The technological horizon has always got something new to
offer, and among the most recent of these offerings is
Bluetooth enhanced hardware. For those of you who are
unfamiliar with this latest-and-greatest technology,
headsets and headphones in the Bluetooth line offer the
ability to use your cell phone without the need for hands
or dangling wires. In other words, when you have one of
these, you've got yourself a wireless piece of hardware
that attaches to the ear which allows cell phone
communications to take place without the inconvenience or
hassle of holding the phone to your ear or trailing long
wires from the headset to the body of the phone.
If you're toying with the idea of purchasing a Bluetooth
headset or set of headphones, you'll need to understand
that - as a result of the nature of this type of technology
- they aren't as small or light as a headset that isn't
wireless. This is simply because it needs extended
technology in order to function, as well as a battery to be
used as its power source. What this means is that many of
these sets are rather bulky and can be a bit
uncomfortable. If that's not something that you're willing
to accept, then perhaps Bluetooth isn't the product for
you.
One of the biggest benefits of this type of technology is
that it affords you the opportunity to have a conversation
on your cell phone without having to hold it up to your
head. With the concerns of harmful radiation that's
emitted by these phones, the Bluetooth headsets and
headphones serve as a buffer and eliminate the exposure to
these harmful rays. It also allows you to make contact
with your computer and lets you use one headset for both
the cell phone and PC simultaneously. If you feel that
you're going to have the need for features such as these,
then consider purchasing this type of product.
Though Bluetooth products such as these are compatible with
most types of phones and carriers, that's not true in
every case. Before making a purchase, be sure that there
are no compatibility issues. You'll need to be sure that
your phone complies with Bluetooth 1.1 or greater and that
it offers the options of both hands-free and headset
capabilities. Plug compatibility isn't an issue, since
it's a wireless unit.
If you're not planning to wear the headset or headphones
all day, then you'll need to be sure that they're kept
close at hand if a call should happen to come in on your
phone. You may need to place it on a cord around your neck
so that you're free to move about without the worry of
leaving your Bluetooth somewhere. That means that you'll
have to ensure that your equipment has a loop that will
allow a strap connection.
Other things to consider are whether or not your set can be
used if you wear eyeglasses, the cost and range of the
unit, ease and comfortability of use, weight, the ability
to switch from one ear to the other, technical support, the
presence of a pairing password, appropriate monitors for
battery limits, effective noise cancellation and a plethora
of other features that you may feel are necessary.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
How To Search Your PC With Google Desktop
In this era of Internet, most people are frequent users of
computers. Many of us use computers through out the day,
accumulating morasses of information in various formats, which
include email, digital photo, word document, spreadsheet,
presentation file, ebook, article, other downloaded files,
music, visited web pages, and many others. We stuff them in
multiple folders in our PC. Before we know it, our hard drives
become a storeroom of misplaced items. As a result, finding a
needed file of information some times become a daunting task!
The search function integrated to Microsoft Windows is not a
big help either. It requires you to know, albeit vaguely,
where the file could possibly be located. If your data storage
is significant and you made a search on your whole hard disk,
it might take ages to get search results and, then again, there
is no guarantee that you will find the right file. Frustrating?
Thanks to new Google Desktop Search this is about to change!
What is Google Desktop Search?
Google Desktop Search is a free downloadable small program,
which will quickly and easily find your files no matter where
in your hard disk they are stored. The great thing about this
program is by making your computer searchable, this program
frees you from having to manually organize and sort your files,
emails, and downloads. You no more have to mull over where in
your PC the information you are looking for is residing - in
your email, files or web pages that you browsed recently.
At present Google Desktop Search works only with the full text
in Outlook and Outlook Express email, text, HTML, Word, Excel
and PowerPoint files, AOL chat, and Web pages viewed through
Internet Explorer. Other files like PDF will be probably added
in future version.
How it works?
Google Desktop Search is fairly easy to download and set up.
The address for downloading the program is http://desktop.google.com.
