Servicing my PC
 

Ok, the time has come for me to service my PC. My dad doesn't want to take it into PC World because of what they might do to the HDD. So what steps are involed in servicing a PC? If i do this sucessfully i will be a genious.

*Gets his coat*

Re: Servicing my PC
 

This is going to be the most unusefull reply ever but...

Servicing your pc with a smilie? *ahem*
Dad does not want pc world to see the HD? *ahem*

hehe

What kind of servicing does the thing need?
Defrag and delete temporary files, uninstall old programs and do a complete virus scan. Thats about all I do.

;)

Re: Servicing my PC
 

If it's in a really dusty environment you might want to take the side off and see whether any fans are caked in dust. The PSU fan can be hoovered, but the rest need a slightly more gentle dust blower. Keep the hover motor away from the HDDs though.

Re: Servicing my PC
 

software or hardware ? if the latter a hoover and paint brush usually does the trick for dust bunnies. As for not trusting pc world is fairly just, they dont exactly treat computers with the upmost care

Re: Servicing my PC
 

be brave backup and reinstall the OS :) format the drives and start again

Re: Servicing my PC
 

get a can of compressed air , you will be surprised how much dust is in there :erm:

Re: Servicing my PC
 

better than a hoover, imo, hoovers can generate a fair bit of static around the nozzle.;)

My power supply failed spectacularly because it was full of dust (taking the mobo & hard disk with it :( ), so it's a good idea to blow it out, occasionally.

Re: Servicing my PC
 

I 'service' each PC in a network every month. This involves: backing up everything to DVD-RAM; verify hard disk; defrag hard disk; anti-virus check; clean everything (a 2" paintbrush is very useful for moving dust) and anything else that might crop up occasionally. Norton System Utilities is also useful.

Re: Servicing my PC
 

Yeah, dude, don't ever trust PC World to "service" your 'puter. Even if you're not Garry Glitter, it's still not a good idea.

I can also recommend the can of compressed air. You can get 'em for £1 at the pound-stretcher type shops. Get the one with a little straw so you can completely reach inside all the nooks and crannies. I use a soft brush as well.... it actually came from a camcorder care kit.

Re: Servicing my PC
 

an artists supply shop would be a good place to get a soft brush , you dont want to be using some pound shop special that will be as rough as a badgers @rse :D :D :D , mind you the compressed air from a pound shop is a good idea :tu: :)

Re: Servicing my PC
 

PCWorld Gold (£100) System Service:

• Full system inspection (pull side off and look at the complicated cabling)
• Data integrity check (Do a search for *.avi *.divx *.mov *.mpg and save any pr0n to USB hard disk)
• Browser optimisation (check favourites and history for pr0n)
• Full virus scan (install 5 year old version of McAfee, without updates, sweep and uninstall again)
• Component health check (hit harddisk with hammer until head crash... leave in system for next weeks visit ;) )

Re: Servicing my PC
 

that would cover it i reckon :Yikes:

Re: Servicing my PC
 

someone said "Norton System Utilities " avoid it - never known anyone to be happy with it and ive seen a lot of people install it then ask eek whys my computer screwed :)

Re: Servicing my PC
 

I have had that PC world thing and its crap, all they do is take the dust off and then run scan disk and deframent it

If you want to service a recommend doing this:

1. Run a anti-virus
2. Run a spy ware checker
3. Using Norton Ultilties (great program)
4. uninstall unwanted programs
5. Run Scandisk
6. Run defragmenter

And thats a lot better than anything pc world will do!

Re: Servicing my PC
 

lol, funnist thing ive read all week :D

What drighting is that that is all they probably do :Yikes:

Re: Servicing my PC
 

I would do all these except (3) - avoid Norton like the plague.

Also clean the inside either with a hoover or compressed air.

Re: Servicing my PC
 

I used norton all the time on my old pc, it was great

Re: Servicing my PC
 

Is it actually broken?

Re: Servicing my PC
 

About every 6 months I do a clean install of the OS. When it gets too bad I remove the various fluids and food particles from my keyboard and surrounding area :) Occasionally the PC/monitor/modem get a wipe with a damp cloth. I check for viruses and new patches on a weekly basis. I run a Spyware scan when I remember to. Scandisk and defrag are tricky - the PC has to be in safe mode otherwise they won't run. They're done on a roughly monthly basis.

PC World should be shut down - they're an embarrassment to the profession, preying on newbies and family users.

