Computer Safety Do and No List

Do's

- Wear anti-ESD Wrist Strap and if there is none, drain off the ESD by touching the unpainted part of your system unit. ESD's are known to destroy discrete devices like your RAM, BIOS, Chipsets and other components of your motherboard. So take this precaution seriously.

- Wear proper clothing. Use cotton and short-sleeved clothes during work. If ever the computer your working on catches fire, cotton most likely better resist burning than nylon clothes.

- Turn off the system unit and unplug the power cord from the AVR everytime you will be working with your computer. Keep in mind that there is a constant 5 volts DC electricity even if your computer is turned off with cords unplugged and AVR not turned off.

- Keep screws together. If some screws unintentionally goes on the motherboard, that will be disastrous! Short circuit will likely be a big possibility if screws or other similar small metallic objects are misplaced. It is best to keep a small canister to contain the screws or just put the screws back where they were taken.

- Clean your tools and equipment before and after use. Take care of your tools because they will also take good care of you. Tools and equipment in good condition lessens accident.

- Clean your system unit before fixing it.

- Fix your computer if it is broken. Yes, don't assume that the computer is broken lest you're sure it really is. You might add up or make the problem yourself rather than to fix it.

- Backup files and drivers before anything else. Files costs millions of dollars to other clients. Our main concern before everything else is our clients' files. Fixing the hardware part of the computer is just next to saving and retrieving the files that the computer may contain. So always prepare a large backup media for your clients.

- Have a documentation on each computer being fixed. A documentation will be your personal troubleshooting database. This will be a handy future troubleshooting reference. Your documentation will also serve as your guide as you go on with your troubleshooting.

- Do make use of the comfort of time in computer troubleshooting. Do not be in a hurry when fixing a computer. If you can't finish the fix on that day, let the day pass and fix it by the morning. Mistakes occur because of distraction and of the lack of concentration. So slow down cowboy and fix that computer slow and accurate.

No's!

- Forgetting everything with the Do's and leaving the brain on the bed while working. Just remember all those Computer Safety Do's and I assure you, you'll never have to remember the No's.