SCROLL FOR TIPS
BACKUPS
CLEANING YOUR PC
CPU (Central Processing Unit)
ESD (Electrostatic Discharge)
HARD DRIVES
MEMORY
OVERHEATING
POWERSUPPLY
POWER SURGES
RAM
USB / 2.0
VGA
VIRUSES and MALWARE
ESD
- ELECTROSTATIC DISCHARGE
HUMIDITY
EDS becomes a more serious problem on low humidity days
when the lack of moisture permits a more rapid static
charge build-up.
VOLTAGE LEVELS
Component damage increase with the voltage level or charge.
MATERIALS
Common plastics and other synthetic materials cause the
most trouble because theyre insulators and prevent the
free-flow of electricity by trapping the charge on the
surface.
YOU
You pose the greatest danger to sensitive electronic materials
because the human body can generate the biggest static
charge of anything likely to come near these devices.
For example, on a dry day, we can generate a static field
of more than 100 volts by just the slight raising of an
arm. Its not unlikely that during normal, everyday activity
at an unprotected workbench, you can easily generate 6,000
volts or more.
FACTS
These five little known facts about ESD can make a big
difference in its elimination:
1. ESD often cant be seen, heard or
felt.
2. Devices can be stressed or damaged
even without physical contact.
3. Smaller, miniaturized devices are
sensitive to 50 volts or less.
4. ESD problems can occur to devises
at anytime even after they are installed on circuit
cards.
5. Everyone involved in the handling,
installing, test, shipping and storing of electronic devices
or boards must take preventative measures against the
threat of ESD
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OVERHEATING
Heat is a vicious enemy of a computer.
The large computers of yesterday were kept in special climate-controlled
rooms because computer chips and other mechanical components
had to be kept cool. While today's personal computers don't
need such extraordinary care, they should be kept at a normal
temperature and never be left in a car in the summer heat
or in direct sunlight in high temperatures.
Today's computers have built-in cooling fans that keep the
computer from overheating during normal use. If your computer's
cooling fan malfunctions, the computer will overheat and
cause irreparable damage. Keeping the computer fan in tiptop
shape is fairly easy. Just follow these simple steps:
Keep Cool Tips
1. Do not block any air vents on your PC's case. You can
also extend the life of your computer monitor by giving
it a little breathing room. Don't block the air vents on
your monitor by piling papers or books on top of it.
2. Most fans are on the back of the computer, so position
the computer a few inches from the wall.
3. Keep draperies and other fabric away from the fan.
4. Keep the fan clean and free of debris.
5. Keep dogs, cats, and other hairy pets away from the computer.
6. Keep your computer in a clean, well-ventilated area.
7. Open your case once or twice a year and use a computer
vacuum or can of compressed air to clean out built up dust
and debris. Do this more often if you have a cat or dog
that sheds a lot.
8. The room where your system is kept should never be too
hot. How hot is too hot? If it's uncomfortable for you,
it's probably uncomfortable for your PC as well.
9. Don't put the CPU unit of the computer on the floor.
This is one suggestion that even I don't always follow.
Yet, if this is feasible, your computer will accumulate
less dust and dirt if kept off the floor
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POWER
SURGES
WHAT CAUSES IT?
Power surges occur when
the flow of electricity is interrupted, then started again,
or when something sends electricity flowing back into
the system. Surges can range from five or ten volts when
you turn on your hair dryer to thousands of volts if lightning
strikes a transformer. Internal power surges More than
half of household power surges are internal. These happen
dozens of times of day, usually when devices with motors
start up or shut off, diverting electricity to and from
other appliances. Refrigerators and air conditioners are
the biggest culprits, but smaller devices like hair dryers
and power tools can also cause problems. External power
surges An external power surge, stemming from outside
your home, is most commonly caused by a tree limb touching
a power line, lightning striking utility equipment or
a small animal getting into a transformer. Surges can
also occur when the power comes back on after an outage,
and can even come into your home through telephone and
cable TV lines.
HOW TO PREVENT IT!
