DIY Guide to Tech Maintenance and Repair for Small Business Owners

Tech-savvy small business owners who lack the budget to hire full-time IT staff can keep their overheads low by handling tech maintenance themselves.

When a tech problem or repair is too technical to do yourself, there are contractors who can help, but they aren’t needed for everyday maintenance tasks.

You can teach yourself the skills that you need to become a well-rounded IT support person.

In this article, we’ll cover seven common IT support tasks that any tech-savvy person can do themselves.

Most of these tasks are straightforward, but a couple will require additional research and good instructions. If you have the time and a bit of a tech background, they shouldn’t be difficult to learn.

1. Clean and Maintain Computers and Equipment

It’s easy to skip this easy task when your days are busy, but taking the time to clean your computers, printers, and network equipment at least once a month will extend their service life.

The two biggest environmental hazards for electronics are excessive heat and dust.

That means they need good ventilation, which you can ensure by clearing dust and debris from their ventilation ports, filters, and cooling fans.

Dust can also lead to overheating when it collects on circuit boards. It’s a good idea to open the computer’s case and gently vacuum out the dust that accumulates on exposed electronics to prevent that from happening.

Make sure you use special vacuuming tubes that won’t cause static electricity when you do this.

2. Make Routine Repairs Yourself

When electronics fail, it’s often an uncomplicated task to replace them. Monitors, printers, and other peripherals have straightforward cables, and buying equivalent replacements doesn’t require a degree.

When the internal components of your computers fail, the most difficult part of repairing them is diagnosing which component needs to be replaced.

The task of replacing hard drives, RAM, or video cards is also simple if you do your research and take care to follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

A computer breakdown can be complicated and requires an experienced technician to diagnose, but many computer repairs aren’t difficult to analyze.

There are free diagnostic tools that run tests on a malfunctioning computer. They’ll determine whether the problem is hardware or software, and they’re usually able to pinpoint the exact piece of hardware that’s failed.

If not, then it’s time to take it to a computer repair specialist.

3. Install New Workstations and Network Hardware

When it’s time to upgrade your workstations or network appliances, it’s often simple enough to unbox and install the equipment yourself rather than hiring a contractor to handle it.

The exception to this is when you need to expand your network infrastructure significantly. You’ll be better served by a network expert in that case.

That doesn’t mean you can install a network router or a computer system yourself, though.

Most computer and network equipment come with detailed instructions, and the cabling is self-explanatory.

4. Keep Your Software Updated

One of the most common reasons why companies fall prey to hackers is that they weren’t keeping their software up to date.

Software vendors like Google and Microsoft push out security patches weekly that eliminate bugs that hackers are exploiting.

If you set up your software to automatically download and install these updates, you’ll save yourself potential security headaches in the future.

If automatic updates aren’t available for a program, then you’ll need to add it to your schedule.

5. Choose a Good Anti-Malware Tool

You should consider hiring a contractor if you need to create a detailed security plan, and that’s especially true if you handle customer payments or provide services to regulated industries.

With that said, you can make your business’s private network more secure by doing a couple of things yourself.

One is to select a robust anti-malware vendor and install their software on all your workstations. It’ll block most threats like phishing and ransomware that your employees may encounter.

The second thing you can do is research the most common ways employees are fooled into downloading malware and provide training to everyone in your office.

The topic isn’t that technical. Everyone just needs to be aware of the common tricks that hackers employ and exercise good judgment.

6. Learn How to Troubleshoot Software Problems

Often computer performance problems aren’t caused by faulty hardware.

Instead, computers tend to slowly build up small software glitches that eventually snowball into a major issue like a recurring system crash or lost files.

The trouble can start with system files in the computer’s operating system, and you can often discover the best remedy by searching Google for recurring error messages or codes.

7. Provide Software Training to Your Employees

You’d be surprised how much a company’s productivity depends on its employees learning the advanced features of business software like Microsoft Office.

Whether it’s Excel sheet formulas or how to create a macro, these advanced skills can sometimes save your employees hours of manual labor.

The best way to bring them up to speed is to create training sessions that share power tips and give employees some practice using them.

If you aren’t an advanced user of your company’s business software, you can usually find low-cost skill-building classes online, and popular applications have dozens of books written about them.

With some research and a little investment, you can put together a training program on a shoestring budget.

Final Thoughts

These tips represent some of the most common tasks that IT support staff would handle for you that don’t require a degree to perform.

Any tech-savvy person can research these topics and handle such everyday chores for a small business office.

When your company grows too large for one person to support, chances are that it’ll have the revenue needed to hire full-time IT staff.

Until you reach that point, you can avoid hiring outside contractors for all but the most technical tasks.