Keep Your Computer Cool

If the computer after several hours' use suddenly rebooted and does not show any sign of system failure, there could only be one thing. The computer is overheating.

Unknown to many, (especially those who are not into technological stuff) the computer could generate a large amount of heat when it is in use. Adding video or sound cards could also add more heat generation from your computer.

The temperature inside the computer or laptop that has high-powered processors that runs with multiple applications reaches one hundred forty (140) degrees.

The more drives, memory and even colored lights stuffed in today's CPUs and laptops, the less space there is for internal air circulation. Combine that with poor exhaust or surrounding ventilation, and systems slow, applications run poorly, or the computer could reboot to cool itself down, or crash altogether.

The popularity of cheap computers is fast increasing. People are drawn to buying the cheap computers but they are not aware of the reductions made just so to meet the demand.

One of these reductions is the size as well as the effectiveness of cooling fans on the computer. As the computer gets warmer, the computer speed also gets slower.

With the proper cooling device in the computer, rest assured that the performance of the computer would be better. It could also extend the life of the computer, motherboard and the processor.

Cooling products help drop the temperature of the CPU and its components by circulating, dissipating, cooling and pulling air from a desktop or laptop computer.

Some fans mount in the front drive bays of computers, while others slip into PCI slots to suck air out the back. Copper or aluminum "heat sinks" mount atop the processor to cool that device itself.

When buying a new computer, visit a retailer and touch the computer case to see how hot it gets. Consider adding additional fans to the PCI slots or atop the processor.

Other cooling tips include cleaning dust away from the CPU's fan, or opening the unit and using a can of compressed air to blow dust off the components.

Keep the CPU off the floor, and install filters atop the fans, to reduce dust, pet fur or other debris from getting into the unit. A small electrical fan aimed to blow across the CPU also can help disperse heat and cool the unit.

Keep the computer in a location where air can circulate freely. Keeping the tower in a desk cabinet, leaving the doors open or removed to aid circulation also helps air to circulate inside the computer.

For general office cooling, a flat-panel monitor, or LCD, can reduce the amount of heat generated, as compared to a traditional CRT monitor.

Laptop heat is especially common. Many road warriors, teleworkers and home office workers place the laptop literally upon their laps to work.

This not only can block exhaust fans, but can trap and build heat. Laptop pads dissipate heat by either elevating the unit from the surface, or by using fans to help draw heat away from the device.

Many slot coolers are being marketed today. There are two things that you have to consider before buying one. The intake of fresh cool air is very important. Case temperature drops with the intake fan in the case. T

he position of the fan is the other. It has to be positioned one slot away from the AGP card. The extra space would help the airflow inside the computer. This way the computer heat would be lessened.

James Monahan is the owner and Senior Editor of
CoolingBase.com and writes expert
articles about cooling.

Do You Know How To Install The Cpu In A Computer ?

Without the CPU a computer can never run and therefore everyone should know the basics about how to install it in the computer. Everyone who is related to computer operating process must know the essential parts and its functions in a computer because the user may feel the need of the hardware knowledge anytime while operating it. The processes of installing CPU are a bit technical for which the user should have some prior knowledge.

The process can be described in a few steps which are fairly easy for the user. The person installing this should be very careful and cautious because a little carelessness on his side may lead to the damage of the motherboard and the minor pins.

As the CPUs are of two types, the processes of installing these are also different. The two types are the Athlon XP and the Pentium 4 among which the first one is a bit tricky and demands careful attention. The most important thing to be noticed while installing it is the pins. The pins should not be broken while inserting the wires in the holes.

The installer has to first match the pins with each other. The pins are designed in a manner where the other point can be inserted in a hap hazard manner. In fact, the person has to match the pins with the holes and the missing pins with the missing holes. In this attempt, most often it has been noticed that the person trying to do so breaks the pins. Once the pins get fixed you can be assured that the first step of installation is completed.

For keeping the CPU cool, the use of the thermal paste is most often suggested. This paste keeps it cooler and this helps in its smooth functioning. The thermal pastes are of various kinds among which the Arctic Silver is the best. It comes in the form of an injector style tube. While applying the paste the person has to be a bit careful because the attempt should be to make only a thin layer. For that the paste should be squeezed in a small drop on the CPU and then it should be split by a thin knife. This should be done smoothly and softly without giving any pressure on the paste.

The installation is not so tough as it looks to be. The person doing this can very easily do so by following the steps or the guidelines mentioned in the handbook. However, if the person installing it is not feeling comfortable in following the technical and mechanical steps, then it is better to approach a hardware engineer or a professional in this field. The computer parts are very fragile in nature and that is why the job demands some extra care too. Any mistake in this respect may result in heavy loss too.