BUY an UPS - Uninteruptable
Power Supply. A normal surge protector is sometimes not
enough! This is not only is a surge supressor, but it
keeps a charge inside an internal battery for when the
power goes out, or you have a brownout. The devices plugged
into the UPS will continue to function while the electricity
is out. They vary in size and in the amount of voltage
they can handle. Contact your nearest Computer Service
Center for more details.
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HARD
DRIVES
Hard drives are good for two things;
storing data and crashing.
Since the technology's existed, hard drive users have
been frustrated by the inevitability of drive failure.
And, sadly, there's no way to stop your drive from eventually
hitting a wall and breaking down. However, you can slow
the process down. There are a few major causes of hard
drive damage, and if you know what they are and how to
avoid them, you can make sure that your drive lasts as
long as it's supposed to.
Vibration
The construction of a hard drive is incredibly sensitive;
the drive's heads (which read the information) float a
micron above the platters (which hold the data), and when
a drive is subjected to a large amount of vibration, the
heads can be offset, causing the most literal version
of a crash. To avoid this, you'll want to make sure that
your computer's on the ground, away from unnecessary vibration.
Avoid using computer desks that suspend the tower in a
way that can take on any sort of vibration from bumping
into the desk.
Heat
Heat problems can cause the delicate electronics of a
hard drive to fail, causing a head crash or further problems.
Make sure that your computer has adequate ventilation
and that it's not located in an enclosed space where heat
may build up. Make sure all of your computer's fans are
working at all times, as well. Many motherboards will
also let you view the internal temperature of your computer
from the BIOS or Windows. Heat is a very big problem for
office hard drives, as management often prefers to put
towers in aesthetically pleasing cabinets that can cause
heat to build up.
Static Electricity - ESD
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BACKUPs!
Even though most of us know that we need to do regular
backups, the fact is that many, if not most of us, don't
do it. So let's take a moment to review why it's important
to perform these backups on a regular basis. Here are
six of the more popular ones:
The Human Eraser Have you ever reformatted
a hard disk when you meant to format a floppy? Have you
ever typed "Y" when you meant "N" and then it was too
late? Have you ever overwritten a file by mistake? How
about installing software you later found you really did
not want? Today's computers can do a lot of damage in
a very short period of time. Backup systems can save you
hours, days or months of trying to reconstruct your valuable
data. Before you do any important system change, such
as adding hardware or software, remember to backup before
you proceed.
Hard disk failure Mean Times Between
Failure (MTBFs) have improved dramatically in the past
several years for all peripherals. But so has data capacity
and the amount you could lose if your disk fails. The
problem is you never know when a failure will occur. And,
according to Murphy's Law, the loss will occur at the
worst possible time. Backup systems give you immediate
and automatic protection from unpredictable disk failures.
Virus protection and spyware protection
Some unscrupulous individuals continue to write viruses
that innocently hide in shareware programs and all throughout
the Internet. These programs have the capability to copy
themselves and load into your system along with the software
you think you are getting. Once loaded, they proceed to
wreak havoc with your system, causing errors, lockups
and data loss. A reliable backup system can restore data
lost through virus infection when used in conjunction
with good virus detection software and an earlier, clean
backup.
Free up disk space While we can't
stop the steady growth in the size of application software
and related data, we can help you do something about it
by allowing you to offload some of the less-used files
from your hard disk to a secondary storage medium like
tape or DVDs. Removing those inactive files can open up
your hard disk for new programs or growing data files.
Inexpensive DVD or tape cartridges are a sure way to archive
your programs and data while still keeping them accessible
when you do need them. It could even help you put off
buying a larger disk.
Events beyond your control Both natural
and man-made disasters inject disconcerting variables
into any application that require large amounts of data
storage. These include fire, floods, lightning and outright
theft. After such an occurrence, how will your business
survive? Many don't, according to statistics. Regenerating
vital billing or customer information from paper records
would be very difficult, if not impossible. Backup systems
protect your data against such calamity. Besides doing
daily backups, plan to do an extra backup every week.
Then store that backup in a fireproof safe or at an off-site
location. If your system goes, your data stays it may
mean the difference between business as usual and bankruptcy.
