Time to Spring Clean
 

With Spring just around the corner its time to give your PC a little health checkup.I thought about a few things that everyone should do regularly.
If you dont do them regularly, now is the time to do it.
Make it part of your spring clean to ensure your PC has a longer life.

First things I'd reccomend people do:


Hardware Jobs:

1. Unplug all wiring and, with a cloth, clean connections, back plates, and the computer case itself. Turning the mains socket off is vital as some motherboards still have a small voltage going thruogh them when the PC is switched off.

2. Clean keyboard and mouse and get rid of those marks on the monitor.
Do not use any household kitchen or window cleaners as these can damage computer monitors. CRT monitors can be cleaned with a soft cotton cloth and if needed, a damp cloth with water.
If you own a monitor that has an antiglare surface or other delicate coating, it may require special cleaning fluid. See your manual.

3. A keyboard gets full of gunge so Canned compressed air is useful to dislodge the grime. You can use a Vacuum cleaner, but make sure it has a soft brush and that you dont suck off the keys.
A good way is to spray the compressed air from one direction and have the vacuum cleaner ready at the other end to catch the dust.
Do not put a metal Vacuum cleaner anywhere near the CPU chips and Ram.

3.Now its time to get into the case so take off that side panel and start by putting on your anti static wrist strap. If you are using a cloth to dust the inside, make sure its anti-static. You can buy anti static wipes in most shops.

4. Make sure all cables are well out of the way, that no cards have come loose, and that everything is properly seated. The fans will have a build up of dust on them so try and give those a clean too.

5. Whilst you've got your case open, why not upgrade your RAM or do any other installation whilst the PC is open.
Remember to keep that anti static wrist band on.

6. Uless your PCI and all other cards are really dirty and giving you problems, there is no real need to take them out and re-seat them. Only take them out to clean them in the event the card is causing problems or they are covered in huge mountains of dust.

*** Consider buying a pack of rounded cables to replace your bulky IDE cables too. They will offer better air flow in the case and look nicer too. You can pick up a bag for about £5.00 ***

7. Clean your printer for dust and using your Printing toolkit software which comes with most printers, align print cartridges and clean the heads. Your printer should then go and do a self clean.

8. Cable Modem / Routers. Make sure the equipment is dust free and that all cable connectors are dusted and connected properly.

*** You can save yourself half the work of cutting dust out by covering your PC with a piece of fabric when it is not in use. ***

By taking care of the phsysical parts of your PC, you'l prolong the computers life, cut down on heat produced, and overall your equipment will last longer. Now its time to deal with the software side of things so put all your wires back together, and power up.


Software jobs:

There is a lot to do when doing the software spring clean.
I'd reccomend you start with the following:

1. Its time to take out the old and get with the new... So check that all your applications are up to date.
This is particularly important for your: Antivirus software, Firewall Software, Anti Spyware software, and Windows software.

2. Check for updates on your peripherals. There may be new firmware or latest drivers for your graphics card to download.

3. If you dont have any of those things I've just mentioned, You should do.
So get yourself a free firewall at www.zonealarm.com, anti spyware software at http://www.lavasoft.com/support/download/, and the latest Windows updates at http://www.microsoft.com/
If you still havent bought antiVirus software, get a free virus scan performed here: http://housecall-beta.trendmicro.com/en/start_corp.asp
And remember to RUN them regularly.

4. Are there any programs that are lingering around on your PC that you never use ? Get rid of them. Uninstall those unnecessary programs.
Oh and get rid of those old program versions too. If you have version 2.5, whats that old version 1.1 still doing here. If you dont use it, get rid of it.
You can also safely delete anything in your Temp folder that is more that a week old and run Windows DiskCleanup application to find any additional bits roaming around to delete.

5. Your computer takes time to loads all those icons in your system tray next to the clock. If you dont need them all, disable them.
Some are as simple as right clicking them. You can also go to run, and type MS Config and look at the Startup tab.
Whilst you are here, clear up your desktop too. Do you really need all those icons cluttering up the screen. Atleast organise them into folders.

6. Delete any unwanted E-mails and oragnise your mail. If you've used outlook and sent a large attachment, it will still be sitting there in the sent
items tray, so remember to delete those mails too.

7. Having done all that deleting and installing of updates, get your PC's hard drive into shape by running Scan Disk. Once thats done, run Defrag and let it check your drive and sort out all your data. Depending on your disk size, it can take a while, so go and get a drink.
Make sure you dont have anything running in the background when running these programs.


8. And finally, Now do a backup of your system onto DVD. You can now sleep with a peace of mind knowing your data is backed up in the
event your PC dies.

