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Qualities of a Good IT Supporter
Responsible
IT supporters are always responsible for
smooth running of computer systems and also for making sure that users get
maximum benefit from those systems. However,
the responsibilities may be changed
according to the organization and its structure.
- Install and configure computer systems (Both Hardware and Software)
- Monitor and maintain computer systems
- Should be able to support via both onsite and remotely (Telephone calls)
- Solve computer systems related issues quickly and properly
Be a Part of The Team
An IT technician should
think and work as a part of the company and also among other employees. There
may be an IT team in your company or not. It doesn’t matter, to be a good IT
supporter you should think and work as a team member. IT supporter should be
willing to share knowledge with other team members, assist for their works,
work within the plan, ask for help, respect others etc. Also, an IT supporter
should have good communication and interpersonal skills in order to interact
with others and to build their confidence.
Effectiveness
All IT supporters should be always active.
They should come to the job at the relevant time and also should be willing to
work extra hours. In order to achieve effectiveness and accuracy, there should
be a higher theoretical knowledge and also practical experience relevant to IT
field. It will help them to perform their job tasks quickly and accurately.
Also, they should be able to prioritize their tasks according to the job types
and organizational structure and help them to resolve issues effectively.
Patience
If a confused and frustrated user says
that there is a problem with his computer system and he needs immediate help,
an IT supporter should be able to calm him and patiently ask and understand the
actual problem. Sometimes IT supporter won’t understand what the user is saying
(due to non-technical words), but he has remain patience and ask questions and
understand the real situation. Patience is also needed when cleaning computer
systems. The patience of an IT supporter is important for both users and to his
self.
Encourage
As an IT supporter has a huge amount of works to do,
he has to motivate and encourage team members and also himself to do the tasks
within a given time period without giving excuses. Any organization has goals,
as a part of that organization IT supporter also has a huge responsibility of
supporting the staff to achieve it.
The Importance of Analyzing IT Problems
Every IT
Supporter should have a pre-prepared plan to deal any kind of IT problems. It
will help him to avoid panic and it increases the confidence as he is already
prepared and ready to face any problem. He should identify different IT
problems and rank them according to the possibility to happen. Also, He has to
include the best way to solve the problem. E.g.:- Avoid unnecessary work, Avoid
fixes that cause more problems, Avoid cost of unnecessary fixes, Avoid only
treating the symptom, false fixes etc. To be a good IT supporter he should
always keep elements like maintenance journal, diagnostic checklist and
questions, identification of possible causes and solutions, application and testing
solutions, validation and also a proper troubleshooting toolkit.
Troubleshooting framework can be simply mentioned as Analyzing, planning,
solving and recording. By doing these things he can identify exact problem and
then perform his duty quickly and accurately, and also it will help for other
IT guys to learn and train.
Tools and Software for Troubleshooting Computer Systems
Tools
Screwdrivers, Screw Trays and Magnetic Non-Slip Project Mats
These are more important tools which are
needed for assembling, dissembling and for other purposes. There are also
electric screwdrivers which makes your work much easy. I recommend using
“Thermalright Screwdriver” which has a magnetic tip and also 230mm long. Due to
its higher length, you can easily reach the screws inside in your pc casing and
it won’t drop any screws as there is a magnetic tip. Also, I recommend using a
small size screwdriver like Kingston HyperX screwdriver as you will need that
kind of short screwdrivers to deal with SSDs and to reach screws in difficult
areas.
Multi-meter
Every
IT supporter should have a digital multi-meter E.g.:- Fluke 87-V Digital
Multi-meter. It is a device which is used to measure voltage, current and
resistance. These multi-meters are useful for IT supporters to troubleshoot
power supplies, motherboards, circuits etc. you can use it to check wall outlet
voltage, power supply output voltages, CMOS battery power, to check cable
connectivity and fuse status.
Brushes and Anti-Static Vacuum Cleaners
Computers get dirty both
from outside and inside. This dirt will block air flows, makes system run
hotter and less reliable, increase electrical resistance and corrodes surface.
In order to clean this dirt you can use brushes and vacuum cleaners. Brush will
help you to sweep the dust and Anti-Static Vacuum cleaner will help you to suck
dust and dirt out of your system.
