|
Why
You Should Have Microscope FAQs
(All
your questions answered!)
Q. I'm
an experienced PC technician, why would need a diagnostic
tool, I can always figure out what the problem is?
Q. What does Operating System
independent actually mean?
Q. What difference does O/S independence
make to me in the 'real world'?
Q. I have network diagnostic
software - why would I just use this?
Q. What about testing 'Memory'?
Q. What hardware can Microscope
actually test?
Q. What's different with Microscope's
low level format feature?
Q. How can I use Microscope
to 'recover' data?
Q. How can I use Microscope to repair
hard drives?
Q. How does Microscope
handle viruses?
Q. What about benchmark and batch testing?
Q. I don’t do hardware
repair, only software or I have a maintenance contract so
how would Microscope be of use to me?
Q. Parts are so cheap nowadays - I
just swap out them out and can usually find the problem pretty
fast - why do I need Microscope to do what I can do myself?
Q. I can't really see
how I or my technicians can incorporate this into the day
to day and get any real benefit from Microscope.
Q. I don’t know if it’s
the right time for me to invest in these tools.
Q. You claim that Microscope
saves time and can make money for the user - how is that the
case?
Q. Why would I choose it over other
diagnostic tools?
Q. Microscope does sound
very comprehensive but how easy is it to use?
Q. How do I know Microscope will actually
work for me in the ‘real world’?
Q. How does the licensing
for Microscope work?
Q. What ‘guarantee’ do
I have with Microscope?
Q.
I'm an experienced
PC technician, why would need a diagnostic tool, I can always
figure out what the problem is.
A.
Microscope is NOT intended to replace the skill
and expertise of the technician who uses it!
But the bottom line is that it DOES have features that DO
enhance the service he delivers and that he would not be able
to offer to his customers otherwise.
Microscope is far more than just
a diagnostic tool – it’s a PRE repair and a POST
repair service facility that gives FAST, ACCURATE diagnostic
and quality control features. It takes the guess work and
the time out of the PC repair/maintenance/building business,
thereby increasing profitability and, due to customer satisfaction,
leads to more repeat and new business through word of mouth!
It gives the PC Technician a complete SERVICE
arm – he can quickly and accurately confirm and pinpoint
suspected faults – WITHOUT OPENING UP THE BOX
– and once the repair is complete he can run a set of
tests to ensure that the PC is 100% BEFORE sending it back
to the customer – and this is something that no PC technician
can guarantee no matter how experienced he is!!
Q.
What does Operating System independent actually mean?
A.
Microscope has its own operating system, written in assembler
and C language, so it does not need to use DOS or Windows
to do its job.
Q.
What difference does O/S independence make to me in the 'real
world'?
When you boot Micro-Scope it
bypasses DOS, and the operating system and interrogates the
hardware directly, and therefore it won’t lie to you,
or give you false information when you’re testing computers
– giving you accurate test results.
An example of this would be a
simple request for information, such as CPU speed. If
an application running under Windows wants this data it must
ask Windows for it, which will then return the value that’s
been set in CMOS. This may or may not be an accurate
value, and certainly won’t tell you if the CPU chip
is being over-clocked. With this and any other system
information, Windows also won’t actually tell you (or
the diagnostic) whether the data is coming from a direct measure
of a hardware device (almost never), or from a reading of
the CMOS or other stored information (almost always).
On the other hand, MicroScope lets you have it both ways,
and tells you which is which.
Bascially there is no way for
an application to get an accurate benchmark of CPU speed when
the OS is allocating CPU time as it sees fit between the diagnostic
application and every other process that might be running
in the background.
Or, how could you know if a disk
failure was due to the drive mechanism or the controller?
Windows and DOS will report the same result in either case,
and there is no way to separate the two while looking through
the OS.
In the past there have been other
Diagnostic Tools (some more expensive, some cheaper than Microscope)
that have claimed to be Operating System Independent, but
actually worked through DOS or booted through some form of
DOS, or even (heaven forbid) Windows. Although some
were independent of Windows they were not completely Operating
System Independent and were not as accurate as Microscope.
More recently, as DOS machines have become
a rarity, some companies have attempted to overcome this problem
by releasing software that utilise other forms of Windows
or stripped down versions of Windows XP such as WinPE, or
forms of the new Windows Vista Program. There are a
few variations on this theme, but this is commonly the case.