Once you installed the program, it begins initial indexing
process of your hard disks. This may take several hours for
an average size disk. The one-time indexing process only works
when the computer has been idle for more than thirty seconds.
Indexing for Google Desktop Search is an ongoing process,
new files and emails get updated automatically. The search
index created by the program resides on your own computer.
On your system tray you will see a swirled icon in Google
colors, by clicking on it you will open the regular Google
search page with the addition of Desktop along side with other
search areas. Once the indexing is done, files are searched
in under a second and the results are impressively precise.
The top bar shows quantities of files found under the four
categories, which include emails, files, chat and Web history.
The results are shown in much the same way as regular Google
interface. You can choose to see relevant results from all
or any of the categories. You can also sort results by
relevance or by date. By clicking on any result you open
the file in respective application software.
The email query results are the best! No longer have you
had to remember in which folder you stored the email written
to John in reference to Peter. By searching for Peter or John,
you will find all relevant emails and related correspondence.
You can read and answer to any of the discovered email from
the thread. This really saves time when you need to follow up
to a large numbers of emails each day.
There are two more text buttons next to the search field.
One is Desktop Preferences and other is Remove Items. Desktop
preferences allow you to choose the types of files you would
like the program to include in its index out of available ones.
You can also point out not to index specific folders from
your hard disk. If you share your PC with others, it's a
good idea to eliminate your private folders from the Desktop
index. You can also specify not to index certain websites
from your cached web history as well. The Remove items
button allow you to eliminate selected results from the
index.
The advance search option allows you to search by phrase by
putting the phrase within quotation marks, to eliminate a word
from search by putting a minus sign in front of the word, to
search by file type, and to search within a web URL. A neat
feature is to integrate your desktop search with your web search.
This is very handy if you have already done an extensive search
for some information and after a few days doing search for
similar information once again.
Privacy question
By default, Google Desktop Search collects a limited amount
of non-personal information from your computer and sends it
to Google. This includes summary information, such as the
number of searches you do and the time it takes for you to
see your results, etc. You can opt out of sending this
information during the installation process or from the
Desktop preferences later. According to Google Privacy Policy
no personally identifying information, such as your name or
address, will be sent to Google without your explicit prior
permission.
What is missing?
I bemoan not having PDF files in the search process as yet.
I have dozens of e-books and PDF whitepapers residing in my
PC, and I really would prefer to have them indexed. That way,
I'd have been able to read materials, when I needed them most.
The other thing I want to see is clustered result of my query,
which shows organized search results into meaningful
hierarchical folders similar to the way Vivisimo search engine
works. This clustering is particularly helpful for desktop
search, as this allows us to see other relevant documents
connected to the searched word.
Conclusion
Due to Google's immense popularity as a search engine, it's
logical that most users will prefer Google's desktop search
program as oppose to other similar programs, such as Copernic
and Hotbot. Finally you can search your very own computer
with similar ease and preciseness as you have been searching
the Internet for quite some time.
Nowshade Kabir is the founder, primary developer and present CEO of Rusbiz.com. A Ph. D. in Information Technology, he has wide experience in Business Consulting, International Trade and Web Marketing. Rusbiz is a Global B2B Emarketplace with solutions to start and run online business. You can contact him at mailto:nowshade[at]rusbiz.com, http://ezine.rusbiz.com/archivenews.html?nl_oid=46
computers. Many of us use computers through out the day,
accumulating morasses of information in various formats, which
include email, digital photo, word document, spreadsheet,
presentation file, ebook, article, other downloaded files,
music, visited web pages, and many others. We stuff them in
multiple folders in our PC. Before we know it, our hard drives
become a storeroom of misplaced items. As a result, finding a
needed file of information some times become a daunting task!
The search function integrated to Microsoft Windows is not a
big help either. It requires you to know, albeit vaguely,
where the file could possibly be located. If your data storage
is significant and you made a search on your whole hard disk,
it might take ages to get search results and, then again, there
is no guarantee that you will find the right file. Frustrating?
Thanks to new Google Desktop Search this is about to change!
