Maintaining Your IT System

1. Suppliers and Warranties

Start planning your maintenance strategy before buying your equipment.

Cheap PCs can be a false economy, especially if they are needed to support key applications. Budget PCs often contain cheaper components with a short lifespan.

Ensure any new purchase is compatible with your other equipment (such as printers) and try to standardise on hardware and software.

1.1 If you have no in-house experience, choose a supplier that offers at least one year's on-site maintenance.

• If this is not standard, ask how much on-site cover would cost. If the cost is below 15 per cent of the purchase price, it is probably a good investment.

1.2 If you already have some experience with PCs, but have never opened one up to fit new parts, a return-to-base maintenance deal may be suitable.

• Make sure you have enough computers to keep your business working if you have to send one off for repair.
• If you have to pay carriage charges, the total cost of return-to-base maintenance may be as high as an on-site deal.
• Critical hardware like network servers should always have on-site cover.

1.3 If your employees have proven experience of simple repairs, paying for extra cover may not be worthwhile.

• Check that opening PCs to add or replace components will not invalidate the warranty - and do not overrate your employees' capabilities.
• Once the standard warranty has expired, or if software or network problems occur, a good relationship with a local repairer may be worth more than extended hardware cover from the manufacturer.

1.4 Pick a supplier that will give you the original disks and licences for pre-installed software.

• Some software can be installed over a network and updated automatically. This makes maintenance simpler.

1.5 Upon delivery, check equipment carefully.

• Do not install anything until missing items have been supplied.
• If you have room keep the packaging. It makes returning equipment easier.

1.6 A PC is most likely to demonstrate a fault when it is first powered up.

• The most common cause of failure is components coming adrift during transit.
• If your new PC will not start, check all cables and connections and try again.
• If the problem persists, contact the supplier for a replacement.