Micro2000 does not claim to be an expert
on the hundreds of different software on the market, but care
should be taken in investigating and comparing such “High
Level Programming” Language based OS’s to the
Microscope OS, as they are not even similar.
Q.
I have network diagnostic software - why would I just use
this?
A.
Most of the reasons for this are related to
OS independence, however another reason is that hardware problems
of any consequence will normally interfere with network communications.
If you can even talk to another system over the network, you
have just checked out about 95% of what you can check out
over a network. Any testing more thorough than that will require
local access.
Not being able to do in-depth
hardware testing over a network is just an extreme case of
the truism that you can't do accurate hardware testing under
a general-purpose OS such as Windows, DOS or Linux, because
these programs are designed to run the hardware in the background,
insulated from the user and applications.
However, using Microscope in
a network environment CAN get you straight to the route of
the problem, IF it is hardware related!
See here for real life
example:
Network
Issues
Q.
What about testing 'Memory'?
A.
Most people we talk to who used DOS diagnostics are aware
that those utilities are often inaccurate when testing memory,
and are actually unable to test certain areas of the memory.
Normally the OS assigns a block
of memory to an application, which can play around within
that block by using logical addressing. The application
knows where specific contents are relative to the other contents
of the block, but it doesn’t know where the block is
physically located in memory, which makes it very difficult
to know just which chip or module is at fault when an error
occurs.
To complicate things even more,
most systems use a cache, which stores the RAM contents being
currently used by the CPU in order to provide faster access
to those contents. When a memory test writes to memory
and then reads back different data, did the error occur in
the RAM or in the cache?
Microscope will test all Base,
Extended, Expanded and all Cache memory. On the memory test
it will tell you the beginning and ending address, the block
that is being tested, and the segment within the block that
failed.
This way you know that bank Zero,
module one of SIMM is the failure. Because you did that test
outside of DOS you know it’s a hardware failure and
not a software one. Because memory pricing fluctuates it’s
absolutely essential to find out which memory chip fails instead
of swapping parts.
Q.
What hardware can Microscope actually test?
A. Click here for
a complete overview of what Microscope can do.
Microscope
Tech Specs
Q.
What's different with Microscope's low level format feature?
A.
With Micro-Scope you can do a true factory low-level format
on any drive type, regardless of the size, make or model,
even SCSI and IDE drives. Also if track Zero is damaged it
will relocate track zero and fix those drives.
The difference between Micro-Scope
low-level format and other diagnostics low-level format is.
A. Other diagnostics use
a bios call to perform there low level Format routine. This
routine is the reason why drive manufactures print on the
side of the drives (DO NOT PERFORM A LOW LEVEL FORMAT. SEND
BACK TO MANUFACTURE)
B. Bios low-level formats
only have the capability to get rid of the indexing system.
The information can still be recovered. So for security purposes
this is not good. Not to mention that the old registries are
still on the drive. This is what will cause the drive to crash
again.
C. Micro-Scope's low-level
format is a factory style low-level format. Micro Scope can
first do a secure wipe of the drive by writing zeros to the
entire drive not being limited to any partitions that other
utility cannot see.
D. Then to reinitialize
the drive back to the factory specifications. Micro-Scope
will communicate with the drives command Register where the
information exist to bring the drive back to the factory specs
and if there is a virus on track zero. Micro-Scope will relocate
track zero.
The low-level format routine
is what got Micro 2000 a GSA contract with the USA government.
The ability to declassify a hard drive.
Q.
How can I use Microscope to 'recover' data?
A.
Most technicians know of software that with a push of the
button will automatically recover data.
The problem with these types
of programs is that you only get one chance to recover the
data. If you run one of the automatic programs it's a 50/50
chance it will work and once it's run, that's it. If the program
does not work the first time, you do not get another chance.
The data is destroyed.
With Micro-Scope YOU DON'T TAKE
THAT RISK!
So, while Micro-Scope will not
do an automatic data recovery, it has a fix disc editor that
will allow you to display and edit any section of the drive.
Even hidden partitions that other programs could never see.
Advanced search functions will allow you to define a physical
range to searches for information on the drive. Including
being able to create image files off of a hidden partition
called the COMMAND REGISTER where you can find all the factory
information like the master boot record.
These image files can be mirror
on to other sectors to rebuild the damaged part of the drive.
So the technician does not have to know how to write FAT 32
or NTSF file structures. Also Micro-Scope is not limited to
the 65,000 cylinders.