What is Google Desktop Search?
Google Desktop Search is a free downloadable small program,
which will quickly and easily find your files no matter where
in your hard disk they are stored. The great thing about this
program is by making your computer searchable, this program
frees you from having to manually organize and sort your files,
emails, and downloads. You no more have to mull over where in
your PC the information you are looking for is residing - in
your email, files or web pages that you browsed recently.
At present Google Desktop Search works only with the full text
in Outlook and Outlook Express email, text, HTML, Word, Excel
and PowerPoint files, AOL chat, and Web pages viewed through
Internet Explorer. Other files like PDF will be probably added
in future version.
How it works?
Google Desktop Search is fairly easy to download and set up.
The address for downloading the program is http://desktop.google.com.
Once you installed the program, it begins initial indexing
process of your hard disks. This may take several hours for
an average size disk. The one-time indexing process only works
when the computer has been idle for more than thirty seconds.
Indexing for Google Desktop Search is an ongoing process,
new files and emails get updated automatically. The search
index created by the program resides on your own computer.
On your system tray you will see a swirled icon in Google
colors, by clicking on it you will open the regular Google
search page with the addition of Desktop along side with other
search areas. Once the indexing is done, files are searched
in under a second and the results are impressively precise.
The top bar shows quantities of files found under the four
categories, which include emails, files, chat and Web history.
The results are shown in much the same way as regular Google
interface. You can choose to see relevant results from all
or any of the categories. You can also sort results by
relevance or by date. By clicking on any result you open
the file in respective application software.
The email query results are the best! No longer have you
had to remember in which folder you stored the email written
to John in reference to Peter. By searching for Peter or John,
you will find all relevant emails and related correspondence.
You can read and answer to any of the discovered email from
the thread. This really saves time when you need to follow up
to a large numbers of emails each day.
There are two more text buttons next to the search field.
One is Desktop Preferences and other is Remove Items. Desktop
preferences allow you to choose the types of files you would
like the program to include in its index out of available ones.
You can also point out not to index specific folders from
your hard disk. If you share your PC with others, it's a
good idea to eliminate your private folders from the Desktop
index. You can also specify not to index certain websites
from your cached web history as well. The Remove items
button allow you to eliminate selected results from the
index.
The advance search option allows you to search by phrase by
putting the phrase within quotation marks, to eliminate a word
from search by putting a minus sign in front of the word, to
search by file type, and to search within a web URL. A neat
feature is to integrate your desktop search with your web search.
This is very handy if you have already done an extensive search
for some information and after a few days doing search for
similar information once again.
Privacy question
By default, Google Desktop Search collects a limited amount
of non-personal information from your computer and sends it
to Google. This includes summary information, such as the
number of searches you do and the time it takes for you to
see your results, etc. You can opt out of sending this
information during the installation process or from the
Desktop preferences later. According to Google Privacy Policy
no personally identifying information, such as your name or
address, will be sent to Google without your explicit prior
permission.
What is missing?
I bemoan not having PDF files in the search process as yet.
I have dozens of e-books and PDF whitepapers residing in my
PC, and I really would prefer to have them indexed. That way,
I'd have been able to read materials, when I needed them most.
The other thing I want to see is clustered result of my query,
which shows organized search results into meaningful
hierarchical folders similar to the way Vivisimo search engine
works. This clustering is particularly helpful for desktop
search, as this allows us to see other relevant documents
connected to the searched word.
Conclusion
Due to Google's immense popularity as a search engine, it's
logical that most users will prefer Google's desktop search
program as oppose to other similar programs, such as Copernic
and Hotbot. Finally you can search your very own computer
with similar ease and preciseness as you have been searching
the Internet for quite some time.