In the event your PC is completly and utterly screwed, re-installing Windows with a fresh install can totally solve all your problems.
Just make sure you've backed up data before hand and have all your drivers and software with you first.


And a final point....
Its not only your PC that needs looking after. If you have a rubbish chair that causes you pains and aches whilst at your PC, think about
getting a more ergonomic designed chair. It will be much better for you in the long run.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Some people have waay too much time.

I don't even spring clean the house. Let alone the computer :)

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

lol... i'm not the only dodgey person that bought one of these then...

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

better advice is "if it aint broke dont take the lid off" unless your installing something off course.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

you wouldnt be saying that if you were working on a laptop and blew the mobo cause of static, everyone who frequently opens a pc case needs one of these.

There is another way to cut down on the risk of static, but that means leving the device plugged into the mains, so best of to stick with the wrist strap, or anti static mat...

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

...or work near to a radiator

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

An old radiator in that case as many have plastic piping now which would mean you are not earthed at all.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

:tu: Any chance of thisbeing made a sticky thread.

:D

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Have a greenie.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

:erm: last time I knew anything about water, it was a conductor of electricity :rolleyes: ;)
So you should be earthed :shrug: with a few exceptions :tu:

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Pure water is actually a weak electrolyte believe it or not!

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Yeah, like I said, a few exceptions ...lol 20 coats of paint and a weeks washing drying out over them won't do wonders for conductivity either :rolleyes: :D :rofl:

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Yeah- water is only conducting because it has salts dissolved in it which possess ions which are charged and mobile [and complex to the water].

Pure water is neutral (albeit dipolar) molecules held in a rigid lattice by hydrogen bonds!

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Great, we may end up with a sticky thread about the conductive properties of water :dozey: ;)

Edit: it seems we have now :erm:

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Let me just add my :2cents: worth ...

Or, just gently prise all the keys off with a flat head screwdriver. Place all the keys in a bowl of warm soap water and leave them for a bit. Then take them out, wait for them to dry. Once you've done this, get a piece of paper and turn your keyboard upside down on it. You'll be amazed at the amount of crap that is on that sheet - hair, crumbs and other things besides.

Also, whilst you're waiting for them to dry off, take a soapy cloth and clean between the raised bits in your keyboard. Then assemble the whole lot together once it has dried off.

A good program to clean/organise things that run at startup is Startup Control panel. With this, you can rename, disable or delete entries with this.

Be careful when deleting any emails - there might be some important ones that you might need a year or two down the line for whatever reason and you could be left up the creek without a paddle if you've deleted them.

Another suggestion would be to sort your mail into folders like so: -

http://nthw.ath.cx:8080/nthw/email.png

And do an export to PST every month with each of these folders, and delete them from your main PST file, so you end up with a bunch of PST files which will be easy to refer to if needs be.

http://nthw.ath.cx:8080/nthw/pstfiles.png

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Certainly not enough to create a good earth bond. This is why bathroom / kitchen pipes are all common earth bonded with a thick earth cable.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Ok, lets leave water aside for the moment and get back to the main topic.
If you have any more tips and tricks for your PC spring clean, post them here.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

But they won't be pure water, and the equilibrium for water ionisation is 10^(-14) in favour of the pure water!

Anyway let's not take this too OT...

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

I was helping out one of my Dad's friends at the weekend and noticed a few things that I'd mention in this thread for other people to bare in mind.

Fans:

I was checking his machine and saw the temperatures were really high. Turned out one of his fans wasnt working. I always find it a good idea to take your side panel off at times and just make sure all your fans are spinning properly.


Location:

The PC was in this cabinet where the PC was pushed right to the back.
There is really no point in having many fans in your machine if there is no air space round your PC. You need room for it to breath.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

I open our pc's up at least once every 2-3 months to clean the trapped dirt/ dust out of it and to make sure the fans are running and are actually clean. A dirty fan is an unbalanced one and it won't spin properly ;) It's also a good idea to make sure the grills on the power supply unit are clean and any air vent slots are clear.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

On a fan-related note- how do you stop them going noisy after time- I clean the dust out of mine regularly and the bloody things got so noisy I had to buy some new ones...

With my PC on most of the time, this is kinda problem sitting near a jet engine!

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Could always buy large diameter fans and a fan speed control unit so you can turn down the revs when you want a bit of peace and quiet ;)

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

New ones do- and copious amounts of LEDs :Yikes: but I don't want to have to buy new fans all the time.

Tried compressed air, wiping teh dust off with fans/dusters, etc etc- but still no effect.