What Micro-Scope does provide
is a disk editor that allows you to scan, display (and change
if necessary) any portion of the hard drive contents including
hidden partitions and sectors. In skilled hands, it is possible
to rebuild the FAT and perform other recovery functions without
risking the loss of all data.
Q.
How can I use Microscope to repair hard drives?
A.
Because Micro-Scope does not use DOS or the O/S on your PC
you can repair hard drives that normally would not be possible.
Let's say you'll get a bad sector
on your drive and get the report - 'HDC controller error'
SECTOR NOT FOUND or even BAD SECTOR ERROR.
How can you test a specific sector
of a hard drive if the operating system (in conjunction with
the drive controller and the BIOS) decides where the data
will go on the drive?
And if the operation fails, how
can we determine if the drive mechanism or the controller
was at fault? All the application knows is that it hands
data off to the OS for disk storage and then gets it back
in altered form or not at all.
Using Microscope to low-level
format these disks can bring those drives back to life. Even
drives that have been damaged, or improperly formatted by
a DOS base program.
Q.
How does Microscope handle viruses?
A.
There is a fixed disk sector editor in Micro-Scope that allows
you to view and modify any data anywhere on the surface of
the platter – even those reserved areas that are normally
off limits to DOS utilities, like track Zero, for example.
That is very handy if you have to do any repair or reconstruction
of the Master Boot Record or Partition Tables, perhaps due
to a virus contamination.
In fact one of the menu items
in Micro-Scope is called 'Rebuild Master Boot' and it is a
completely automatic function. We include this function since
about 80% of the common viruses attach themselves to the Master
Boot Record.
Micro-Scope does a destructive
low level format, just on Sector 0 to wipe out the virus and
then it automatically writes a DOS Master Boot Record in its
place. The entire procedure takes less than a second and provides
for instant access to the data on the drive.
Q.
What about benchmark and batch testing?
A.
Microscope allows continuous or pass-bound running of any
or all tests and automatically generates a full diagnostic
report which can be saved to a disk, output to a printer or
displayed on screen. An on screen and audio alert notifies
you when tests are finished. Batch test can be loaded separately
at boot, allowing the disk to be removed to test multiple
systems simultaneously.
The benchmarks in Micro-Scope
are based on the Real Time Clock (RTC), and not on making
a comparison to another system like other utilities on the
market. Because of our direct hardware access we are not subject
to significant I/O delay introduced by the BIOS.
You can set up your own tests
or use the ones already in Microscope - and then leave it
to do the work!
See here for a real life
example:
Quality
Control
Q.
I don’t do hardware repair, only software
or I have a maintenance contract so how would Microscope be
of use to me?
A.
About 40% of the people who use our products do not actually
repair computer hardware or fix in house. But often the software
support person is in a situation where there is a problem
at a site and it is unclear whether it is hardware or software
related. So, even if the PC is under warranty or a maintenance
contact you NEED to know where the fault lies – otherwise
you’re caught in the middle.
Microscope will accurately assess
whether the problem is software or hardware related –
and so enables you to get to the route of the problem much
faster, reducing downtime of the PC.
Click here for real life
examples:
In
House Diagnostics - Reducing Downtime
Software
or Hardware?
Q.
Parts are so cheap nowadays - I just swap out them out and
can usually find the problem pretty fast - why do I need Microscope
to do what I can do myself?
A.
What if there is more than one problem? Let’s say you
swap out an obvious problem part, close the box up and find
that these is STILL a problem – or WORSE STILL you get
a call a few days/weeks later to say the problem is still
there?
With Microscope you can run Burn
In tests to check for intermittent faults BEFORE you finish
the job, and that way you KNOW that the PC is 100% before
you turn it back over to the customer.
See here for some real
life examples:
Intermittent
Faults
Customer
Confidence
Q.
I can't really see how I or my technicians can incorporate
this into the day to day and get any real benefit from Microscope.
A.
On the following link you can see what just
some of our existing customers say about the tools –
these customers are all professional technicians who swear
by the tools.
We often find that when someone
says that they wouldn't be able to use it it’s because
they actually don’t know enough about it – which
is a totally different thing!
The point is that we have been
in business for 15 years, our tools are recommended by industry
experts and we have over 40,000 professional PC technicians
all over the world using the tools every day – so it
just doesn't make sense that your company wouldn’t be
able to benefit from these tools too!
This product IS for you because
it benefits you. It not only helps you to get to the route
of the problem faster, in ALL situations, but it protects
your hard earned money by reducing time spent going back on
jobs you won’t get paid for, or jobs that just take
too long to charge the customer full rate on.
