Free Computer Consultant's Tip-Of-The-Week e-Zine for August 11, 2007
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Summer cleaning.

Depending on the environment your PC lives in, quarterly, semi-annual
or just annual cleanings may be in order.

I wrote recently about some hard drive problems I have been seeing
and how I suspect it has something to do with the intense heat and
humidity that recently entered the area.

Most PC owners want to get that beastly box way out of the way;
behind a desk where the computer guy can't possibly get to it without
wrenching his back totally out of place is always a good spot.

Those vents on the side? What are they for? Let's sandwich the PC
between the desk and the wall, hmm?

Many PC's will survive in these environments, until a layer of carpet
dust and pet fur lines the components inside.

BACKUP YOUR DATA FIRST!

Then take that "air filter" (the PC) outside, remove the cover, and
blow it out with some canned air you can buy at an office store or
Walmart.

Pay particular attention to cooling fans (there is one inside the
power supply too) and heat sinks, which are under the fans on
components like the CPU and on the video card.

That green plastic air duct inside the Dell computers probably should
come out so you can really clean under there. Just make sure to put
it back.

Heat kills computer components; dirt acts like a wool blanket.

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Free Secure Email Certificate
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Fortinet Fortigate Firewall Firmware Failure Fiasco
< http://freecomputerconsultant.com/blog/2007/08/09/fortinet-fortigate-firewall-firmware-failure-fiasco/ >

Gigabit Ethernet Connection Problems
< http://freecomputerconsultant.com/blog/2007/08/07/gigabit-ethernet-connection-problems/ >

Heat, Humidity and Hard Drive Failures
< http://freecomputerconsultant.com/blog/2007/08/07/heat-humidity-and-hard-drive-failures/ >

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When was the last time you backed up YOUR PC?
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The Free Computer Consultant
http://www.FreeComputerConsultant.com