And the new fans, three of them, marked low noise, are actually 20 dB [each] on teh lowest setting so definitely not w00t. Oh dear.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

You can get new mounts now that absorb some of the vibration, don't know how effective they are though :(
Overclockers
Will have to scroll to the bottom of the page for one set of mounts though ;)

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Yeah I've got them, they're not very good and in fact, quieter without them.

It's just the motor noise not dirt or resonance or anything.

Anyway I was more curious about how to shut older fans up after you've tried cleaning with compressed air and they still sound like a 747.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

You gotta be kiddin me right ?

I just wish I took some pics after the builders had finished !

Here's my PC it should give u n idea of what it was like 4 months back....

These are *relatively* clean as I had to blow off most of the thick sh** as the PC's were overheating when I moved back in.

What you see on the components is a layer(was previously much thicker than what u see) of sanded wood / plaster which covered every damn component in the house.

So whenever you're ready you're welcome to come along and spring clean this :)

My missus has the right idea and dare not move back until everything is spik n spam.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Crikey that is dusty !!!

You are definately right in saying that it pumps up the temperature.
I did mine just before the temperatures were getting hotter in the summer.
I cut my temperatures down by about 10 degrees just cleaning up the dust.

It takes a while but it is worth it.
I use cotton wool ear buds to clean inside the fans. You often think they are clean but the fan blades are covered in sticky dust.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Got cans of dust off here will be doing that soon but theres too much equipment to go through so I have been putting it off fortunately the filestores were dismantled and moved to the inlaws before the work started they would have been dead as my filestores do not have a case (too many disks)

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

CrC just put the vacuum cleaner on it gently..... done it myself a couple of times and it works alright/.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Do u guys reckon that if i leave one panel out it would reduce the overall heat by dispersing the trapped air?
Thats wat i have done to my PC. :rolleyes:

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

If it works but really you should investigate why its getting hot, what are yoru temps?

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Maybe not, the fans are designed to drag air through a route, taking a side off will change those airflow dynamics. Bit like putting a bigger hose on a hoover, it will pick up less stuff.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

To be honest, i have no idea what the temp is! One of the blades in the fan thats cools the chipset broke. Ever since i leave one panel out,just in case....

---------- Post added at 23:26 ---------- Previous post was at 23:25 ----------

Thats a good point! Didn't realy think of that! :doh:

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

well most machines ive seen thats had a cooling problem has seen benefits from the removal of the side of the case side.A good few of the problems with overheating are caused by poor air flow so removing the side gives an instant vent

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Also a good contact with the cpu to the heatsink helps.

Before my upgrade my AMD64 3000 at it's stock clock speed of 1.8ghz, on its socket 939 motherboard, would sit at about 50c without load and touch 60c when under load.

This I took as normal, during the upgrade we removed the heatsink which was thermally connected via a heatpad, we cleaned this off and used Artic Silver paste, this now has made my cpu sit about 40c without load and barely touch 55c when under heavy load.

Of which I am very happy about.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

i have got one of those things.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Be careful when touching a motherboard, any static can botch the system right up.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Don't buy fans with sleeve bearings. When they are new they can be quiet, possibly more so than ones with ball bearings, but they tend to have a much shorter lifespan than fans with ball bearings, & when the bearings go they get MUCH louder. As to how to quieten them, as a temporary fix you could try peeling the label off of the centre of the fan [if it has 1 on each side, run your finger nail over them & look for a dip/hole in the middle], & putting a few drops of oil [WD40 will do in a pinch, but 3-in-1 would be better] into that hole. It's worked for me in the past, but there's always the chance it could go wrong for you, so it's up to you whether you want to do that or just buy a better fan.

I've had 1 of these running 24/7 for over 2 years in my case & it's just as quiet now as it was when I got it. The only reason I don't have another in the front of my case is, as mentioned in another thread, I needed something a bit more powerful to overcome the reduction in flow caused by the dust filter. They do other sizes of those fans as well, in case you need something different [60, 70, 80, & 92].