By: Victor Epand

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for computers, laptops and software. When shopping for used computers, used laptops and used software, we recommend you shop at only the best online stores for used computer CPU, used laptop, used installing CPU software.

How to actually deploy the Backups?

For avoiding the need of data recovery by the other means, doing the regular backup is the part of necessary concern. There are two possible types: online and offsite backups. The offsite backups are quite easy to be performed, but on the other hand they can be time consuming and problematic. While of you are using the online server backup program, then this is comparatively safer for conserving the vital information in a quick and unattended way.

Using different kind of storage media is the great option, but ultimately they become full and someone has to step in and put in a fresh tape. Now you can run the backups either during the day time or night time. In the day time if the strength of the organization is large then this would slow down the server, while during the night, a night operator has nothing to do other than watching the spin.

On the other hand, the online backup doesn’t involve media swapping and problems as attached with the earlier one. Some of the organizations also take the decision of shifting the backup media to some other location in which lot of money and time is spent, but at the end of day this proves useful if some disaster strikes.

But you can’t restore from the offsite storage so quickly. Even if a single relevant file gets lost then someone has to run and get those storage media which can add to the wastage of time.

If you look on restoring from the remote backups then this will sound as easy as restoring from the media kept in the same room and thus saves your lots of time. But if the remote connection goes down or some similar problem encounters which resists you from restoring your data then your overall disaster recovery appears to be failed.

So the proper mechanism would be, to have multitude of precautions. This includes retaining both types of backup and the awareness about data recovery solutions. The combination of both types of backups offer you a high resisting power from critical data loss situations and the completeness gets added when you know how to recovery the data when not a single backup plan is working.

Data recovery solutions run on the matter how you had lost your data. If no physical damage is bothering your hard drive, then data recovery software is the key whereas for the physical ones, you need to adopt the data recovery services.

Stellar Information Systems Limited plunks as the leading provider of data recovery solutions. The data recovery software for the range of operating systems, viz. Windows, Linux, Novell, UNIX and Macintosh, possess the wonderful power to scan you media for recovering each bit of your data.

The skilled data recovery professionals of Stellar have the great ability to examine each media and enable data recovery in all cases, howsoever the damage may be. The clean and dust free environment of Class 100 Clean Rooms, use of the advanced tools and techniques are few of the attributes which ensure you the perfect and maximum data recovery.

About the author
Andrew Watson a student of Mass Communication doing research on data recovery software. He is also a freelancer for http://www.stellarinfo.com

2 PC Annoyances and How To Solve Them!

I have a love-hate relationship with my computer.

In fact, often I love to hate my computer!

It will do things I know even the great Mr. Gates didn't
intend, and it usually does them at the least convenient
time (like when I'm on a deadline or in a hurry).

Rather than the usual whining and doing nothing about it,
I've decided to share a couple of things that previously
annoyed the heck out of me and the solutions I found to
help you avoid these same problems.

*Disappearing Internet Explorer Status Bar*

The status bar at the bottom of the Internet Explorer web
browser serves many purposes.

It allows you to hold your mouse over a link to see where
the link will take you.

It enables you to see a page's loading progress as you wait
for it to download.

Most importantly, the status bar allows you to see the
little gold "lock" symbol that lets you know you've made a
connection to a secure server (very important to know
before you input credit card data).

For some inexplicable reason, from time to time, this
status bar disappears from my browser.

Also, the toolbars at the top tend to move periodically and
mess up my "system" for surfing the Internet.

Now, it's not the end of the world, but it really ticks me
off when things change and I didn't change them! If this
ever happens to you, here's how to literally "lock" the
toolbars and status bar in place so they don't disappear or
move again.

First, close all your Internet Explorer web browser windows
except for one. If the status bar doesn't already appear in
the window, go to "View" and then click "status bar."

Also, make sure you have all the toolbars arranged the way
you want them.

Next, place your mouse over a blank spot on one of the tool
bars at the top of the Internet Explorer browser window.

Right-mouse-click and a menu will appear where you should
check the option "Lock the Toolbars."

Then, while holding down the key, click the "X" in
the upper right corner of the window to close it. This will
set your selection.

If you ever need to change your toolbars in the future,
simply right-mouse-click on the toolbar and uncheck the
"Lock the Toolbars" option, make the changes, and then re-
lock the toolbars to keep them from moving or disappearing.

*Missing File Extensions*

One of the biggest pains in the neck involves opening
Windows Explorer, viewing a list of files, and not being
able to see the file extension (.doc, .txt, .html, etc.)
for each file.

For some reason, Windows considers this classified
information!

