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Posted - May 29 2009 : 05:49:59
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Question: Can my computer be damaged by dust?
Answer: As you've noticed, computers attract dust. That's due to the fans pulling the air through the system to cool it. This dust should be removed at least once a year, but more often if your environment is dirty. Dust can hurt your computer if it causes it to overheat. Stray dust can also cause a short which can make devices not operate. One thing I've seen some of is a computer that won't boot. Several times, I've taken the memory out of the system, wiped the gold contacts and blown out the socket. When I put it all back together, everything was fine. The whole repair took less than 15 minutes. What happens is that the processor fan pulls dust down and out the sides and right onto the memory sockets. It piles up there and ultimately results in a short. That doesn't happen often, but some. So, remove the dust at least once or twice a year. That goes for laptops, too. We'll have a link in the show notes to a web page that shows you how to dust your computer.
Cool Site: Mozy.com: Last week we talked about Carbonite. We'll look at mozy.com this week. It's another website dedicated to backing up your computer for under $5 per month. Unlike carbonite, you can back up 2GB of data for free. Not bad. You can also try out the restore features of the system as well. You sign up for an account, then download their software. You choose the files to back up and mozy does the rest. In one case, a stolen laptop was found because the thieves didn't know that all the pictures were being backed up by mozy. When they added pictures, the real owner downloaded them from mozy and turned them over to the police, who were able to find the thief. So whether you use mozy or carbonite, online backup is a good idea.
Cool Gadget: LeapFrog Text & Learn: LeapFrog is known for making educational toys. Their Text & Learn can't actually text anything, it's just made to look like a PDA. It even has a QWERTY keyboard. This could be kids first exposure to that layout, because most toys have the letters in alphabetical order. It has games for 3-5 year olds that teach maps, calendars, and letters. The graphics are simple and so, don't distract from the game's learning. It has two volume levels, low and high. Sorry, no mute. It runs on 3 AAA batteries and costs less than $20.
It's All "Geek" To Me: Flash: Flash is internet software that lets web developers easily add animation and videos to their websites. The software was originally written by Macromedia in 1996, but was bought by Adobe who now works on flash. In general, if you see something that says "loading" when you visit a website, that page is downloading a flash animation. Some sites are almost all flash. Flash is not malware and with you get a message that there's a new flash plug-in available, it's OK to download.
Links
How to Dust a Computer:
http://hubpages.com/hub/dusting-computer
Mozy:
http://www.mozy.com
LeapFrog Text & Learn on Gearlog.com
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/05/hands_on_leapfrog_text_learn.php
Flash on TechTerms
http://www.techterms.com/definition/flash |
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