Healthy PC

Prevent Computer Overheating

Hot ComputerIn my years as a tech I’ve often opened a sick computer to find it full of dust bunnies.  Overheating is a big problem for the sensitive parts of your computer. That’s why computers have fans and air vents to continually circulate the hot air out and bring in cooler room air. When we keep our computers on the floor under our desks we sometimes forget to check for the dust accumulation and blocked air vents that can be a major cause of overheating.

For a cooler running computer keep it in a low dust zone with plenty of good airflow. If it’s in a cabinet, be sure there’s good venting and consider propping the door open at least a half-inch. If you have pets, you may need to check periodically for pet hair on those air vents, especially around the intake for the cooling fan. It’s best to keep a laptop on lap desk and not directly in your lap because your clothing can be sucked up against the air vents. Similarly it’s best to keep a desktop on the desk or a stand to keep it off the floor and especially off the carpet.

Other causes of overheating include worn out or defective cooling fans, usually recognized by their excessive or uneven noise. Sometimes adding extra equipment can cause the cooling system to work overtime. And of course the surrounding temperature is a factor. My introduction to computers was in the late 50’s when Dad proudly showed us the office’s new payroll computer. It took up a room the size of a large master bedroom and was kept a chilling 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Luckily modern desktops and laptops run well in comfortable temperatures.

It never hurts to clean your computer on a regular basis. Canned air is the cheapest way to blow out that dust. Wear a mask to protect yourself. Blow the air across the components, not into them, and use short bursts of air to keep the can from freezing your hand. If you need more frequent cleanings you can buy a much neater alternative, a small electronics vacuum cleaner for about the same cost as a dozen cans of air.

You Can Do It!

Healthy Computer Habits

This article focuses on Windows computers, however many of the pointers apply to other operating systems.

  1. Reboot your PC at least once a week.
    The restart process performs self-diagnostic chores and most automatic upgrades. Rebooting will often cure minor glitches.
  2. Leave your PC on all night at least once a week.
    Most PCs have schedules that run in the background for such things as checking for updates and performing automatic backup. These scheduled activities are often performed in the wee small hours of the morning so that they will not cause a slowdown when you are likely working.
  3. Accept updates from original software companies.
    Accept only updates you are sure of. It’s best to check the vendor’s support page if you are unsure of the legitimacy of an update. However, it is good policy to accept most updates unless you have an unusual situation.
  4. Keep abreast of news of the latest scams and phishing schemes.
    There are many services that can help you stay alert. For instance, the US Government Consumer Protection site: https://www.usa.gov/scams-and-fraud.
  5. Use security alerts on the Internet
    Many Internet security programs give you safety indicators, such as stars or bars, when you use a search engine. You can also download programs, such as the customer driven Web of Trust, which give you indicators and feedback about the safety and customer satisfaction of various sites.
  6. Back up your data on a regular schedule.
    Windows has a Backup and Restore application that you can open by typing the word backup in the Start Menu search box. You can also use backup services such as SugarSync or Carbonite. Many of these services will give you a free trial or the first few gigabytes free. Some even do continuous backup so that you would never lose more than what you’d done since your last save. Others, such as Dropbox, One Drive and Google Drive, give you a special folder to save documents you want to keep safe.
  7. Use secure passwords and protect their location.
    A secure password is one that is not easily guessed, so children’s and pets’ names are rarely the basis for a secure password. Password requirements are becoming more and more stringent thus making it harder to create passwords we can remember. So it is good to come up with a system of passwords that you can remember without writing down and tucking under your keyboard. I explain one such system in Creating a Secure Password Set That’s Easy to Remember.
  8. Password protect your profile and keep a guest profile for visitors.
    I often work on a PC because the grandkids have loaded a lot of games and/or picked up a bit of malware while visiting. You can prevent most of these threats by password protecting your profile with a secure password and setting up a guest profile as a Standard User with limited permissions. (See User Accounts in Control Panel.)