To make the file extensions show up, click "Start" then
"Control Panel." Double-click "Folder Options" then click
the "View" tab. Scroll down the list and uncheck the box
that says "Hide extensions for known file types."

You will now see the file extensions any time you open up
Windows Explorer.


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Jim Edwards, a.k.a. TheNetReporter.com, is a syndicated
newspaper columnist, nationally recognized speaker, author,
and web developer. Owner of nine (9) successful e-businesses
as well as a professional consulting firm, Jim's writing
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How To Make Your Computer Run Faster

When you add a file or a new program to a new computer, the hard drive is relatively empty so new data is saved to the hard drive in one whole block. When you need to use that information, the computer can quickly access it because it is all in one place.

When using your computer adding files and applications, the hard drive starts to become full. when you delete or remove programs you create little empty gaps among the other data that the computer will reuse. Eventually, the computer is no longer saving information in big blocks. Instead, it puts information in the many small empty areas of your hard drive. The result is that one program or file is broken up, or fragmented, into small bits pieces and stored in several different areas of the hard disk. The computer ingeniously keeps track of the location of each piece of data and puts it all together when it is needed. Yet, obviously, the more in pieces the information is, the longer it takes to access the information and the slower the computer becomes.

To make your computer run faster we need to defrag it, read below to find out step by step how to do this!

1.From the start menu point to "all programs"

2.Point to "Accessories"

3.Point to "System Tools"

4. Click on "Disk Defragmenter

5. The disk defragmenter will display the hard drives on your computer. Just select and click Defragment.

If you have multiple hard drives here, defrag each drive.

Did you like this tip? Would you like to see this tip with step by step instructions complete with pictures? Great! Click below now to see this tip and several other on how to make your computer run faster. You will see many ways to improve the performance of your new or old PC. There are also some fun things to check out like the 10 fastest things on the internet videos. This site has great tutorials for beginner and advanced computer users alike, check it out now below!

http://www.squidoo.com/makecomputerrunfaster

Powerful Sound System For Your Computer

There are several factors that affect the working of a good computer system. Video and sound modes are the two areas that can be noticed first. Since both of these are very basic features of the system, their quality should never be overlooked. Good, high quality sounds can be enjoyed by the two mediums and that is what this article will discuss. Computer speakers are the external devices that are connected to the main computer. They are equipped with a low power amplifier. They are the systems packed with plastic boxes. These boxes provide average sound quality. However, thanks to the latest technologies, some of the latest computer speakers come with the treble and bass control and improved quality of sound as well. Some of the common features of these are that a user gets a remote control with them, they have the volume controller and sometimes equipped with bass and treble controller as well. They have a 1/9 inch of headset also. Some of the main computer speaker companies include Dell, Edifier and others. Depending upon their manufacturing companies, they provide a wide range in features and prices. Sound cards are the second choice for the computer users in the field of speakers. These cards are installed in the computer system to enjoy real and magnificent sounds. Now-a-days, most of the latest models are coming with sound cards. These sound cards can be easily replaced once they get overused. They are available in the market with a set of small and stylish speakers. You can also connect them to your CD player or stereo and use them as music speakers. Some of the basic features of the computer sound cards are discussed in the coming lines. These sound cards have a sound chip which converts the digital data or recorded data into the analog arrangement. Advanced sound cards consist of a number of sound chips helpful in the uniform functionality of the sound system. Especially, when a person is listening to music on a computer or playing any of the computer games, it will not be interesting to get poor quality sounds. It can, in fact, disturb your mood as well. That is why; special measures should be taken while going for the selection of sound systems for your personal computer. The computer sound cards are better than the computer speakers in every way. Even now they are available by a number of companies in the same amount computer speakers. This is one of the main reasons why a large number of people are going for them. In simple words, if you ask us to tell you about the best choice for the computer sounds, our answer will be the computer sound cards; there is no doubt about it.
Author: Shobha Narwal

How To Play the iPod on Your Computer's Speakers?

Sometimes you want to fill the room with your iPod's music but don't have any speakers. If there's a computer with iTunes handy you can play your iPod on computer speakers -- problem solved! Read on for quick how-to tips and tricks for living with your iPod.

How to Play iPods on the Computer: You'll love this. Open iTunes and click on your iPod from the left-hand menu (the device list). The main part of the iTunes screen should show your iPod and a bunch of tabs. Make sure the "Summary tab is selected. You should see a checkbox called "Manually manage music and videos" on the screen -- click the checkbox. Ready to play? Select the song or play list you want to hear (from the list below your iPod on the left-hand menu) and hit iTunes play button. Okay, this may all sound a little confusing. I've put some pictures on my website to help you out if you're still not quite sure.

