popular along with external drives, flash drives, and even DVD backups. The problem with the later is they are not automatic and we fail to develop a regular habit of backing up data until after we have a problem. Therefore automatic systems are needed to assure to have a current backup of our valuable data.
Diagnostic Software
Computer diagnostics software can be helpful to find those inconsistent problems that come and go. Memory errors and other infrequent problems can be very difficult to track down. Some of the burn-in or stress test software can be helpful in finding hardware component problems. MemTest86 is free testing software that you can start and just let run. It performs a very rigorous check of your memory and will find problems if they exist.
Computer Maintenance
Proper computer maintenance is essential to keep a computer running efficiently. Heat is one of the more serious concerns and computers should be maintained in comfortable environments. Another problem relating to heat is dust buildup on components inside the case. If computers are kept close to the floor they act like vacuum cleaners and need periodic cleaning to remove dust that can buildup and create a heat-retaining blanket over components.
Since computer software operating systems, such as Windows, are the biggest problems we have to deal with we need a good plan to master these concerns. Windows is not a self-maintaining system but just the opposite. Operating system registry problems, hard drive fragmentation, hardware driver conflicts, application conflicts, networking problems, and viruses are just some of the major concerns. Imaging the operating system hard drive partition can easily and quickly eliminate all of these headaches.
Hard Drive Imaging
I have successfully maintained over a thousand computers at several sites using imaging techniques. I still teach and employ these techniques for maintaining even a single personal computer. The time-savings using imaging is huge when you are dealing with computers. Troubleshooting and diagnosing software problems is not worthwhile endeavor even on a single computer it can eat up a lot of valuable time. Imaging restores a computer back to a known good configuration in just a few minutes. This eliminates any of the above-mentioned problems including hard drive fragmentation. The partition imaging will restore the hard drive back to a non-fragmented condition. I presently maintain a computer lab with over 30 computers and my students have full admin right. I restore these computers daily to provide a fresh optimum system that my students are always pleased with. This takes about 10 minutes for 30 computers. All I have to do is turn them on and set the restore option from a DOS menu. This can be done 10 minutes before class and provides fresh computers that are ready to go for a new class. I can even select different configurations for different classes restoring them all in less than 10 minutes. This way my students can have a different set of programs available for any particular class.
Imaging Software
There are many commercial products available including Norton Ghost and Acronis. Partimage is a free Open Source Norton Ghost clone that is very fast and efficient. I favor Norton Ghost because it can run in a DOS environment, which is handy when Windows is not operating.
Normal computer diagnostics should never take longer than a few minutes to perform. The hardware problems are few and generally easy to solve. The software problems are the more difficult but the time wasted to troubleshoot a complex Windows installation can be considerable. Restoring using an image seems to be the best and most cost effective solution.
I have several YouTube tutorial videos concerning Ghost Imaging and other topics at a sister site Computer Repair Training that you might find helpful.