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BOOT CAMP 313 (17/02/04)
SPRING CLEAN & UPGRADE, part
1
With spring just around
the corner why not take a few minutes to spruce up your computer. A clean PC is
also a more reliable PC but if it’s getting a bit sluggish then next week we’ll
look at how to clear out the clutter on your hard drives, and if you still feel
the need for speed then in part three we’ll tackle some simple hardware
upgrades.
Before you start equip
yourself with a cleaning cloth some general purpose cleaner, a soft clean
paintbrush and pop down to your local stationary supplier or computer store and
pick up an ‘air duster’. This is a can of compressed gas, with an extension tube
for getting into nooks and crannies.
Switch your computer off
and disconnect both the monitor and system unit from the mains then disconnect
all of the plugs going into the back panel. Don’t worry, there’s little chance
of putting any of them back in the wrong socket or the wrong way around but if
you are concerned draw a diagram or use your digital camera to take a photograph
of where everything goes, and if you have more than one USB device jot down the
order of the plugs.
Start with the keyboard,
turn it upside down and give it a good shake to get rid of the worst of the
crumbs, nail clippings and paperclips but to muck it out properly you really
need to take it apart. It’s usually
fairly simple but have a little pot or container handy if there’s more than half
a dozen screws holding it together. Use the paintbrush to get into the crevices
and blast the inaccessible areas with the ‘air duster’. After reassembly give
the case a wipe over with the cloth and cleaner then de-grime those keycaps;
it’s a nasty job but someone’s got to do it.
‘Roller ball’ type mice
are gunge magnets; release the ball by twisting the retainer ring on the base
and give the insides a good puff with your air duster. The tiny rollers inside
are often encrusted with a hairy residue, resulting in jerky or erratic pointer
movement. This can be removed with a match or cocktail stick. Give it a wipe
over with the cloth and cleaner and clean the cable while you are at it. Upgrade
to an ‘optical’ mouse as soon as possible, they just need a quick wipe over and
a check to make sure there’s no fluff or dust around the sensor window on the
bottom.
Give the ventilation
slots on the back of your monitor a few good blasts from the air duster and make
sure there’s nothing blocking the grilles. Clean the screen with a good quality
glass cleaner. If it’s a CRT type monitor use one with antistatic properties or
buy some monitor screen wipes.
Printers accumulate a
good deal of debris so get the air duster extension tube into awkward corners
but avoid blowing too close to the printer head, or anywhere there’s likely to
be ink, it could get very messy! If the
heads and cartridges are combined it’s wise to remove them first. A wipe over with the cloth and some cleaner
will have it looking like new again. If you have a scanner clean the glass
platen and case.
We’ve left the best to
last and that’s the system unit. If you and your PC work in a smoky or dusty
atmosphere you really should do the job properly and remove the lid or a side
panel and get busy with the air duster. A little bit of dust isn’t a problem but
if left to accumulate it can harm your PC, especially if it blocks ventilation
slots or clogs up the cooling fans. Overheated components, such as the processor
chip, memory modules and disk drives can have their working lives drastically
shortened, or worse!
Be very careful not to
touch anything and always keep the end of the air duster tube a few centimetres
away from electronic components. Direct your air jet onto the finned heat sinks
and fans on the motherboard and graphics card but the biggest accumulation is
likely to be inside the power supply module. Give this an extra long blast, from
inside the case so that the dust blows out, rather than back inside. Run the air
duster tube around the disc drives as well as the internal fans draw air in
through the gaps between the panels.
Replace the side panel
or lid, give the cables a wipe over and reseat all of the plugs. This helps to
renew the connections, which can tarnish due to atmospheric pollutants. This is
also a good opportunity to sort out your rat’s nest of cables. You can easily
tidy it up using plastic tie-strips (available from hardware and electrical
stores), to gather cables together and shorten leads that are too long.
Finally, give the
outside of the case a thorough clean, especially that horrible grimy area around
the on-button… It’s also worth giving the CD/DVD drive a run through with a good
quality disc cleaner. Plug everything back in, cross your fingers and switch on.
There’s unlikely to be any improvement in performance but it might run a bit
quieter and it should look and smell a whole lot better!
Next week – Spring Clean and Upgrade, part 2
JARGON FILTER
CRT
Cathode Ray Tube – TV type picture tube, as opposed to more
recent LCD (liquid crystal display) flat screen monitors
HEAT SINK
Finned metal plate or casting bonded or attached to
electronic components, designed to dissipate heat
PLATEN
The
glass plate on a flatbed scanner or copier onto which documents are
placed
TIP OF THE WEEK
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.
NEXT
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