Re: Servicing my PC
 

Well yeah

Pc world to exist for people that dont know better, if you go by that logic tabloids wouldn't exist would they?.........Yeah! good idea! pc world should be shut down!

Seriously though pc world are reliant on newbies because professionals know better.

Oh and re-installing windows (as long as its XP) is a very good way to 'service' your pc.

Quite a odd term though

Re: Servicing my PC
 

Interesting argument construction :)

9. You shall not misrepresent or withhold information on the performance of products, systems or services, or take advantage of the lack of relevant knowledge or inexperience of others.

http://www.bcs.org/BCS/Join/WhyJoin/Conduct.htm

I'd gladly offer, free of charge, my time and skills to help an individual or charitable organisation. It's the principle reason this site exists :)

The point of a service is to improve the speed, stability and reliability of the PC. The cleanest way to do this, in terms of software, is to reinstall the OS - regardless of what OS it is. Hardware just requires a vac and wipe and, maybe, a check that any cards and connectors are still firmly seated.

Re: Servicing my PC
 

Agree with the internal blowing \ sucking of dust
Back up all essenstial data to disk \ drives
Format and re-install OS....... you will be suprised at all the 'stuff' you collect, think that its the best thing since sliced bread and then forget about it, a fresh system is IMHO, like clean bedding ( a pleasure to climb into ) :)

EDIT:- good point GC, make sure all cards and cable's are secure :tu:

Re: Servicing my PC
 

Yeah - an uninstall of an application rarely uninstalls the application. Rogue directories and registry entries are usually left behind. Over time it all builds up and a clean install is the only effective way of tackling it.

Yeah, my first PC had this problem - plugging in a parallel cable always knocked the hard disk controller card out of its slot :rolleyes: It went back in the end.

Re: Servicing my PC
 

I agree with formatting and re installing the OS its great. I used to do once evey three months but its a bugger to do on 98

Re: Servicing my PC
 

Every three months :Yikes: thats overkill IMHO
As for '98 being a bugger :shrug: easiest of the lot in my limited experience :confused:

Re: Servicing my PC
 

I keep the 98 setup files on a separate hard disk partition - just format c: with the /s option and then run setup. Takes an age to do all the patching, reinstalling, repatching, and configuration though - that's the only downside :) I run a backup on my email client and firewall before I start - being bitten once before on that score :D All my personal files are on another partition so I don't have to worry about wiping them accidentally.

Re: Servicing my PC
 

Damien - Why not just buy something like ghost and take an image of it after you have installed it. You can then just blast this image on again next time you want to re-build it. :)

Re: Servicing my PC
 

Well i use a mac now, much easyer to format. XP is a lot easyer because you can do it without all the crap is DOS and also you dont have to re install loads of drivers. I even had to reinstall my internal modem with 98

Re: Servicing my PC
 

Some of us grew up with DOS and miss it's simplicity :D I have to reinstall drivers for my cam, printer, mouse, keyboard, NIC, video card, sound card, and zip drive! As I understand it, XP comes with its own drivers (more than in 98) - if you're lucky there'll be a driver for your hardware and if you're really lucky it might even work properly :p:

Re: Servicing my PC
 

DOS? DOS? Luxury! There were 'undred and fifty of us, in't shoe box, in't middle o' road, and every morning we had to get up, and resolder our printed circuit boards for 12 hours a day, when ever we wanted to reinstall our OS....

Re: Servicing my PC
 

True, xp does come complete with 'most' drivers you'll need but in the old days when I ran '98 I had all the drivers etc etc that I needed stored on a aseperate partition, no biggie to install from there :D

Re: Servicing my PC
 

lol, i hope i'm not the only one here who still has the 11 floppy disks required to install windows 3.11 :) ah, those were the days... IRQ conflicts, messing up my config.sys and autoexec.bat every time i tried to get a game working :p:

serisouly though, back on topic.. dusting makes a world of difference to your pc :) the other day i had to install a second hard drive (to put linux on) on this pc, and there were mountains of dust (lierally like little anthills) all over the place.. not healthy at all!

P

Re: Servicing my PC
 

I've found German Sherpards to be very detrimental to PC's - I opened mine (the PC, not the dog) the other month, the first time in ages, and found enough dog hair trapped inside the front of the case, so I could knit a new dog if I'd wanted.

Re: Servicing my PC
 

I still have my DOS disks - my win3 and 3.11 on floppy - and win95 on floppy :)

As for servicing - all my systems get a fresh reinstall every 6 months to get the crap off them.