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COMFORT AND SAFETY
LIGHTNING REACTION - PROTECT
AND SURVIVE
A couple of bright flashes
and loud bangs outside my window recently reminded me that we are rapidly
approaching thunderstorm season. Every year I hear terrible tales of woe about
PCs, hard drives and modems, fried and frazzled by nearby lightning strikes.
Hundreds, possibly thousands of PCs are zapped every year but it’s easy to
avoid. Firstly do not assume that a storm is too far away to do any damage;
they can move at frightening speed. If you hear a storm approaching save your
work, shut down the PC and if it sounds like it’s going to pass close by play
safe, disconnect the phone/modem and power cables and wait for it to move away.
Don’t rely on sockets and adaptors that purport to have built-in lighting
protection; a lightning strike on a phone or power cable outside your home will
take out just about every piece of electrical and electronic equipment in the
vicinity that’s still plugged in.
A
PAIN IN THE RSI
The last day of February has been designated
International RSI Awareness Day. As a former sufferer of
Repetitive Strain Injury I can testify to the fact that tapping away at a
keyboard for hours on end, day after day really hurts after a while. Painful
wrists plagued me on and off for almost 10 years but it disappeared in a little
over a week after switching to an ergonomic ‘split-field’ keyboard.Here's a five-point plan to avoid RSI:
Ensure your screen is
at eye-level and at a comfortable angle
Wriggle your wrists
and fingers every half hour and try a padded wrist rest
Roll your shoulders
and sit up straight once an hour
If you suffer from
back pain try a foot rest and ergonomic chair
By the way, I’m not sure
where all these ‘XXX Days’ come from and I don’t think there’s any official
co-ordinating body to keep them in check but there’s a daily updated list of
notable events at earthcalendar.com. I
HOT AND BOTHERED LAPTOPS
I don’t know if it’s just a
coincidence but in the past few weeks I have had to deal with several cases of
newish laptops that suddenly slowed down or shut down after an hour or two’s
use. After half an hour’s rest they’re usually fine, which means that
they are overheating. I suspect this has a lot to do with the new
generation of high performance processors being shoehorned into ever-slimmer
cases, which leave little or no margin for error when it comes to cooling. Typically
the overheating problem goes away when the user gives the ventilation slots a
blow through with an ‘Air Duster’ (a tin of compressed gas, readily available
form PC suppliers and stationers) and this usually dislodges a fair amount of
fluff and hairs. Otherwise it can often be cured by not resting the machine on
your lap, but if you must then support it on a tray or a flat board to a allow
cooling air to circulate more freely.
ON OR OFF?
There are two schools of thought about whether
or not you should unplug a PC from the mains when working inside. Leaving the
PC plugged in, but switched off at the socket will ensure that the case remains
connected to earth and therefore better able to disperse a static discharge but
if the wall socket has been wrongly wired -- and this is more common that you
might suppose -- there is a chance that the mains switch and the power supply
could still be live. Modern electronic devices are now very well protected
against static discharge so I recommend that you play safe and unplug your
computer (and monitor) whenever you remove the lid.
SAFE DISPOSAL
If you have an old PC to get rid of don't just
toss it in a skip or try to dispose of it with the household rubbish. Computers
and most peripherals contain a cocktail of potentially harmful materials and
toxic chemicals that really shouldn't be allowed to get into the environment by
being incinerated or dumped in landfill sites. CRT monitors in particular need
to be handled carefully and can be really dangerous if dropped. Most local
authorities now have collection points for computers and electrical equipment
at waste disposal sites and if you can't take it there yourself many councils
will arrange to collect bulky items for free or a small charge.
MIND YOUR BACK
Computers can seriously damage your health!
Inappropriate seating is a major contributing factor to back pain. If you are
going to be seated in front of your PC for more than an hour or so each day get
a proper chair. Purpose designed office chairs, with adjustable height and back
support are ideal, and they're not expensive.
SCREEN SETTINGS
Make sure your display screen is at the most
comfortable height -- e.g. eye-level and that the brightness and contrast are
properly adjusted. If you get a lot of reflections on the screen, from bright
lights or windows a clip-on anti-glare screen should help. Don't sit staring at the screen for hours
on end without a break. Stand up from time to time, walk around, maybe do some
stretching exercises
COMFY KEYBOARD
Keyboards can cause a lot of problems,
especially the cheap ones that come with a lot of PCs these days. Fast typists
and those used to mechanical typewriters can find the short, sharp keystrokes
of a PC keyboard uncomfortable, it can even lead to painful repetitive strain
injury or RSI. If you're going to be doing a lot of typing think about buying
an ergonomically shaped keyboard. Wrist support pads can help relieve the
strain, though if problems persist you should consult your GP.
FATTER FONTS
If you have poor or failing eyesight computer
display screens can be difficult to read. If you find the icons and printing
underneath too small to read easily try the 'large' and 'extra large' colour
schemes in Display Properties. They're located on the Appearances Tab that you
can find by double clicking on the Display icon in Control Panel. While you are there select the Settings tab
and try the 'Larger Fonts' size. You may also find it helpful to change the
Desktop Area slider to a lower value, especially if it has been set to a high
resolution figure (1024 x 768 pixels, for example) and you are viewing it on a
14 or 15-inch monitor. Most word-processor packages have a 'zoom' facility, to
enlarge the size of the text display.
A similar set of options is available from the
Accessibility Options icon in Control Panel. Double click the icon to open the
window. Select the Display tab, then Settings. The next set of options will
enlarge the display, with normal black on white text, or the whole thing can be
reversed, with white on black characters. Click on display, then check the Use
High Contrast box and confirm the changes by clicking the Apply button. Be
patient, it takes a few seconds for the display to change.
CHIP CREEP
Here's an optional cleaning job for those
familiar with their PCs. Whilst you have the lid off the system unit unplug and
reseat the cables going from the motherboard to the disc drives, and remove and
replace expansion cards and memory modules. This prevents a condition known as
'contact creep', where cycling temperatures inside the case cause components
and connectors to expand and contract, which in extreme cases can unseat plugs
and even cause microchips to rise up out of their sockets. Remember, no plugs, sockets or connectors on
a PC should ever require more than light finger pressure, if you have to force
it then it's the wrong socket, or the wrong way around.
EASIER READ
You can easily change the font and size of the
typeface used by Windows Explorer and icon labelling. It's worth trying if you
find it difficult to read, you're using an unusually large or small monitor, or
you're simply bored with the default typeface. Right click your mouse on an
empty space on the desktop and select Properties, when the Display window
appears click on the Appearance tab. In the drop-down menu marked Item, choose
Icon. You will then be able to select a new typeface from the Font menu.
EASIER ON THE EYE
If your vision is impaired and you are having
problems reading web pages there are a number of things you can do to improve
legibility. First try increasing the text size of your browser's display. In
Internet Explorer this can be found on the View menu. Switching off coloured
backgrounds makes a big difference (even if you have normal sight...), this
option is on the IE Tools menu, select Internet Options, then the General tab
and click the Accessibility button. You can reduce the clutter on web pages by
disabling pictures and graphics, it is controlled from the Advanced Tab in
Internet Options, scroll down the list to Multimedia and uncheck 'Show
Pictures'. Finally, a lot of web pages have Text-Only versions and these are
usually much easier to read.
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