I have been in the business for quite a while, and I am amazed at how much positive feedback from after service surveys when doing a general system cleaning I receive, such as using compressed air and/or some sort of cleaning wipe.I realize the cost for these materials are out-of-pocket expenses, but the way I look at it is that the minimal investment goes a long way.  How come?  Because know it or not, most PC warranty repair companies do quality control surveys of technicians after the call is closed, and doing a few general maintenance steps goes a long way. 

This has paid off big time for me, as I have received positive feedback as confirmation.  Besides, keep your receipts and write them off in taxes.  To minimize the costs for these materials, one alternative I found for overpriced computer wipes are baby wipes. 

They may have less alcohol than PC-related wipes, but for me they work just as well, and are a whole lot cheaper.  Get a brick of baby wipes and/or the travel packs and you are good to go.  They work great for a general wipe down, and even better for cleaning off old CPU thermal grease. 

Compressed air and cleaning wipes may not be required tools when doing warranty repairs, but in the long run the potential payoff is big, and is a best practice I would incorporate into all in-home service calls.

I’ve shopped at The Home Depot for quite some time, and although I hate their business practice of using self-checkouts, I was amazed to find that the prices of much of the IT tools and products they carry, from ordinary patch cables to a tone generator, are reasonably priced. In addition, convenience and availability makes The Home Depot a competitive choice.  I cannot tell you how many times I have relied on them when I have needed to pick up last minute hardware for a job. 

In this article I will go over some network-related tools that The Home Depot carries and some reviews on each of them.

I’ve always been a big fan of Fluke products, so one of the first tools I purchased was a digital multimeter.  I have used the same Fluke 110 for almost 5 years now and I have never had a problem with it.  In addition to being reliable, the digital measurements will give you better results than needle-based multimeters.  It is also very rugged.  I have dropped it several times and it has never failed me. 

I did not purrchase my Fluke multimeter from The Home Depot, but at this writing they carry similar models.  One multimeter feature you may want to consider with an upgraded model is a thermometer.

When it came time to getting my feet wet doing cabling, the next set of tools I purchased were a crimper, stripper, and punch down tool.  The Home Depot carries a Data Shark brand network toolkit that comes with all three (stripper, crimper, punch down), and even some CAT5 ends to get you started. 

Usually, I am a little leery when buying a kit with multiple tools, because I have had bad luck in the past with the quality of the items.  Not the Data Shark kit.  The quality of the pieces are impressive for the price.  My only negative is the cable stripper.  It could be a little better quality, but for the price, this kit is a winner in my books.

The next two tools to be reviewed are both Flukes.  Again, I am a big fan of Fluke products, so that was the direction I took when it came to purchasing a tone and probe kit, and a buttset (test set). 

These tools are not for the faint of heart when it comes to price, and I actually purchased these online from a different company to save some money, but The Home Depot carries both models, and they are reasonably priced.

 Both the Fluke Pro3000 (Tone and Probe Kit) and TS19 (Test Set) are average products and on the econo end as to quality, which I only say because you can easily find tone/probe kits and test sets with much more features costing hundreds of dollars.  For the types of network engineering calls I do, both of these work just fine.   But if you are needing to use one or both of these tools on a daily basis, you may want to find something a little more durable.

And finally, I purchased a nice pair of Greenlee gopher poles (for wiring) from The Home Depot, but I am not sure if they still carry them or not.  These poles are green colored and made of fiberglass, and come in three sections which can be screwed together.  Each pole is about five feet, so you can run a good 15 feet with no problem.  I have never owned another set so I cannot compare, but they seem pretty durable, bend nicely, and so far have worked well.

These are just some of the network-related tools you can find at The Home Depot.  And as I mentioned in the beginning, no doubt you can find all of the tools mentioned in this article for cheaper, especially online.  However, if you are working a tight timeline and need something quick, you cannot beat the convenience factor.

I thought it would be no big deal to call-in and leave a message, especially as that is what we promote on the Stockcarzone podcast, listener feedback. Boy was I wrong.  Leaving feedback via voicemail is easier said than done.  I definitely have a new appreciation for all the Stockcarzone listeners, and anyone else who puts themselves out there and leaves feedback.  Not only did I feel rigid when I called-in, I ended up sounding rigid.

I was so nervous.  So much so, that Adam had a little fun with my call.  So to highlight my 15 seconds of DSC fame, at the bottom of this post you can listen to the clip from DSC episode #530.

Prior to the rollout, I was curious about what kind of portable media players I would find in employees’ workstations.  Instead, I saw nothing but CD-based listening systems, almost like it was taboo to have any music in digital format.

There were several in-house copy rooms where CDs were pressed with warnings about how the CD could not be played in a computer; however, I did not find one portable media player or charger hooked up in anyone’s cubicle.  And unless it was an office, most employees appeared to use portable CD players at their desks.

As to the floors in the buildings, no doubt, top floors are for top dogs.  Elevators are all based on security clearance.  You cannot go up unless you have access.  The bottom levels contained some record executives, but most were promotion and creative types.  The mid-floors seem to house more record execs, but the furniture and sizes of the offices were much nicer and bigger.  The layouts mainly had a receptionist outside of each office, and this same pattern went around the entire floor. 

Many of the executive offices had the world time zone clocks in their offices, wall-mounted plasma TV with a killer sound system, and signed memorabilia and gold records on the walls.  Some even had their own stocked refrigerators.

Above that floor were legal and large corner offices.  During these installs, we were strictly monitored and let into each office individually by a security guard.  The top floor was completely off-limits and we were told it was going to be completed by the in-house IT employees.  

As to marketing, the record business definitely has a lot of creative ideas, that was not lacking, bad or good. One promotional idea I kept seeing on multiple desks were for mobile advertisements.  If you have not seen them, they are like billboards on wheels.  They cruise around specific areas as a form of advertising. I noticed several quotes for these mobile advertisements for several artists’ promotional packages.  I also noticed a unique mockup in another marketing office which was a door-hanger CD.  This idea may seem antiquated, but these days with geo-strategic data available, this might work in targeted areas.  I would almost call it urban geo-strategic advertising.

Finally, a common theme I found among desks were contest agreements related to radio stations giving away free concert tickets.  These agreements stated that the record companies would provide the concert tickets, whereas if needed, the radio stations provided the transportation and/or hotel stay for contest winners. 

Overall, it was an install I will never forget.  It was definitely surreal to see gold records mounted on office walls, fan mail laying on executives’ tables, and speed dial numbers of artists and stars.  The record industry marketing machine may be in full swing, but at the same time, there was this stale feeling that they are way behind the curve when it comes to technology and digital music.