You could also use some acoustic insulation. I've not actually tried that method of sound reduction as with my air conditioning on in the same room it would be a bit silly to go all out for silence, & besides I'm so used to having the sound of my PC on 24/7 it's a rather weird feeling when the sound is absent [due to powercuts or during hardware upgrades]. :disturbd:

They work, or at least the ones I've got do [look for the clear ones on the site I linked above, by the same make as the fan], but you have to make sure that the fan is completely isolated from the case - if the side of the screw thread happens to touch the side of the hole in the case that it passes through then it negates the advatage of using the vibration dampeners.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Good guide, Anti-static isn't really worth it. :D

Unless you do a lot of computer work for a computer repairing company etc.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

you could not be more wrong mate. If you search the forums ive argued this point and given plenty of evidence

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Yes an Anti static wristrap is definately recommended, static charge can be transferred without you even feeling it.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

and it can do damage without you knowing it. It can damage performance and longevity of the hardware also. Anyone who does not take precations are not worth their salt in IT and should leave well alone for those who want to do a proper job like it or lump it

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Actually, I'd have to disagree with you there, 'cos it generates work for us that DO know what we're doing and do a proper job :) :tu:

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

lol I spose lol

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

People are still actually using ZoneAlarm? It's been overbloated garbage for about the last 5 years. Ever heard of Comodo?

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Never used an Anti Static strap in my life, never killed anything, but I also have a habit of keeping my hands away from anything that can conduct.

Drop a new case out of a box, take the styrene off and then see the spark that can discharge when you touch the case! Better safe than sorry I would think.

Agreed, Comodo is quality, been using it for a few months now, for free.....forget about it, they have a decent looking Anti Virus as well, but it is in Beta and was a bit unstable last time I tried it, but it will run with Avast at the same time, double protection for free, can't be bad.

"Spring Cleaning" your PC is a great idea, I always give mine (MY PC ;) ) a clean every six months. Fixed many a system with a simple blast of air into the PSU/Gfx Card and HSF.

The ammount of Gfx cards "It crashes in games" I see, and the cooler is clogged with dust!

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Yep, a spring clean is definately worth doing.
Get your systems running nice and cool before summer comes round.

Oh, and whilst you are servicing your PC, do a backup too of important data.
The amount of people who never backup and then it's too late.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

I wish I had read this advice earlier in the year when I decided to clean my pc.

I disconnected my pc, took the side off and decided to clean inside of it, I started off using the hoover and then I decided to use the hoover and compressed air at the same time and it caught my fan and cause a blow back of sorts which erupted in flames and it burn my face and the inside of my pc which I had to throw out my window whilst it was still alight. :(

One of the stupidest things i've ever done

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Made me laugh when I read your post:D

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Haha it made everyone laugh at the time.

I had to goto the hospital and explain what had happened and nobody could quite take it in at the time :D There are pictures of me with my hands in bandages and my nose all red whilst i'm looking really sorry for myself haha.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

You should post them in the funny pictures section with the story.:D

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Haha i'll do that :D

Just glad my face eventually healed haha

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Thats all that really matters anyway as it was only hardware.:)

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

How on earth did it ignite and produce flames?


-------------------------------------------------

Talking of keyboards, I threw mine out the other day.
Now I have a new metal, quality Apple keyboard that is very thin.
Works great on my PC.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

We have no idea and just asumed it was because the canned air was too close to the vacume as when we came back from the hospital the whole vacume tube was burnt and it looked like that's where it started....other than that were stumped.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

I got a new monitor the other day and while sound came out of it at first, when i installed windows again, there was no sound coming through the speakers in the monitor, it was coming out of the independent speakers which i got ages ago but there is no sound coming through the monitor speakers, they did at first and now after the new install, no sound are coming through them im going to take this piece of **** back to the shops if i cant get it to work, its an lg monitor and the sound only came out of it on the old install

ive got xp

and yes the cables are attached properly otherwise it wouldnt have worked in the firstplace!

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

If you get a pair of headphones or other speakers and plug them in to the same place you have the monitor plugged into the Pc's audio output, can you hear audio ?

Is there a mute button on the monitor itself? Check to see in the menu settings.

What is the model of the monitor ?

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

the monitor is fine, if i plug it into the front ports of the pc it works, but the back ports what real tech control are not working, i have plugged my speakers in there and they dont work, so its the ports, BUT THE BACK PORTS WERE WORKING BEFORE ON MY OLD INSTALATION but not on the new one, same disk , same xp and same asus driver

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Ok, the only thing I can think is that some motherboards use the sound ports for several uses, sometimes inputs, sometimes outputs, and sometimes for different channels of sound in a 5.1 set up for example.

I would open up Control panel and look at your audio devices or the soundcards own control panel if it has one. You may find this on the motherboard CD.

See if you can change the output ports settings.

Also try booting the machine without anything plugged in to the audio port, and then once into windows, plug it in. See if it comes up with anything.

That's all I can think of, unless anyone else has any other suggestions.

Good luck.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

In control panel look for Real HD Audio Manager

Open it

Pull out a speaker plug, then plug it back in.

