Info/Hardware Spotlight(Basic Computer Tips & How to)

Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 8:55 pm

Thanks a lot Souldragun, excellent sticky. Very informative.

Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 6:37 am

Absolutely top class sticky dude Smile

Really is worth reading it Smile

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 4:50 am

Good, informative and understandable tutorials and tips. Although I must add that doing a re-install of an OS over an existing one is never a good idea, because of cluttering the drive even before you started.

Doing a fresh install is best, but then one must emphasize (and this sounds contradictory) that one first must delete the "C" partition, to then make a new "C" partition in the unallocated space...

Secondly, when making back-ups of, for example, your complete 'documents & settings' folder, make sure that you first tick the "show hidden files, folders and drives" (in any folder, hit "Tools" in the top taskbar, then "folder options" and choose the "view" tab. In that 'view' tab, go through the list of alphabetically arranged possibilities and tick "show hidden...").

If you don't show hidden stuff, you won't back up, for example, .pst files or Firefox profiles or whatever, because those are in the "Application Data" folder, which is a hidden folder and doesn't get copied under 'normal' circumstances. Just so that you know Wink

Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 2:23 am

wow this is so cool, typical of my luck though, just 3 days ago I made a
subscription to which magazine for a self help computer guide although it covers a wider range of articles concerning computers & internet,
it's so much better when it's free,
once again I am convinced of IH being an invaluable source of useful/helpful information,
top marks for this one soldragun,

it goes to show this is something people are prepared to pay for.

I thought of something else that should be be put here in this thread,
there are so many computers out there that die unnecessarily because of dirt & dust getting inside machines I thought this would be invaluable information,

A GUIDE TO THE PHYSICAL MAINTENANCE OF YOUR PC

this is very simple as long as you remember this simple technique,
be as minimalistic as possible when removing cables etc,
only remove cables etc if it is just too much of a hindrance whilst cleaning, most of the cleaning can be done with most of the hardware in place.

when cleaning out your machine of the build up of dirt/dust that clogs up your pc & makes it run sluggishly with high cpu usage etc.
(must be done on a regular basis, at least once every 6 months)

1) shut down your pc & unplug everything.

2) remove all of your casing covers.

3) you need a small clean paintbrush & a vacuum cleaner with small attachments,
eg: fine nozzle & brush attachment to reach into those tight restricted areas making a note of where all the plugs & cables came from,
you may find that they are already marked with corresponding numbers on the plugs & the sockets they plug into,

if you find that's not the case they may be colour coded to the corresponding sockets or they may be a certain shape plug which will only fit into a matching shaped socket,
if not get some colored maker pens & color code each one or number it as you unplug it,

4) take out your powerpack, this is your main internal power supply,
it's a square box (you can't miss it) it may have one, sometimes two internal fans of it's own,
the screws that hold it in place are virtually always at the top rear of your machine, most likely four cross head screws,
it's a good idea at this point to have a small tray with small compartments for putting each set of screws separately so that you don't get them mixed up,
unplug all the cable leads from the powerpack,(don't forget to make a note where they came from or mark them)
you can now remove the powerpack from machine,

I expect at this point you will be amazed at how much dirt & dust there is
& you may find it hard to believe that your beloved comp ran at all,

5) now you've got some cleaning to do,
most likely there will be 4-6 cross head screws holding the powerpack casing together, remove these & put the screws in your tray,
you may find that the casing is also held together with metal tabs that slide to lock into place or maybe on some older machines the tabs may have to be bent over to release the casing so you may have to pry the casing apart, don't worry if you damage the casing, it shouldn't make any difference when you come to refit it,
now you can get at everything you need to clean,
first just brush everything you can reach to loosen the dust & dirt,
turn it upside down & give it a bit of a shake, brush the fan blades to get rid of any dirt there you can remove the fan to clean it if necessary, just remember how to put it back, don't worry too much about any dirt you can't reach,
you're done here, rebuild the powerpack & put to one side,
we will come back to it later.

6) now the easiest part, if you have a small enough paintbrush you can brush off all your mainboard components while they are still in place,
brush off everything that you can see,
pick up your machine gently & turn it upside down to gently shake out all the loose dirt & dust, then go over the whole machine vacuuming any bits you've missed,

7) clean the cpu cooling fins (you can't miss them)
normally it will have it's own fan screwed simply on top of the fins undo all four screws on the fan,
put the the screws in your tray,
depending on how much space you have to work in you may need to unplug the fan to keep it out of the way,(don't forget to mark it)
now simply brush between the cooling fins to remove the dirt,
when your happy with that, vacuum off the fins and any other loose dirt you can see, again turn it upside down to gently shake out all the loose dirt & dust, you're done cleaning, replace the fan back on the cooling fins,you will probably notice that the screws on the fan screw directly
in between the cooling fins,(this is normal)
make sure the fan is plugged in the corresponding socket
oh one other thing, when turning your machine upside down take care that you haven't left anything loose cooling fan/screws etc,

now because you've been minimalistic in the amount of hardware that you have unplugged you should only have about 5-6 different items to plug back in, once you've done this procedure a couple of times there's nothing to it,

8 ) refit the powerpack using the 4-6 screws that you removed,
then reconnect the plugs into the corresponding sockets, almost done,

9) refit all of your panels to your machine & plug everything back in as
it was,

10) now your ready to start up, press your start button,
you should hear a single beep from your machine,
if you hear 2 beeps cut the power to your machine immediately
this indicates something is not right, there should only be 5-6 plugs that have been pulled out previously, so check back to make sure they are all in the corresponding sockets that you have marked & try restarting again,
you should notice a significant increase in the performance of your machine, maybe a little slow to start because your machine can sense the changes,

here's a couple of the signs to look out for if your pc has been struggling to cope with the demands made upon it by the operating system,
on your powerpack look for brown/stains burn marks,
this shows that your powerpack has been overheating & the same goes for the cpu cooling fins overheating, clearing the dust & dirt out here will help a lot,
if you ever have to remove the cpu cooling fins it's always a good idea to put fresh cpu paste on to make a good strong contact,

and that's it basically, I hope that some of you find this useful.
kilo.

Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 12:36 am

Nice contribution bro Cool

On the smiley bug front...
You need to just put a space in after the "8"... ie. 8 )
Otherwise it's read as the cool smiley which is the number 8 and the close parenthesis (bracket) symbol, if ye know what I mean...
now where did I put that hoover, phillips screwdriver and small paintbrush?! Razz

Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 10:59 am

Istolealoafofbread wrote:

Nice contribution bro Cool

On the smiley bug front...
You need to just put a space in after the "8"... ie. 8 )
Otherwise it's read as the cool smiley which is the number 8 and the close parenthesis (bracket) symbol, if ye know what I mean...
now where did I put that hoover, phillips screwdriver and small paintbrush?! Razz

ahh I see, thanks for that bro & thanks for the rep. Cool

8 )