Nowshade Kabir is the founder, primary developer and present CEO of Rusbiz.com. A Ph. D. in Information Technology, he has wide experience in Business Consulting, International Trade and Web Marketing. Rusbiz is a Global B2B Emarketplace with solutions to start and run online business. You can contact him at mailto:nowshade[at]rusbiz.com, http://ezine.rusbiz.com/archivenews.html?nl_oid=46
4 Computer Money-saving Tips
Tip #1 -- Rebates:
A rebate is not always a bargain. Computers with rebates are often close to being discontinued. You may pick up a good deal or purchase technology that's about to become yesterday's news. What's more, stores will often package computers with a bunch of free items to make it look like you're getting more value. Chances are the extras are either poor quality or items you're unlikely to use. Also, they're counting on you to not redeem your rebate, a very common occurrence.
Tip #2 -- Extended Service Warrantees:
Buyer Beware! They're a gamble, but not always a bad idea. If you're purchasing a laptop and you plan to travel a lot, an extended warranty that covers replacement of the monitor/display can be a good gamble. Replacing a display can cost $400-$600, making the warranty worthwhile. On the other hand, if you plan on buying the warranty for routine maintenance; save your money. Oftentimes it can take weeks for the store to send your PC out for service.
Also, remember the store where you purchased your computer does not always do warranty work during the first year, instead you may have to ship it directly to the manufacturer. In general, extended warranties cover electronics [things you can't see]. They don't usually cover physical damage. Most extended warranties have large gray areas, leaving the warranty provider a lot of room to reject claims.
Tip #3 -- Monitors:
Don't throw away your monitor if it's still working properly. Instead, keep it and save a chunk of money by just replacing your old CPU [computer tower]. Monitors last much longer than CPUs and the technology is usually compatible between your old monitor and the new CPU. However, if you're dissatisfied, then monitors, keyboards and mouses are the three tools to spend extra money on, since you use them every day!
Tip #4 -- Networking:
How are you connecting to the Internet? If you're using a high speed Internet connection, such as cable broadband or DSL, you'll want to make sure you have a network card built into your system. If you have a wireless network at home or at the office, save money and installation time by buying the wireless card built right into the computer.
About the Author
Sharron Senter is co-founder of http://www.VisitingGeeks.com - an on site computer repair, security and networking company serving north of Boston, Southern NH and Maine. Visiting Geeks? technicians are crackerjacks at squashing viruses, popups and securing and making computers perform faster. Learn more about Sharron at http://www.SharronSenter.com
A rebate is not always a bargain. Computers with rebates are often close to being discontinued. You may pick up a good deal or purchase technology that's about to become yesterday's news. What's more, stores will often package computers with a bunch of free items to make it look like you're getting more value. Chances are the extras are either poor quality or items you're unlikely to use. Also, they're counting on you to not redeem your rebate, a very common occurrence.
Tip #2 -- Extended Service Warrantees:
Buyer Beware! They're a gamble, but not always a bad idea. If you're purchasing a laptop and you plan to travel a lot, an extended warranty that covers replacement of the monitor/display can be a good gamble. Replacing a display can cost $400-$600, making the warranty worthwhile. On the other hand, if you plan on buying the warranty for routine maintenance; save your money. Oftentimes it can take weeks for the store to send your PC out for service.
Also, remember the store where you purchased your computer does not always do warranty work during the first year, instead you may have to ship it directly to the manufacturer. In general, extended warranties cover electronics [things you can't see]. They don't usually cover physical damage. Most extended warranties have large gray areas, leaving the warranty provider a lot of room to reject claims.
Tip #3 -- Monitors:
Don't throw away your monitor if it's still working properly. Instead, keep it and save a chunk of money by just replacing your old CPU [computer tower]. Monitors last much longer than CPUs and the technology is usually compatible between your old monitor and the new CPU. However, if you're dissatisfied, then monitors, keyboards and mouses are the three tools to spend extra money on, since you use them every day!
Tip #4 -- Networking:
How are you connecting to the Internet? If you're using a high speed Internet connection, such as cable broadband or DSL, you'll want to make sure you have a network card built into your system. If you have a wireless network at home or at the office, save money and installation time by buying the wireless card built right into the computer.
