17/12/2013
Here are 10 things that you should not do to your computer:
Clean your laptop or flat screen monitor with any type of solvent. Also do not spray any type of cleaning agent directly on the screen itself. The least intrusive method is to either purchase a commercial screen cleaner [do a Google] or use a lightly damp cloth using warm water only. If you live in an area with hard water conditions, on a well, or have other water issues, consider using distilled water which is available everywhere.
Use your new Hoover Storm Blaster vacuum cleaner to clean the inside of your desktop computer. Any vacuum cleaner that advertises it can suck up a bowling bowl should be avoided. Though most parts inside of a computer system can “take a licking and keep on ticking”, they can be damaged or parts loosened when using a vacuum cleaner. Purchasing commercial cans of compressed air will remove most dust bunnies and dust particles. I personally use a air compressor set at a low setting to gently blow out the inside of the system itself.
Remove a stuck CD/DVD using a #2 flathead screwdriver. If you look on the front face plate of your CD or DVD player, you will notice a small pin hole opening. By using a flattened paper clip you can insert it into the hole which will open the tray without damaging your system.
Do not load damaged CD or DVD disks into the player. Todays CD and DVD players spin at a high rate of speed. Using a CD or DVD disk that is damaged [cracked] can cause the disk to explode resulting in injury. If your computer is located on top of your desktop flying shards could potentially blind you. If the computer is under your desk, you could end up being spaded or neutered. :-)
Do not attempt to replace a power supply fan. Power supplies have capacitors that hold electrical charges even after the power supply is unplugged. Trying to replace a power supply fan because it has failed, is running slow, or is noisy should not be done because of the risk of electrical shock. Having said that, I replace power supply fans all the time. I personally can see no reason to throw away a power supply that can be fixed with a $2.00 fan.
If you suspect a hard disk problem keep using the computer because the problem may go away. WRONG! If you suspect that your system is developing a hard disk problem, stop using it immediately. Stop rebooting the system 20 or 30 times thinking that it will auto fix itself. You may still be able to retrieve your precious data by placing the failing hard disk into another system. After the data has been recovered, you can then determine if the problem is the hard drive or other component.
Do not create any backups of your stuff. Backups are way to time consuming. It is more important to read those email jokes and forward them to your friends. Plus you need your computer 24×7 and you just don’t have the time. Hint. The next time your ISP is down, which if you are like the rest of us seems to be quite frequently, instead of complaining use that time to make a backup. It is also a great time to scan your systems for bugs and parasites. How about rearranging those folders you been meaning to do. Or clear off those programs that you haven’t used in 3 years. Or defrag. your system. Do you know how many people lose the simplest of information like their address book of names and email addresses, or their favorites aka bookmarks. Only to complain after a disk failure and wonder why they are gone.
Download every software program that promises you a faster computing experience. There is no magic bullet when it comes to making any system run faster. It normally requires a many different software products to tune up a system. Buyer beware. There are plenty of free products at your disposal to use without paying for nothing but hype.
Store every file, every piece of music you have ever downloaded, every video and every photo you have ever taken onto your hard disk. Even if your system has a CD or DVD burner, do not use this to store your stuff on. It is to inconvenient trying to look for that CD or DVD with your music or whatever. You must have it right at your finger tips. After all, the purpose for these huge hard disks are to see how much you can store on the system. So what if your system crawls. There may be a music file you will need to play immediately. It is a simple fact that the less stuff you have on a computer system the better it will work. That is the bottom line.
Install Vista on top of XP. For that matter, I wouldn’t even install a clean copy of Vista to replace XP. Just my 2 cents but I personally believe that the expense of buying a copy of Vista, upgrading your RAM, installing a new video card, just to have a prettier GUI is a waste of time. Use your old XP system until it no longer meets your needs. Then get Vista when you buy a new computer. Or buy a MAC. Maybe even give Linux a try. :-)