A pop-up should ask you what you just plugged in.

Click the right option.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

are u refering to the analog popup or the speech bubble, if the analog popup does not pop up then it wont work, ive got it to work now but it doesnt resolve the problem as it made no sense as to why it stopped working!

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Did you have any drivers for the monitor installed before you re installed Windows?

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

yes, and i dont even need them, it all works now, i havent even installed the realtek drivers and its doing what i want, ha ha, so much for all the tech guys!

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Being a perfectionist, I wish I could decide how to organise my information (documents, emails, contacts etc) in a rational way like forks in the cutlery drawer etc. I used to try files within folders within folders within folders ... but so many items overlap. I would have the same document in more than one place without realising it, leading to confusion if one was changed. Tagging appeals, but difficult on my new mac. What do other people do?
Vista seemed to offer a "brantub" solution: put them anywhere and use "search" to fish for them - but too much bycatch.
any suggestions?

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

A computer can be given a quick once-over with a vacuum or dust cloth but it's a good idea to give it a more thorough cleaning occasionally.
To clean a monitor, first unplug the power supply, then lightly dampen a clean, soft, lint-free cloth with water. Wipe the screen gently with a back-and forth motion. Wipe the display case with a non-abrasive, soft, dry cloth to pick up dust.
To clean the keyboard, turn it upside down over a wastebasket and give it a good shake. Then vacuum it with your brush attachment. To clean the keys, rub them and the surrounding with a microfibre cloth.
You can also use a can of compressed air available at camera shops.

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/26/ventblockers_2/

:spin:

I just did some cleaning of my registry a few days ago.....

I cleared all "Excel","lotus" and "JET" (microsoft jet) keys as i dont have any of the 3..

The reg shrunk by @ least 20k!!

I often do cleaning like this if i find something in the reg i know i dont have as every little bit helps :)

Cant stand all the ppl that sit there and try to tell you "IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE" and when they say that i give them this comparison..

Is your sock drawer MESSY or NICE AND NEAT?? (If its messy your not gonna find things as fast)

Tonight i just cleared 1 "yahoo!" entry from 'DEFAULT LDAP ACCOUNT'

A few years ago i had a program (Something to do with Gnome (Gnomemeeting i believe)) and that created the entry,i looked it up as i had forgotton and when i saw "GNOME" i knew what it was and removed it :)

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

The registry does not need scanning everytime you open an app at all because the app has settings in it that places registry entries in specific keys you do not need to scan for something when you already know where it is do you

---------- Post added at 05:04 ---------- Previous post was at 04:33 ----------

Just for point of refference here is a quote from Mark Russinovich Co Founder of Winternals and Sysinternals when asked the question, Do I need registry cleaner?

source http://www.whatthetech.com/2007/11/2...istry-cleaner/

Below is a link to some information from a guy who had an 18 year career as a programmer with Microsoft

http://ask-leo.com/whats_the_best_registry_cleaner.html



Admitedly its dated but the registry is still the registry, I find it hard to find any technical website that actually endorses Reg scans

Well i dont care what anyone says OFFICIALLY,i usually always notice an increase in performance after cleaning excess stuff from the reg so im my opinion THEY EITHER DONT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT OR ARE MISLEADING PEOPLE (Thinking they will hurt thier computer so its better telling them its not needed)

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Calm down dear, it's only a placebo effect :p:

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

fragmented hard drive, bloated running processes,bloated temp files cache files and precached files, higher impacted page file. All other reasons a pc slows after time which all would be more likely to effect the opening of an application than reading the registry entires off a tiny database file

---------- Post added at 15:20 ---------- Previous post was at 15:19 ----------

yeah the 2 guys who I quoted really look like they may not know what they are talking about lmao

Ya i have some stuff on my OS that work like that. (Win98se)

I think thats a BETTER WAY to do it,why bog down a main settings file (registry) when the program can have its own INI,etc files and not need the reg @ all??


I mean all the stuff needed for your OS like monitor settings,etc could be contained in individual files that loaded @ boot. (Same way the reg does)


Im not sure though which way is better but i do know I MUCH PREFER STANDALONE APPS! (Apps with nothing in the reg)

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

searching the reg for keywords is one thing. Point is you are searching for something you do not know where to find it hence the need for a search. The applications know where it is so it does not need to search,

Dudes sock drawer even if it was messy he knows where the draw is so he can go straight to it. If his wife told him she had hidden the socks but they are neat go look for them it will take time to find them

Re: Time to Spring Clean
 

Never marry a woman who messes with your socks.

Back on topic. Registry cleaners are pointless. End of.