About the Author
Sharron Senter is co-founder of http://www.VisitingGeeks.com - an on site computer repair, security and networking company serving north of Boston, Southern NH and Maine. Visiting Geeks? technicians are crackerjacks at squashing viruses, popups and securing and making computers perform faster. Learn more about Sharron at http://www.SharronSenter.com
Windows Task Manager in English!
You use Ctrl+Alt+Del to see what's running on your PC, to close crashed programs and processes, and to check performance. You probably avoid a few processes whose names mean nothing to you, but they're essential to Windows. svchost.exe sure likes to appear all the time and multiple times at that. What's taskmgr.exe? Oh yeah, it's the window you're looking at right now. ctfmon? Is he related to Pokemon? navapsvc.exe? Navy? Napa Valley? Navel? NOTA (none of the above).
Monday, July 18, 2011
New Audio Equipment for Conferences
Conferences are big in many companies. Those who are constantly using such equipments, building their own set up can be an advantage. If you think your business can benefit from such investments, the rest of this article will give you just a few pointers but will be beneficial in deciding if building a new audio equipment set up for a conference should be considered.
The basic concept of a simple sound system consists of sound input devices, output devices and amplifiers.
Input Devices
These are microphones, the most popular of which are the dynamic microphones. This is a wired microphone device commonly seen in every stage performances and in musical television performances. A wireless microphone is the same as the dynamic brand but without the connecting cables. These have an FM radio transmitter device to send signals thereby also called as a radio microphone. Lavalier microphones are the hands-free devices which can be seen being used by television newscasters attached to their blouse or suit also called as lapel. Most lapels now are also wireless, making them the most convenient to be used by presenters who need to be all over the stage. CD/DVD players are both audio and video input devices.
Output Devices
Output devices are loudspeakers. The number of units to be needed will depend on the venue of the conference and the number of expected attendees. These equipments will be the bulk of the whole system. Makers of loudspeakers have come up with lightweight and small designs but maybe unsuitable for a large audience. Investing on a good number of loudspeakers can make your set up most applicable for a wide variety and volume of conferences.
Power Amplifiers
Power amplifiers are the drivers of loudspeakers. Aside from amplifying sounds, most units are also made to protect speakers from signal and thermal overloads. This eliminates the need for limiters which is commonly used to prevent signal overloads.
After acquiring the basic equipments, the next agenda is to assign technicians who can manage the whole set up. Consider putting up a group of not less than 3 people to manage the system while the event is on going. These should be trained technicians who know how to troubleshoot when a glitch arise.
For large companies, investing on a new audio equipment set up for a conference can be a good investment. Renting these types of systems always eat up a big chunk from corporate event budgets. But for small and medium-sized organizations, renting these equipments can be costly. Spending for the maintenance and putting additional people on the payroll list entails losses instead of a gain.
The basic concept of a simple sound system consists of sound input devices, output devices and amplifiers.
Input Devices
These are microphones, the most popular of which are the dynamic microphones. This is a wired microphone device commonly seen in every stage performances and in musical television performances. A wireless microphone is the same as the dynamic brand but without the connecting cables. These have an FM radio transmitter device to send signals thereby also called as a radio microphone. Lavalier microphones are the hands-free devices which can be seen being used by television newscasters attached to their blouse or suit also called as lapel. Most lapels now are also wireless, making them the most convenient to be used by presenters who need to be all over the stage. CD/DVD players are both audio and video input devices.
Output Devices
Output devices are loudspeakers. The number of units to be needed will depend on the venue of the conference and the number of expected attendees. These equipments will be the bulk of the whole system. Makers of loudspeakers have come up with lightweight and small designs but maybe unsuitable for a large audience. Investing on a good number of loudspeakers can make your set up most applicable for a wide variety and volume of conferences.
Power Amplifiers
Power amplifiers are the drivers of loudspeakers. Aside from amplifying sounds, most units are also made to protect speakers from signal and thermal overloads. This eliminates the need for limiters which is commonly used to prevent signal overloads.