Alarm clock: I use my iPod nano for my alarm clock. Have you ever had to spend the night in a hotel and worried about whether the alarm clock would go off? I used to travel 4 nights a week for work and carried a travel alarm clock -- until I figured out my iPod could handle it. No more waking up in the middle of the night worrying about whether you'll wake up! Here's how.

Navigate to the Extras menu and choose Clock > Alarm Clock. Your first step is to make sure the Alarm is toggled on. Next, choose Time and scroll to set when the alarm should ring. Now choose the Repeat menu and decide if the alarm should go off once, daily, weekdays, weekends, once a month, and so forth. Now for the bigger decision: Sound. You will set the iPod to Beep or to a Play list. Play list sends the sound through earphones or an external speaker -- which is what I use at night. Beep uses iPod's built-in speaker. Ok, your alarm is set up and ready. Enjoy!

Using the Sleep Timer: If you like to fall asleep to music, there's another section in Extras you'll like: the sleep timer. When I go to bed I plug my iPod into speakers in the bedroom and set the sleep timer for 60 minutes. Now you have music to fall asleep by.

Setting the Volume limit: Does your iPod seem too loud (or not loud enough)? Head over to the Settings menu and select Volume Limit. Use your click wheel to adjust your iPod's maximum volume up or down. You can also adjust the mix of sounds by adjusting the equalizer. It's listed as EQ in your Settings menu.

Author: manit mehra

Computers – The Best Tool For Video Editing

Computers were designed to make things easier for us and a lot faster. That is also true with using computers for video editing. Computers are being used for video editing nowadays because it saves a lot of time. If you are familiar with computers it will be a lot easy and you can finish the job in about an hour. Using computers for video editing is known as Digital Video Editing. All you have to do is just take a video or a shot then connect your camcorder to the computer. After that you can start editing it and add whatever filters or titles you want to put.

The computer will play an important part in making you video a good one. You have to download or install video editing software first. Also, check your computer. You must have a CPU processor that is fast. The CPU processor is the life of the computer for this is where information is stored. As like what they say the muscle and the brains of a computer. If the CPU is fast, it will produce better edited videos and you could check or preview the video at present time.

Large Hard Drives is also a must in using computers for video editing. You will not only use software for editing but usually the files of the video are large therefore consuming a large space on your hard drive. This is essential in creating a high quality video. It is also recommended that you get an external hard drive so that you will still have enough space for your computers hard drive. It is a good way to store your videos if you use an external hard drive. A factor to consider is the RAM that you have in your computer. It is one of the factors that will give your computer a good performance as well as create a good quality video. You may use 1GB of RAM but if you can upgrade it to 2GB it will be better.

Hardware equipment for video editing has two kinds: analog and digital. We use video capture card for analog format. This will transfer analog picture from your computer to other sources like television, analog camcorder and VCR and will format it to digital video. Firewire is also available and in demand. This video editing hardware equipment allows us to transfer the video in digital format thus making us capture the video digitally and would not have to go to the process of transferring video from analog to digital format.

With digital video editing we can make simple videos like your summer vacation or a special occasion a quality video. Chances of making a documentary film is also big just by using digital video editing. It is less expensive. Also, the image quality will not diminish since we are using digital format. We can further enhance the video instead of making it poorer in quality. Computers will make your video editing faster, easier and would produce quality videos that you may benefit in the future.
About the Author
You can visit Computer Juice for more video editing info at homemade videos, homemade video and home made videos.

Feng Shui For Your Computer

Although Feng Shui principles are generally applied to the real world, your virtual environment could also benefit from less congestion. Follow these steps to desktop nirvana.

Go for a minimalist look. Many installation programs startup icons on your desktop, making it difficult to find what you really want. To reduce congestion while removing your office, except for the things you need. Keep the icons for "My Computer" or your hard drive, the trash, the CD and your browser and bin everything else. You do not need any property in sight.

While you make friends with the trash, get rid of all that you do not need - shareware that you used once, wallpaper, audio files, e-mail. Be ruthless - as long as you do not want it, and it is not in the Windows folder, remove it. Anything with one. Tmp extension in the file name can be safely removed.

There is only so much turmoil, you can remove manually. Programs leave pieces of themselves difficult to find places, get a friend to help you. Once you have removed all, run a scan register and a complete virus scan.

Organize your start menu if you are a Windows user. New programs always be shortcuts for themselves in the main part of the menu - after a certain time, you can end up with a huge, cumbersome list is difficult to navigate. The fight against chaos by indexing programs as. Delete redundant associations. If you are unsure, let them.