Contact Cleaner
There is dirt like oils,
sticky water-based juices, oxide and many more which you can’t remove using a
Brushes and Vacuum cleaners. To remove these dirt you can use a Contact
cleaner. It will spray cleaning agents like isopropyl alcohol, then clean and
evaporates quickly. I personally recommend to use WD-40 specialist quick drying
electrical contact cleaner spray.
Power Supply Tester
There is also a special
tester called Power Supply Tester which you can use for testing/troubleshooting
power supplies. It is a handheld device that has number of different plugs that
can be connected to a power supply. There is also a digital display which gives
information about voltage and other useful information and LED lights labelled
as +12V, +3.3V, and +5V which help you to identify whether different types of
connectors are working or not.
Loopback Plugs and Network Cable Tester
If there is a problem
with RJ45 ports or any other networking ports you can simply use a Loopback
Plugs to test those ports. They are not crossover cables. They will pass
receiving data packets back to the same device in order to check the port is
working or not. You may also need some software to work with loopback plug.
Software
Operating Systems and Built-in Tools for Troubleshooting
The operating system is the most important
software in your computer system. Each and every application that you need to
run is depending on your computer’s operating system and also it manages all
the hardware components in your computer. But you must purchase an original
copy of an operating (not cracked versions) or download an image from original/legal
vendor’s website. Also there are built-in tools on OS which you can easily use
for troubleshooting.
Driver Packs
Usually drivers are
software programs which control different devices of a computer system. There
are many drivers in a computer for different purposes. E.g.: - Sound card
driver, video card driver, printer driver and built in drivers which come with
the OS. Without drivers you can’t properly do most of the activities using a
computer. Also, you need to update those drivers regularly.
Driver Booster Software
This
software is from “iobit” company. There is a free version and also a paid
version of this driver pack software. The latest version is driver Booster 8.1 and it is able to update over 1,000,000+ drivers and fix missing/faulty and
outdated driver issues. The great thing is that this software will
automatically start with your operating system and automatically scan, download
and install all the drivers to your computer. It will also keep a backup copy
of the previously installed driver
Driver Pack Solution
This
is a free software and it has a huge database of drivers. There are 3 different
versions of drive pack such as online version, network version and offline
version. Online version is about 500kb and all the required drivers for your
computer system will be downloaded during installation process. Network version
is 400mb in size and drivers for network equipment are available immediately.
CPU-Z Software
This application is made
by CPUID Company and it can be downloaded free. It gives in-depth details about
the components in your computer. E.g.:- CPU information like CPU name, live
voltage information, Cache information, bus speed, number of core and threads
etc. motherboard information like manufacturer, model, information about BIOS,
graphic interface info etc. Memory information like Ram type, channel, size,
DRAM frequency and different clock timing information. If you have installed
two or more Ram cards, you can get information for each RAM card separately.
BIOS Beep Code Viewer
This software is from
Rizonesoft and it is for free. It will give information about your systems
current BIOS (BIOS vendor, BIOS date, BIOS version etc.). It also gives all the
information about different BIOS Beep Codes of different BIOS vendors like AMI,
AST, Award, Compaq, IBM, Intel (Phoenix). It also describes about different
Beep Codes, reasons to occur them and the way to fix the system. Without
remembering all the different types of beep codes from different vendors you
can use this software to troubleshoot beeping problems easily.
Recovery Software
Recovery software will
allow you to recover corrupted, deleted or inaccessible data from your hard
disk. “Recuva” is a good recovery software. it can recover music, pictures,
videos, emails, files and folders and also it can recover from rewritable media
like flash drives etc. It can also recover from damaged or newly installed
drives. It allows you deep scan and recover. You can also use tool to delete
files permanently. If you do that you can’t recover it even using a recovery
software.
Application Software Packages
Application packages are built with a collection of many computer application software. Each program serves a different purpose and is compatible with other programs included in the package. E.g.:- Microsoft Office, Libre office, G Suite etc. You may need to type letters, create a presentation, create a database, So it is good to have some Application Software Packages with you to install and use when you needed.