After acquiring the basic equipments, the next agenda is to assign technicians who can manage the whole set up. Consider putting up a group of not less than 3 people to manage the system while the event is on going. These should be trained technicians who know how to troubleshoot when a glitch arise.
For large companies, investing on a new audio equipment set up for a conference can be a good investment. Renting these types of systems always eat up a big chunk from corporate event budgets. But for small and medium-sized organizations, renting these equipments can be costly. Spending for the maintenance and putting additional people on the payroll list entails losses instead of a gain.
Samner Flores is a reputable businessman who uses top of the line gadgets for his presentation like visual rental online and many more. To find high quality, well refined device visit Audio Visual Orlando.
How To Speed Up Internet Explorer
Nobody likes a slow internet browser, and when it comes to slow Internet Explorer has a bad reputation of being slow, clunky and an overall pain. Browsers such as Google Chrome or Fire Fox offer a much better user experience (well at least in my opinion), but if you insist on using Internet Explorer here are a couple ways to speed it up.
The first thing you can do is remove all the extra add-ons explorer likes to jam into its browser. The more of these add-ons you have the slower that browser becomes. To remove any unwanted add ons click on tools. If you're using Internet Explorer 9 it will look like a small gear in the top right corner of the page.
From their click it and scroll down to where it says manage add-ons, click that and a list of all the add-ons currently installed on your browser will be displayed. From here simply scroll down the list and click on every add on you want to disable.
Another option that's available is something called Google Chrome Frame. It's a free download like everything Google makes. Its purpose is to speed up explorer, especially older versions 7 and 8. It also allows its users to be able to use HTML5 and other technologies that Internet Explorer doesn't support. Simply download it and it should start working automatically.
You can also change the setting so that it doesn't check for new versions of cached sites. To do this click on internet options (click the gear looking button again also known as tools) go to browsing history and click on settings. From here either choose under temporary internet files one of the following
Hopefully these tips will help if your currently using any version of explorer and drastically improve that browsers speed and load time. Which will keep you from ripping you're hair out in frustration.
The first thing you can do is remove all the extra add-ons explorer likes to jam into its browser. The more of these add-ons you have the slower that browser becomes. To remove any unwanted add ons click on tools. If you're using Internet Explorer 9 it will look like a small gear in the top right corner of the page.
From their click it and scroll down to where it says manage add-ons, click that and a list of all the add-ons currently installed on your browser will be displayed. From here simply scroll down the list and click on every add on you want to disable.
Another option that's available is something called Google Chrome Frame. It's a free download like everything Google makes. Its purpose is to speed up explorer, especially older versions 7 and 8. It also allows its users to be able to use HTML5 and other technologies that Internet Explorer doesn't support. Simply download it and it should start working automatically.
You can also change the setting so that it doesn't check for new versions of cached sites. To do this click on internet options (click the gear looking button again also known as tools) go to browsing history and click on settings. From here either choose under temporary internet files one of the following
a. Every time I start Internet Explorer, which might slow down the browser the first time you run it. It should run faster after though.
b. Never, this won't sync any cached pages.And finally you can also speed up Internet Explorer by sorting through your favourites list and deleting any links you don't use anymore. A large number of favourites can have an impact on its speed and slow it down, so it's always a good idea to spend a little time and clean out you're favorites list.
Hopefully these tips will help if your currently using any version of explorer and drastically improve that browsers speed and load time. Which will keep you from ripping you're hair out in frustration.
Would You Believe Dust?
"Uh-oh," I said quietly to myself. Of course now my husband is listening and he says, "Uh-oh what?" "Nothing," I say, not sounding very confident. "Well, it must be something. What happened?" says he. "I'm not sure, but I think our computer has decided to take a permanent vacation," I replied.
Our computer had been doing weird things over the previous week. Things like taking forever to boot up, taking forever to shut down, shutting down altogether in the middle of whatever, sluggishness, and complete unco-operation. We thought it was "just time." Time to upgrade what we have or buy a new computer and we couldn't afford either one at the time.