At present, your computer must be more immaculate as when you first took delivery but there are still some chores, you must do to make it work smoothly. Run set a record about once a week and set your antivirus to conduct a thorough system at least once a week. If you use Windows XP, Windows Defender can make a complete scan once a day at a time when you're not using your computer. Leave your computer turned on and connected to the Internet permanently if you have a broadband Internet connection. Set your programs to automatically download and install updates.

Make yourself a cup of tea - preferably a calming herbal infusion as chamomile. Although it is soaking, run a virus scan. As you sip your tea, try to visualize a scenario calm - a placid lake in the autumn, for example. When you finish your tea, your chi (energy) will be fully updated and your computer will be ready for the final stages of its beauty feng shui.

Add the finishing touches to your office. If you had the same theme office since you purchased your computer, change it now and add a new set of sounds. Choose something you can live with - what is important. The number of computers physically damaged by users who have installed the 2001 Hal desktop themes is invaluable.

Restart your machine. You are a new start and this is an important gesture between your old, crowded and inefficient modus operandi of your new energy-balanced relationship with your computer. It also gets rid of the trash your machine could not remove while he was running.

Overclocking and Gaming Laptops: Getting Higher Performances For Less Money

If you're not a computer gaming enthusiast or have a nickname that rhymes with Greek... overclocking may be a term that's foreign to you. Overclocking is usually associated with gaming computers and it's a way of increasing your computer's performance without having to pay the higher price tag.

Overclocking basically refers to changing the frequency of an electronic component; the name comes from the "clock" which acts as a timer which sends out an electronic wave that determines the speed at which the component processes information. In regards to computers or laptops, this usually means the CPU and the FSB.

Now if all that is also sounding a bit foreign to you, just remember overclocking simply means changing the default speed in a CPU to a more faster level to achieve better performances from your computer. Gamers use it to rev up their gaming machines to get the ultimate performance level possible. Like you would!

The theory goes something like this: in order for major CPU makers like Intel to turn out new CPUs every few months or so, they simply design a single processor and then release it with different configurations, usually at the most stable frequencies so your computer will run smoothly. Changing the clock frequencies is one way they can have a new processor very quickly. Since the major market share is for mid to low range CPUs that's where most of them are configured/sold at this level. However, many of these CPUs can operate at a much greater frequency with higher performances just a few adjustments away.

Gamers and computer enthusiasts have figured this out and by changing this frequency they can get a high-end CPU without having to pay the higher price. Overclocking is simply a way of getting more bang from your computer spending bucks.

WARNING & DISCLAIMER

However, there's a major WARNING that should come with any discussion of Overclocking - along with a major DISCLAIMER. If you don't know exactly what you're doing, you can seriously damage your computer. That's why overclocking will usually VOID your warrenty with your computer maker or seller. Proceed with caution and at your own risk if you attempt to overclock your laptop or computer. There are serious risks involved.

Nor is overclocking a simple procedure, it can be very complicated and does require some knowledge of how computer systems work and operate. What really complicates the whole process is the variations of the "electrical and physical characteristics" of different computer systems, plus many factors are involved such as CPU multipliers, thermal loads, cooling methods, bus dividers, voltages and so on.

Keep in mind, with overclocking you're talking about changing the frequency of the FSB (Front Side Bus) which literally dictates how fast all your computer components will run. By changing the FSB speed you can change the speed of your CPU and RAM. End result: faster laptop or computer.

However, as mentioned before there are major risks involved; change the frequency of the FSB too high and you can end up with hard drive failure. There is also the more serious issue of overheating your laptop or computer which could result in permanent damage. In other words, you could "fry" your machine.

That's why most experts suggest you not change the FSB speed by more than 20-30 MHz. Also remember, not all CPUs (due to manufacturing processes) can be overclocked. And also as a general rule of thumb, it is usually not wise to overclock a laptop that's already "hot to the touch".

Likewise, some CPUs are much more suited for overclocking because they run at cooler levels and use little power - these include the Pentium M and AMD Turion lines. If you want to learn more about overclocking and exactly how it's done - you can check out this excellent detailed article on overclocking from LaptopLogic:

www.laptoplogic.com/resources/detail.php?id=15

This article will explain the steps you need to take to "overclock" your computer system or laptop. Again, even this information comes with a solid warning about the dangers of overclocking your computer system. Proceed with the right care and you can improve your gaming laptop's performance. Proceed the wrong way or become too power hunger and having a "fry-up" will take on a whole new meaning!
About the Author
The author runs a handy online Laptop Guide featuring the latest top gaming laptops: Best Gaming Laptops To learn more about laptop computers try here: Laptop Buying Guide Copyright © 2008 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.