[willdawiz]

Hi All, new to the forum, but for online It help, you look like the best freebie in the biz. I like to believe I'm pretty proficient with computers, have built my own, and learning several programming languages. I'm also pursuing A+ Certification. I have decided to put up flyers in my neighborhood for computer help. The question is, what resources does someone in the field need? I have vista, so I now a bit about that, but what would say I should bring in case I need to troubleshoot, or if they don't have anti-virus. I also might work on macs, so those suggestions are welcome, too.I currently have a 2 gig flash drive, but also have a 160 gigabyte WD passport , so size isn't really a factor. Price, however, is. I tried Spiceworks, and I'm messing around with erthereal on my network, but what about theirs? Oh, and I really apreiate you guys actually in the biz. You do so much work and almost ayone who wants to call you screams at you, no one just calls to say good morning.

[DoubleHelix]

Before you offer your services as a technician, you need to decide what you can support and what you can't. I don't know what having Vista installed or owning a flash drive and external hard drive have to do with providing computer support. I wouldn't offer to support Mac problems unless you're familiar with Macs.

Knowing programming languages doesn't help when it come to troubleshooting computer problems. But that'll come in handy, obviously, when you get into custom application development.

[valis]

well, you are going to NEED the a+/net+ first, before even thinking about setting up a computer repair shop. Let's say someone comes to you with a machine that blue screens repeatedly at boot up. Just flashes the blue screen for about 1/2 a second then begins the boot sequence again.

And the OS is windows 2k.

Knowing one os isn't going to help a lot, but it's good to see the entrepreneurial spirit there. Get the a+/net+ first, then look around and see if you can answer a few questions in here. Do good here, across a variety of platforms, chances are you can at least start working on your neighbor's machines.

I do desktop/network support for about 1,200 people directly, about 5k indirectly (remotely), and I can't even begin to tell you some of the crazy things you'll see. Printer issues, scanner issues, people wanting shares across two different subnets, malware up the wazoo (THAT you will definitely need to know how to fix) and about a zillion other things. Only two things I've not been able to fix were both maxtor hard-drives that had the actuator arm motor cease to function. No more data coming off that machine.

But stick around, and see what you can do to help here. That, and getting your certs, will probably be the fastest way you can learn.

and welcome to the forums, btw.