A friend of ours who knows his way around computers came over to take a look at it. He asked me to take the cover off the tower, then he said he was going to try blowing the dust out of it first. I'm thinkin', "C'mon! Enough foolin' around! I want/need to get on my computer!" So he blew a dust storm out of the tower with our air compressor, put the cover back on the tower and fired 'er up. I squeezed my eyes shut and gritted my teeth hoping for the best. When I opened my eyes again, not only was the computer running, but the desktop was already up and completely running! It was lagging anymore and it was booting up and shutting down like the speedy demon it is.
Dust. Dust. I can't believe it was just dust. I was so relieved that the problem was so simple and easily fixed. Yay! Which of course got me thinking about other electronics and appliances. By blowing the dust out of our refrigerator it now runs more quietly and efficiently. Our t.v. stopped making this annoying, high-pitched beeping sound. My box fan I must have running 24/7 regained the highest speed. Now I keep a lot of things around the house blown out about every six months.
My mother took her computer to a computer repair guy because her computer was doing the same thing mine was. She said he did everything but blow the damn thing up and it still refused to work. I asked her if he blew the dust out of it with an air compressor and no, he hadn't. I told her to bust out the ol' air compressor and blow the dust out of it. She did and it fired up and worked just as it was supposed to with none of the previous problems. I guess the computer guy was sick that day...
So before you panic and run out and spend exorbitant amounts of money on repairs, software and anti-viruses, look at the vent on the side of your tower. If you can see dust there, I promise you, there is dust throughout and it is a huge burden to your computer (or other electronics and appliances). Dust slows down the fans, conducts electricity, and causes appliances and electronics to overheat. Sort of like making sure something is plugged in before you start troubleshooting anything else, blow the dust out and take troubleshooting from there. After that, a good blow job to your appliances and electronics about every 3-6 months and it will keep them running cool, quiet, and efficient!
Our computer had been doing weird things over the previous week. Things like taking forever to boot up, taking forever to shut down, shutting down altogether in the middle of whatever, sluggishness, and complete unco-operation. We thought it was "just time." Time to upgrade what we have or buy a new computer and we couldn't afford either one at the time.
A friend of ours who knows his way around computers came over to take a look at it. He asked me to take the cover off the tower, then he said he was going to try blowing the dust out of it first. I'm thinkin', "C'mon! Enough foolin' around! I want/need to get on my computer!" So he blew a dust storm out of the tower with our air compressor, put the cover back on the tower and fired 'er up. I squeezed my eyes shut and gritted my teeth hoping for the best. When I opened my eyes again, not only was the computer running, but the desktop was already up and completely running! It was lagging anymore and it was booting up and shutting down like the speedy demon it is.
Dust. Dust. I can't believe it was just dust. I was so relieved that the problem was so simple and easily fixed. Yay! Which of course got me thinking about other electronics and appliances. By blowing the dust out of our refrigerator it now runs more quietly and efficiently. Our t.v. stopped making this annoying, high-pitched beeping sound. My box fan I must have running 24/7 regained the highest speed. Now I keep a lot of things around the house blown out about every six months.
My mother took her computer to a computer repair guy because her computer was doing the same thing mine was. She said he did everything but blow the damn thing up and it still refused to work. I asked her if he blew the dust out of it with an air compressor and no, he hadn't. I told her to bust out the ol' air compressor and blow the dust out of it. She did and it fired up and worked just as it was supposed to with none of the previous problems. I guess the computer guy was sick that day...
So before you panic and run out and spend exorbitant amounts of money on repairs, software and anti-viruses, look at the vent on the side of your tower. If you can see dust there, I promise you, there is dust throughout and it is a huge burden to your computer (or other electronics and appliances). Dust slows down the fans, conducts electricity, and causes appliances and electronics to overheat. Sort of like making sure something is plugged in before you start troubleshooting anything else, blow the dust out and take troubleshooting from there. After that, a good blow job to your appliances and electronics about every 3-6 months and it will keep them running cool, quiet, and efficient!
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