Existing
Users Tips and Tricks
Q.
I don’t know if it’s the right time for me to
invest in these tools.
A.
Making that decision is like playing football – you
can’t make a goal by sitting on the bench! You have
all the facts and information about the tools – so the
only thing you have to decide on is whether you want to start
benefiting from these tools NOW and give yourself THAT EDGE,
or whether you want to go on doing it all manually and get
overtaken by the competition out there.
See a real life example:
When
to Invest in Microscope
Q.
You claim that Microscope saves time and can make money for
the user - how is that the case?
A.
It ONLY takes about 10 hours saved in diagnostic times for
Microscope to have paid for itself and that’s an UNDER
estimate of what you will get back from these tools, over
and OVER again.
See here for some real
life examples:
Saves
Time
Problem
Found in 10 Minutes!
Getting
it Right First Time
Lets
You Get on with Other Jobs
Can
Help Get You New Customers!
What
Microscope Gives You!
Q.
Why would I choose it over other diagnostic tools?
A.
There’s actually no real way to compare Microscope with
other tools as it is operating system independent.
You are a professional
technician and you need a professional tool – and you
need the best tools that you can get to ensure that the diagnostic
test results are accurate - you cannot afford to waste time
diagnosing PCs or getting inaccurate results for tools that
do NOT access the hardware directly and by going through the
O/S CANNOT get the level of accuracy that Microscope does,
SO WHY WOULD YOU USE SOMETHING ELSE?
Let’s
just break this down in terms of ACTUAL cost –
Let’s say you have a customer
that has a bad cylinder on a hard drive and you can’t
access the drive. So you reload the customer’s software
on their PC, reinstall their drives, games or whatever application
programs that are on that drive. This process, if you are
lucky, will take you about 45 minutes to do.
With Microscope you can format
a cylinder or head at a time INSTEAD of having to reload the
software. This process takes about 2 seconds to do. This way
you get the job done in about 5 minutes instead of spending
an hour on it.
If that customer had a warranty
on their PC, you just saved yourself a lot of time and money.
It this is a new customer you can still charge him for an
hour of your time, and he is happy because he got his PC fixed
quickly and you recovered his data. This inevitably will lead
to repeat business. Just imagine how nice it would be to fix
a drive like that in minutes.
Another example
–
If you have 20 drives on the
shelf and you fix fifteen of them, you’ve already paid
for Microscope!
However, let’s say the
customer has a warranty on a drive. You could spend an hour
taking the drive out, putting a new drive in, reinstalling
all of the software, going back to the office, packing up
the drive, and paying shipping to send it back to the manufacturer.
The worst part about this is because it was a warranty repair,
you made NOTHING! If you have Microscope you could have fixed
that in minutes!
Remember -
It ONLY takes about 10
hours saved in diagnostic times for Microscope to have paid
for itself and that’s an UNDER estimate of what you
will get back from these tools, over and OVER again.
Q.
Microscope does sound very comprehensive but how easy is it
to use?
A.
Very! Check out our 'online' guide on how to do basic Microscope
tests.
Microscope
is Easy to Use!
Q.
How do I know Microscope will actually work for me in the
‘real world’?
A.
Click on the following link to find out how those who use
Microscope are saving time, and MAKING money using Microscope.
Users
Tips
Q. How does
the licensing for Microscope work?
A.
The licencing for Microscope is very simple. It is a one
off, non 'recurring' fee that you pay for the
use of the software. For this you receive the complete product
on CD with the User Manual, Loop Back Plugs all in a handy
carry case (see here for more info: MicroScope).
This license allows you to use Microscope
on as many PCs as you like over as many years
as you like, and you are not obliged to purchase
'upgrade' licenses or 'annual renewals' - the cost for the
use of the software is what you pay at the time of purchase
and nothing more.
THERE ARE NO HIDDEN COSTS!
In order to keep up with the changes in architechture
every 18 months or so we release an updated version of the
software, which not only supports any new hardware but also
includes new features and added utilities making each new
version that more comprehensive and keeping you up to date
with the industry.
HOWEVER - it is NOT obigatory
to buy the updates - and you can go on using
your original Microscope software for as long as you like
(although most users like to get the latest versions as the
cost is minimal and the benefits of having the software has
already paid for itself many times over!)
Q.
What ‘guarantee’ do I have
with Microscope?
Click here to see!
Guarantee
|