Large file transfers Transferring
large volumes of data can be time consuming. Tape backup
drives in particular have the capacity for very high data
transfer rates making them ideal for moving large quantities
of data between systems. Tapes are compact, inexpensive
and have a long shelf life. They can help you keep your
data archived and accessible for years to come. And with
a tape backup system you can conveniently send a tape
cartridge across the country, through the mail or across
the office in your shirt pocket.
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MEMORY
Regularly misunderstood for Hard Drive Space...Memory
AKA "RAM" determines how fast your computer
reacts to certain commands such as opening your internet
browser, or a program such as Microsoft Word. Every program
that you run on your computer uses a percentage of memory.
The more programs that you run at the same time... the
slower your computer system seems to be. There are a few
things you can do to free up some of your memory:
Disable Unused programs from starting with your
computer Every program you install wants to
automatically start up when you turn on your computer.
Many of these programs you do not use often enough to
have it automatically startup. You can disable this feature
inside of many programs configuration settings. Look for
something labeled "Startup automatically" or
"Start with computer", and disable this inside
of each program. You will notice how many programs automatically
startup with your computer by looking in the bottom -
right corner - of your screen. Do you see a bunch of icons?
Those are slowing you down!
MEMORY OPTIMIZATION PROGRAMS Dispite
what you may hear about memory optimization programs..
most of these programs are actually rogue programs wanting
to simply steal your information. The best way to optimize
your RAM is by letting a certified computer technician
disable unnecessary startup items and Internet addons.
Internet Addons Web Toolbars such
as MyWebSearch, Myspace, Google toolbar, Yahoo toolbar,
My Starware, Comet Cursor, Cursor mania, etc....
Yes, it is neat to change your mouse cursor from the boring
white cursor to something flashy and colorfull.... it
is easy to install a toolbar for Myspace or Yahoo. However;
those toolbars are eating up your resources...slowing
your computer to a crawl. If you internet was once fast
as lightning, but now as slow as molasses... you are probably
infected with Internet Addons that can easily be removed.
For more information on disabling IE addons please contact
your nearest Computer Service Center.
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VIRUSES and MALWARE
Viruses - Spyware - Adware - Hijackers - Addons
Even the most up to date antivirus is capable of letting
a virus slip through. It's similar to a bullet-proof vest
in that if a bullet hits you in the back or chest it will
protect you; however if it hits you in the head or side
( even with a vest on ) your going to be hurt!
An Antivirus works on the same principle. Virus signatures
are updated daily because of new threats that are just
being found. If a virus happens to find its way into your
system before the virus signature is updated into your
antivirus program... then you have just been infected
and your antivirus will not see this even if it gets the
latest virus signatures. Why you may ask.... simply put..
the virus is already inside now, and is hiding behind
your antivirus!
The most common ways of getting a virus are by:
A Floppy disk from a friend.
A download off the internet
An email or email attachement
Downloading software such as Limewire, or BearShare
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- CLEANING YOUR PC
As you have read, overheating inside the
PC is the major cause of death of computers. However by
simply cleaning your PC you can prolong if not completely
rid the overheating process.
However you must be aware of ESD (Electrostatic Discharge)
when cleaning your computer, and also you must use appropriate
chemicals and take precautions when performing this task.
There are steps you must follow when cleaning
your computer or you can seriously damage your internal
components and otherwise destroy your computer!
Make sure the computer
is powered off and unplugged before proceeding any further!
1. Use only a vacuum cleaner with a rubber tipped
extension hose to remove any dust bunnies, or animal hair
from inside the computer. NOTE: WHY NOT USE CANNED AIR?:
The "canned air" can actually be harmfull when
used on electronic devices because it causes moisture and
if not completly dried can cause electrical damaage to your
computer.
Be carefull to not knock loose the components attached to
the mainboard inside your compter with the attachement hose.
Vaccuum the CPU (Central Processing Unit) fan in the center
of the computer, also any external fans in the front, side
and back of the computer. Vaccuum any vents you can reach,
and also both sides of the Power Supply unit normally at
the top of the computer case.
If you are unsure about the process or do not have the neccessary
supplies to clean your computer - contact us to set up a
time for cleaning!
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